By Sulayman Bah
The dispute involving Niarry Tally and league champions Gamtel over the transfer of Assan Ceesay to Swiss club
Lugano FC has been resolved at least, according to the Gambian club.
The prolonged wrangling between the two sides, which centered on ownership of the rights of the Gambian footballer, Assan Ceesay, emerged shortly after the forward penned a two-and-half –year deal with relegation threatened Swiss Super League club.
The maelstrom of controversy between the feuding clubs, which reportedly included who gets the agreed transfer fee, prompted Lugano to hold on against featuring Assan in league matches for fear of being fined by FIFA or the Swiss Football Federation whose ownership was still the subject in question.
The rancour, Foroyaa Sport understands, dating back to November last year, commenced when Assan was taken under Niarry Tally’s custody on a reported loan agreement from Gamtel.
The brouhaha deepened when Niarry Tally’s president Malick Dieye claimed, last month, that Assan left the club camp unannounced February this year for Switzerland aided by his parent club Gamtel, alleging Niarry Tally has hired lawyers who are considering lodging a complaint to FIFA to defend their stake in the row.
Niarry Tally based their argument on grounds that the player is theirs and his name is established in the files of Senegalese Football Federation (SFF). Meaning, only the SFF could issue international clearance to Assan and not the Gambia Football Federation.
The situation, Foroyaa Sport understands, almost threw the footballer’s long harboured ambition of playing professional football in limbo.
However, Gamtel’s team manager Kebab Ceesay has denied flatly any problem dogging Assan’s transfer to the Swiss side while dismissing Niarry Tally President’s claims as grossly untrue.
“Assan has always been our player. He was on contract at Niarry Tally (on loan). When a player is on loan to you, you cannot sell the player because he’s in our TMS (Transfer Matching System),” he said, adding, “We have to do the transfer. We had an agreement with Niarry Tally and everything was done without any problems. Assan is in Lugano.”
He argued that if Assan is their player then why did they take the transfer fee (20%) they gave them? “When he was transferring, we informed Niarry Tally and they accepted. We agreed on the transfer fee on percentage basis. When the transfer fee was sent, they (Niarry Tally) came up to Banjul to collect it (their percentage). So I don’t know why he’s saying this,’ he told Foroyaa Sport yesterday morning.
The forward, who idolizes Spain striker Torres and has been handed call-ups into the national team, caught the eyes of Lugano FC agents who were on a scouting mission at Niarry Tally.
Ceesay spent the 2014 season with Casa Sport of Senegal before moving to Niarry Tally this year.
