The record €54M ($61M) transfer of defender Eliaquim Mangala to Premier League leader Man City from Porto "may have explicitly violated a longstanding rule" of global football, according to Tariq Panja of BLOOMBERG. FIFA is investigating the '14 trade "to see if outside investor Doyen Sports played an improper role in negotiating the trade." Doyen, which raised €50M ($57.4M) as "part of its first investment fund," is the biggest investor in the $4B transfer market for football: "it buys a share of the future trade value of a player." Documents reviewed by Bloomberg included a letter between execs from Porto and Doyen in which the football club "ceded power to the fund to negotiate the sale of its stake in Mangala." That agreement appears to "fly in the face" of FIFA's rules at the time, which prohibited third parties form "influencing teams' transfer negotiations." A FIFA spokesperson confirmed that it is "looking into the matter." Doyen CEO Nelio Lucas "declined to comment." In the past, Lucas has said the fund, which has invested million of dollars in dozens of players across the globe, "has acted within the rules." Porto "didn't respond to an e-mail seeking comment." Man City spokesperson Vicky Kloss "didn't respond to an e-mail seeking comment." If FIFA's disciplinary committee decides that Porto broke the rules, "the club could be fined or blocked from buying players." The timing of FIFA's investigation comes at a "sensitive moment" for Doyen, which is waiting for a ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport "over another high profile transfer." Sporting Lisbon refused to pay the fund its portion of the €20 ($23M) sale of defender Marcos Rojo to ManU, "arguing it pressured the club to move the player despite it wanting to keep him" (BLOOMBERG, 10/13). In London, Mark Critchley reported only "around 57 percent of Mangala's Porto contract was owned by the club," with the remainder "shared between Doyen and fellow investors Robi Plus." Man City sources said that they are "confident that the transfer fee was paid in full to the Portuguese club rather than an agency and that they purchased 100 percent of the player's contract" (INDEPENDENT, 10/14).
