Caledonia AIA demand transfer fee for Marvin Oliver.
By: Lasana Liburd (Express).[/size]
There was good and bad news yesterday for CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh and their efforts to land silky midfielder Marvin Oliver to their playing staff for the 2008 season.
Neal & Massy Caledonia AIA are willing to allow the star player to join their Pro League rivals but, as Oliver still has a year left on his contract, it will come at a cost.
There are few examples of transfer fees when players switch clubs in the domestic competition but Caledonia chairman Brian Lewis is happy to go against the flow. If Jabloteh coach Terry Fenwick wants to add arguably the 2007 Pro League's top player to his title-winning squad, he will need club chairman Jerry Hospedales to reach for the piggy bank.
"The player has expressed a desire to represent his home club," said Lewis. "He contributed greatly to our rise in prominence last season and, out of respect for him and what he has contributed to Caledonia, we want to deal with this in a dignified manner. But he is a marquee player and we can reasonably expect a transfer fee."
The 32-year-old midfielder admitted to mistakenly giving false information as regards his contractual obligations to Caledonia. He told Jabloteh coach Terry Fenwick that he was a free agent last December but has since accepted that Caledonia own his registration for another season.
Oliver, a Bourg Mulattrasse resident, still hopes to move to his childhood team soon and asked Jabloteh to give tangible evidence of their desire for his services.
"It comes down to how bad Jabloteh wants me now," said Oliver, who does not have an agent. "Caledonia are not going to block me from leaving the club."
Fenwick, who thought he had already signed Oliver, could not be reached by the Express for comment yesterday while Jabloteh chairman Jerry Hospedales was also unavailable.
Lewis said that he spoke to Fenwick yesterday and initial discussions were "cordial and amicable". He refused to give financial details on the price suggested by either party but admitted that both clubs differed greatly on the valuation of the player.
Caledonia once paid Joe Public $20,000 for Vincentian attacker Kendall Velox-a player they had initially recruited themselves. A source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, claimed that the "Eastern Stallions" want more than twice as much for Oliver while, thus far, Jabloteh would not even match the Velox figure.
"There is a tendency to undervalue the local players," said Lewis. "If Marvin is to be given a transfer, we have to get a figure that is fair to us and we expect Jabloteh to appreciate our position It comes down to where they value Marvin in the scheme of their team.
"This is also about respect for Marvin Oliver and for Neal & Massy Caledonia AIA and the concept of professional football and the rules of the TT Pro League."
Caledonia coach Jamaal Shabazz, who Oliver described as "a father figure", is distraught at the possible loss of his best player but vowed that the club would rebound successfully.
"While you have to keep the highest level of professionalism, I feel hurt," said Shabazz, who repeatedly campaigned for Oliver's inclusion in the national team last year. "It is not something that I saw coming and no other experience has hurt like this . But we will live to fight again.
"We will find another talent. I promise this to the community."