A search was carried out on Tuesday at the Domaine de Luchin, the headquarters of the Lille club (L1) concerning “player movement issues“, indicated to AFP a source having knowledge of the file. This searchaims to recover documents in the context of club-to-club contracts for the purchase, exchange of players“Said this source, confirming information from the daily L’Équipe.
More “it’s not about auditions“, as mentioned by L’Équipe, this source told AFP. Losc reacted in a press release at the start of the evening: “Following the internal audit carried out at the start of 2021 by the new leaders of the club, Losc had filed a complaint against X in October 2021, considering being the victim of a certain number of contracts signed by the former management. . Following this complaint, a search took place today at the Domaine de Luchin“Wrote the northern club.
«Losc naturally collaborates in the procedure and its leaders are obviously at the entire disposal of the police and justice in the context of this investigation.“, he concluded. According to the source with knowledge of the file, this police operation is aimed in particular at the terms of transfer of the Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen, transferred from Lille to Naples (Italian D1) in July 2020 for more than 71 million euros.
At that time, the Spanish-Luxembourgish businessman Gerard Lopez was the owner and president of the northern club, now owned by the investment fund Merlyn Partners, while Olivier Létang is the CEO.
Mr. Lopez’s lawyer, Laurent Cotret, also wanted to react on Tuesday in a press release sent to AFP: “Contrary to the repeated insinuations of the management of Losc, all of the management operations carried out by the management of the club under the presidency of Gerard Lopez, in particular those which would be the subject of the complaint apparently lodged by the current management of the club, have always been approved by the shareholders, the board of directors and the general meeting, and appear in the audited accounts“, he said.
«We can therefore only deplore, once again, the attempts at personal attacks against Gerard Lopez, directly targeted“, he added. For several months, Messrs. Lopez and Létang clashed in the press on several occasions, particularly over the transfer of Osimhen, which would have ultimately brought in much less than 71 million euros for the Lille club according to its current president.
In June 2021, Losc decided to freeze the payment of agent commissions negotiated and promised by the former leaders and valued at several million euros. “We want to ensure that the legal framework has been respected“Said Olivier Létang in L’Équipe, a few days after the title of champion of France won by the Mastiffs.