Premier League side West Ham is set to "open legal proceedings" against Primeira Liga side Sporting Lisbon after the club's communications director labeled West Ham co-Owner David Sullivan a "liar" and a "parasite," according to Evan Bartlett of the London INDEPENDENT. The row erupted over the weekend following Sullivan's claim that Sporting "tried to offload midfielder William Carvalho on transfer deadline day but did not give West Ham enough time to undertake a medical." According to Sporting Dir of Communications Nuno Saraiva, Carvalho was not for sale. In a "scathing post" on Facebook, Saraiva challenged Sullivan -- who "made his money in the adult film industry" -- to provide evidence of his claims. Saraiva said, "The football industry is not the set of an adult film in which all obscenities are allowed" (
INDEPENDENT, 9/3). In London, Jason Burt reported Sullivan described Saraiva's allegations as "nonsense." West Ham also said that it has an email showing that it contacted Sporting and its president, Bruno de Carvalho, on Aug. 10 to make an offer for William Carvalho which amounted to a minimum of €25M ($29.8M), to be paid over three years, with additional terms and bonuses "to be discussed." Negotiations "dragged on," through agents, throughout August with Sporting "apparently refusing to budge" on its higher valuation for the Portuguese int'l (
TELEGRAPH, 9/3).
