Tema Youth seek clarification on €3m transfer, as FIFA queries GFA

The management of Tema Youth Football Club has decided to enquire from the Ghana Football Association (GFA) as to whether it indeed mandated lawyer Frank Davis to demand a 10 per cent share of Joseph Paintsil’s €3million transfer fee.

The decision was taken barely 24 hours after FIFA had written to the GFA to seek clarification on the matter, following a Graphic Sports publication last Monday.

The Daily Graphic learnt that a local journalist wrote to FIFA when the story broke to seek an interpretation on the matter.

However, FIFA, upon receipt of the said letter from the anonymous journalist, also wrote to the GFA to ascertain the truth of the matter.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic yesterday, the founder of Tema Youth, Wilfred Kweku Osei, aka Palmer, disclosed that the club, upon consultation with its lawyer, Mr Sarfo Buabeng, had decided to write to the FA to seek clarification regarding the role of Mr Frank Davis of Davis and Davis law firm, who purportedly wrote to the club on behalf of the GFA.

According to Mr Osei, apart from the fact that the 10 per cent share of the 3million euros transfer fee being demanded by the FA is illegal, it was also unconventional for the GFA to write to the club through a private lawyer without a Power of Attorney.

He explained that as a matter of procedure, the GFA should have used its internal structures to resolve the issue instead of mandating a private lawyer to act for the FA.

The FA is demanding a 10 per cent share of the landmark local transfer fee of Tema Youth player, Joseph Paintsil, to Belgian side, Genk, last year.

Meanwhile, the GFA has since been tight lipped on the issue.