BAKAU UTD NEGOTIATIONS WITH FOOTBALL FIRM COLLAPSES

By Sulayman Bah Bakau United’s talks with top European football agency to invest in the club have collapsed, Foroyaa Sport can confirm. Doyen Sports Investment (DSI), a football firm specialized in football investment and marketing, were locked in lengthy negotiations with Seedy Kinteh’sBakau United with a plan to invest in the Gambian club for a five-year period. Through the five-year project, DSI planned to increase the club success locally and internationally by luring prominent external based Gambian players, signed to bumper contracts with an average pay of D200, 000 to 300,000dalasis, to the GFF domestic league with a view to participating in the CAF Champions League. Among Gambian foreign stars being considered reportedly are striker Momodou Ceesay, Ousman Jallow, Gambian captain Mustapha Toubabo Jarju, Tijan Jaiteh, Saihou Gassama, Omar Jasseh, Ali Sowe, Abdou Jammeh (T. Boys), Hamza Barry, Sulayman Marreh and Alieu Darbo. The Doyen Group hopes to profit by selling the players to their partnering European clubs on third-party basis and via television rights when Bakau United games are aired including tickets sales. Negotiations were at an advanced stage between Bakau United club board and Doyen’s Gambian-based representative Muhamed Sambou with a deal almost brokered after the two-times GFF league champions approved the firm’s second proposal, earlier this month. Processes of contract finalization were only being delayed by certain details and clauses. However, the intense talks, held behind-closed-doors, all this while, have hit the brick walls. ‘Unreasonable monetary demands’ from Bakau United in the face of poor football structures, and disagreement over who gets what in the sponsorship package among club officials, is reported to be reasons for the collapse of the deal. Reached for comments, Seedy Kinteh owner of the Bakau-based outfit and who has been in the heart of meetings with the Doyen Group rebuts the aforementioned claims. “No contract has been signed –there is no deal between Bakau United and Doyen. There’re also no disagreements between I and any of the club officials,” Seedy Kinteh told Foroyaa Sport opening up on a matter that has had its fair share of speculations. Reports from the rumour mill claim that Kinteh and crew were expected to pocket a staggering D30 million throughout the five-year period of the project, six million dalasis per season beginning 2015 to 2019. Asked on this, the erstwhile Gambia Football Association boss merely replied ‘not true.’ Following collapse of things with Bakau United, the investment agency – that has finalized a deal with Cameroon’s top flight club Coton Sport – this publication can reveal, have shifted its focus on another Gambian club premier league club in Banjul Hawks. Talks are still ongoing and a deal is expected possibly in coming weeks. DSI is a private investment entity providing alternative funding to clubs and sports associations with a stake in the image rights of top footballers namely; Barcelona duo Neymar Jr and Xavi Hernandez. Research has also shown that Juventus, Valencia, Getafe, Sporting Gijon, Benfica, Twente, Sevilla, Santos, Porto and Granada have previously worked with the organization specialized in sports marketing. They sponsored La Liga champions Atletico Madrid in the 2012/2013 season. Alvaro Morata, Manchester United’s RadamelFalcao, and Negredo are among the few players linked to the Doyen Group.]]>