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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Mark Walker

Celtic star Luis Palma at centre of bitter transfer row

Celtic star Luis Palma is at the centre of a bitter transfer dispute between his two former clubs that has now been reported to FIFA.

The Honduran winger has been a key man for Brendan Rodgers' side since his move from Greek side Aris in August for a fee reported to be around £3.5 million.

But his first club in his homeland, Vida, claims the actual transfer fee was £4.1 million and they are waiting for around £50,000 from Aris as a sell-on fee agreed when they sold him to Greece in January 2022 and from his original transfer fee.

And the club president has revealed he was unable to pay his current group of players until the matter is settled and has taken the dispute to FIFA to resolve.

Vida president Luis Cruz said: "The first transfer for Luis Palma was for £200,000 and we built in a 35 per sell-on fee. But we did not receive any payment after his transfer to Celtic.

"Celtic bought Luis for 4.8 million Euros [£4.1m], we know that.

"I told Luis when he was leaving us not to go to the club in Greece and I had arranged a transfer to a club in Portugal instead, but his agent insisted he go to Aris.

"They haven't paid us the full amount from the first transfer either and the sell-on fee which has hurt us financially a great deal.

"In total, they owe us around £50,000 from the original transfer and the sell-on.

"We have been left with no alternative but to take the matter to FIFA. We are happy that Luis has been a big success at Celtic, but for this club to survive, we need this money.

"To keep a club afloat, we have to do this. I had to delay payments and reduce salaries because of this."

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