Agent Threatening To Take Chiefs’ Lebese To Court
Kaizer Chiefs winger, George Lebese, could be set for another court appearance, according to the information reaching the Siya crew’s desk.
Local football agent, Josiah Mphono, is threatening to take legal action against Lebese. According to Mphono, he was involved in negotiating a sponsorship deal for the Amakhosi midfielder, although was never remunerated for his services.
Mphono indicated that he initiated the negotiations to secure a sponsorship deal with Puma for Lebese, who received soccer boots from the sporting giant, although it is alleged that the agent was not involved when the transaction was concluded.
“We are going to apply for an interdict at the South Gauteng High Court to stop George from playing with Puma boots as we think that the deal was not done in good faith. We introduced both parties to each other but the agreement was signed without us last week.
“We arranged for the player to get the sponsorship because the plan was to get him an overseas move. In a meeting with Puma it was me, George and a representative from Puma. At the time of our meeting, Lebese was approaching the end of his contract with Chiefs.
“It was in January and at the time we could not sign anything with Puma. We were waiting for certain documents so that we could approach Chiefs with them. We were waiting for a few other things, because around the same time George had an assault case against him. We couldn’t move with our negotiations with Puma. All of a sudden, this past weekend, I saw the player playing in Puma boots.
“I was like, ‘What happened?’ I sent an SMS to the guys at Puma enquiring about the matter. I asked them, ‘How is it that you couldn’t even send me an SMS letting me know that George has signed a sponsorship deal with you?’ They told me that he secured a deal with another agent and so on.
“I don’t think that proper procedures were followed. We didn’t finish the negotiations, but we were there when they were started. We believe that the deal was not finalised in good faith. That’s why we are trying to approach the court because the court is neutral.
“I think it will be the second time that he (Lebese) is going to court this year. He was allegedly charged with assault and damage to property the last time.
“I spoke to Puma and to the agent involved as well. The agent said they were not aware that there were discussions with us in the beginning. I told him that the reason we discussed with George is because his previous contract with the player expired in December. That’s why we had a deal lined up in Turkey for the player,” said Mphono.
Soccer Laduma contacted Puma about the matter, but the sportswear company said the issue is not theirs.