Maxwell deal extended 'til 2006; Trabelsi crisis coming up?
11 February: Ajax extended the contract
of Maxwell just before the weekend, until the
summer of 2006. The Brazilian left-footer's original
deal would have expired this summer, but included a one-sided
option for Ajax to extend by two more seasons. In recent
talks with the club Maxwell (22) had already
expressed his desire to stay in Amsterdam. Meanwhile, an
identical clause in the contract of Tunisian defender
Hatem Trabelsi seems to have become an insurmountable
obstacle. The Tunisian has made clear that he
wants to move on at season's end.
Ajax seems to have accepted the departure of the Tunisian,
who will have played at the ArenA for
three years at the end of the current season. In recent
BBC reports the Tunisian right fullback stated that he wanted
to move to the English Premiership. The player has been linked
with Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea in recent
weeks.
Trabelsi, however, claims that he can leave on a
free transfer at season's end. Ajax denies this. Trabelsi's
contract also contains a one-sided option for the club to
extend by two years and according to Ajax the club already
converted this option. This would mean that clubs wanting to
sign the Tunisian will have to pay a transfer fee of, according
to several esteemed English newspapers, some 4 million
English pounds (approximately 6 million euros).
Trabelsi and his lawyers claim that contract clauses of this
kind are not legally valid. They have announced that they will
not hesitate to take the matter to court, to
have a judge to decide on the status of Trabelsi's deal.
Both Ajax and Trabelsi have said to be
convinced that such a lawsuit will have a favourable
outcome for them. Ajax's general director Arie van Eijden: "If
Hatem wants to leave his new club will have to pay the full
price."
Ajax has worked with extension options in contracts
of younger players for many years. Clauses of this kind
are not unusual in global football. No player ever filed
official protest against a one-sided extension of his contract
by the club, so jurisprudence in similar cases is as yet
non-existent. It would make a Trabelsi vs Ajax lawsuit an
interesting legal testcase for the world of football.
Both Maxwell Scherrer Cabelino Andrade and Hatem Trabelsi
were purchases of former Ajax boss Co Adriaanse in the
summer of 2001. Maxwell was discovered at a prestigious
international youth tournament in The Netherlands, where he was
playing for his Brazilian club, Cruzeiro Belo
Horizonte. The deal was confirmed on 13 June
2001. Ajax paid 3 million euros for Maxwell, in spite of
the fact that he had not played a single game for the first
team of his club yet.
Hatem Trabelsi was landed on 24
July, coming from Tunisian side Sportif Sfaxien. He
convinced the technical staff of his
qualities during a pre-season try-out with
Ajax. The Tunisian right fullback is currently playing for his
country at the African Nations Cup. Tunisia's semi final
fixture against Nigeria will be played today (Tuesday) at 16:00
local time. (MP)
Sources: AT5, VI.nl, NOS Teletekst, BBC
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