Town's January signing of Luciano Civelli has caused controversy at his former Argentinian club Banfield. Club director Eduardo Spinoza has accused chairman Carlos Portell of "murky manoeuvres" relating to the claim that Banfield would continue to own 50% of Civelli's economic rights.
When the 22-year-old moved to the Blues for just over £1 million last month, Banfield announced that while Town would own 100% of Civelli's federative rights, his playing registration, they would continue to hold 50% of his economic rights.
Situations of this type are common in South American football where stakes in players often belong to an outside investor or their former club, while the player's registration belongs to his current side. The investor makes their money when the player is sold on.
Town, however, said that this was not the case with chief executive Derek Bowden explaining the actual situation to TWTD: "We own 100% of the player and Banfield have a 50% sell-on, as simple as that. And we have an option to buy that sell-on if we wish to before a given date at a set price.â€Â
Portell says the confusion at his club was caused by a misinterpretation of the wording of the contract with the Blues: "There was a communication error. The 50% Banfield has is for a future sale because you're not allowed to own percentages in Europe. The thing is that some directors like Spinoza don't have the experience to run a club."
Spinoza, who narrowly lost to Portell in last October's elections for the job of chairman, says the situation as initially announced by Banfield is very different from the actual deal.
He says that Banfield could end up gaining nothing further from the move if Civelli was to go on and leave the Blues on a free transfer, something which wouldn't have been the case had they kept 50% of his economic rights. If that had been the situation, they could have benefited from any further moves even if Civelli had left Town on a free transfer.
Spinoza says he was concerned that something untoward might have happened when he wasn't allowed a look at the details of the deal: "We thought something funny was going on because when we asked for a copy of the contract and they told us we had to wait a week because the secretary didn't have the key to the safe. What a disgrace!"
Civelli, who signed a three-and-a-half year contract with Town, could make his first appearance for the Blues as a sub against Blackpool on Saturday.