Manchester United has withdrawn from a 2012 deal Sign Eden Hazard due to the requirements of the player’s agent at the time after “secret” payments, a report was explained more than a decade later.
Hazard was the hottest summer transfer saga in Europe 13 years ago. The young Belgian had helped in a French league and a cup double in 2010/11 and was ready to take the next step of his career.
Tottenham Hotspur and Nouveau-Riche Manchester City were among the clubs that pursued the danger, as did Manchester United. The Old Trafford Club, who reached the end of Sir Alex Ferguson era, is said to have agreed both a transmission fee with Lille and with personal conditions with the player.
But The times Unveiled that things collapsed when John Bico, who endangered until 2014, “demanded a huge back hander”. He is said to have asked about 1 million GBP of United, plus “several million more direct from the owners”, which would not have been thought of the club’s accounts.
United refused to prescribe both in the regulations of the Premier League and the UEFA regulations.
There is no indication that Hazard himself had knowledge of his agent’s practices, which was also delivered from the United Arab Emirates in order to be charged in a separate case in Belgium.
But where United for Hazard was not interested, although the club had kept an eye on him since the age of 15, Chelsea finally sealed the transmission, which underpins a large part of her success in the field for the next seven years. The blues even managed to owe their investment when the player was sold to Real Madrid in 2019 for up to EUR 146 million.
The transfer – in particular all agreements between Chelsea and Bico – is now the subject of an ongoing examination of the Premier League. When the consortium of Todd Boehly took control of the former owner Roman Abramovich in 2022, they reported the association of the Premier League and the UEFA due to alleged irregular payments associated with transfers that were carried out as part of the old regime.
There are allegations that Abramovich paid 6 million pounds to Bico via an offshore company. Chelsea was also examined in 2023 for payments to offshore companies in relation to the transfers by Samuel Eto’o, Willian and others a decade ago.