Sporting Lisbon president refers to 3rd-party ownership as a 'monster' following Marcos Rojo transfer

As is the case in far too many transfers these days, a third set of hands was involved in Marcos Rojo's transfer from Sporting Lisbon to Manchester United, leading to a disagreement over how much is owed to which party.

According to the Guardian, an offshore investment fund based in Malta called Doyen Sports is claiming that it's entitled to 75 percent of the $25.9 million that United paid the Portuguese club for Rojo. 

Sporting has already repaid the $6.5 million Doyen initially handed them for a 75-percent share in Rojo's economic rights, as well as a 65-percent share of the rights to Moroccan striker Zakaria Labyad. However, the club is refusing to pay the other $17.8 million that Doyen believes they're owed, and Sporting president Bruno de Carvalho anticipates a lawsuit that he intends to fight.

De Carvalho, who was elected as Sporting's president in March 2013 and is a lifelong supporter of the club, says his team's agreement with Doyen is invalid because it gave the investment fund the right to "manipulate" decisions relating to players.

"One of the rules is that the funds cannot be engaging with the management and not manipulating the management, and they did it," said de Carvalho, speaking at the Soccerex conference in Manchester. "That contract means manipulation. It means engagement with the management. It's not a contract - it's null."

The Sporting president also insists that his club didn't want to sell Rojo, but Doyen went ahead and offered the Argentina left-back "to Manchester United and all of the world."

Speaking in a broader context, de Carvalho went on to describe third-party ownership as "a menace to sports and for football" as well "a monster," a position that syncs up with UEFA president Michel Platini, who has pledged to ban the controversial style of ownership.

"I think now it is a monster," de Carvalho said. "A monster that is living in almost all the clubs, so now I cannot see how [it can be banned]; only regulate it is the solution. We need to have a discussion very serious with everybody very quick."

Doyen, unsurprisingly, has responded by claiming that their agreement with Sporting over Rojo is completely valid, categorically arguing that they "do not manage or influence the player" and ensuring that such a stance is included in each contract they have with a club.