Shakhtar director general, Sergey Palkin, hit out this week as he accused Zaragoza of stealing the player and claimed that the club and Matuzalem's agent, Filippo Fusco, of pressuring him into a move.
Fusco has now responded and claims that the move was completely above board and that his former club were well aware of his desire to leave, but refused to negitiate.
"Matuzalem did not betray them," he explained.
"Shakhtar is an important club that have spent a lot of money on good players and I have complete respect for them and their fans, that is why Palkin's statement surprised me.
"In the summer, without me being there, he spoke to Matuzelam in Geneva and heard for himself that the player wanted to leave.
"Matuzalem had already decided in February that he wanted to go for personal reasons, but Shakhtar did not not want to sit down and talk.
"Neither Zaragoza nor myself put any pressure on him, but he wanted to leave and I wanted him to be happy.
"In fact, Zaragoza behaved very professionally. They told that they were interested in him and that he would be welcome."
The 27-year-old spent three seasons in Ukraine with Shakhtar after a stint in Italy that saw him appear for Napoli, Piacenza and Brescia, and Fusco believes that he just wanted a change of scenery.
"Matuzalem made it very clear that he wanted to leave Ukraine because that chapter had ended for him, although he really enjoyed it," the agent continued.
"He always treated Shakhtar well and we always told them everything up front."
"Since the start they knew that his desire was to leave and we told to choose which team he could go to in Spain or Italy, but they did not want to.
"The subject of money was never a motivating factor."
1 comments:
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