According to The Lawyer.com, the Manchester United defender Gabriel Heinze has instructed solicitors to take up his fight with Manchester United over his future.
The firm he is using is believed to be also acting on behalf of Carlos Tevez’s agents. Tevez has been speaking to Manchester United without – it seems – the permission of his current club West Ham. Tevez’s agents believe they don’t need to get West Ham’s permission in order to discuss a move and are taking West Ham to the High Court. FIFA had earlier ruled that they wanted the case to go to arbitration but this advice was ignored by the Tevez camp.
The Heinze camp want their dispute to be dealt with by arbitration, rather than going to court, although that would be the ultimate redress if needed. Manchester United had written to Heinze’s agent saying he could leave for any other club should a bid of €10m be made. They didn’t stipulate any restrictions in that, and the information was faxed to numerous clubs across Europe. The problem United have is they really don’t want to see Heinze going to strengthen their most hated rivals’ squad. Legally their only argument is to somehow claim that there was no need to specify the name of clubs they wanted to exclude from any deal to buy Heinze.
The article on the Lawyer.com website says:
Blackstone Chambers has scored its second instruction on a disputed football transfer, after being brought in to secure Argentine defender Gabriel Heinze’s release from Manchester United FC.
Andrew Green has been instructed by Hill Dickinson partner Richard Green on behalf of Heinze.
Andrew Green is also part of the team acting for the agents of Carlos Tevez in their dispute with West Ham United FC.
The dispute is between Heinze and his current club Manchester United.
The club has refused to allow Heinze a transfer to rival club Liverpool FC, with the player instructing lawyers to push the move through before the transfer deadline at the end of August.
Green said that the dispute will be settled through arbitration, rather than the courts.
Brabners Chaffe Street is acting for Manchester United. Liverpool has not yet instructed outside counsel.
Despite the firm acting in effect both for and against Manchester United – Heinze wants to leave against Manchester United’s wishes, Tevez wants to join despite his own club’s wishes – there is no technical conflict of interest, because the lawyers are purely acting for the agents of each player.
In terms of the Tevez situation, if West Ham win their case then Tevez will either join Manchester United anyway, with West Ham getting the fee they believe they are due, or will remain at West Ham until such a time that an appropriate fee is received for him. In the Heinze case it seems pretty clear that this particular Argentinian will not play for Manchester United again – even if United somehow win their case, their fans won’t be pleased to see a player wearing their shirt who felt Liverpool were a better club to play for than their own side. Certainly if the tables were turned Liverpool fans would not want that player to wear the Red of Liverpool again.