Sharing the loot

Some of the stories this week talk of a "furor" that will result if West Ham pocket a large windfall for selling Carlos Tévez to another European club during the summer transfer window. First, of course, I hope that the Hammers find a way to keep Tévez. I don't know if that will be possible from a fiscal standpoint, but it would be wonderful to keep the hero of the Great Escape in Upton Park and, putting aside sentimentality, it would be even better to be able to continue to watch him work his mastery for the Irons.

But if he is sold for £20 million or £25 million or even £30 million, I doubt that West Ham will be the sole beneficiary of that windfall. My guess is that the club will have to turn over a significant share of the loot to Kia Joorabchian, the agent whose deal with the club for Tévez and Javier Mascherano caused all the ruckus over the last nine months. As always, I'll state up front that I am not a lawyer, but it seems to me that even if the club unilaterally cancelled Joorabchian's influence over Tévez's fate in order to comply with the Premier League's rules, the club will have to compensate Joorabchian financially or risk a lawsuit. That seems to be Joorabchian's position. As I'm sure that the last thing West Ham wants is a commercial lawsuit regarding this matter, they will be interested in settling with Joorabchian. As a result, his MSI agency and another one -- together, they own the economic rights to Tévez and Mascherano -- are likely to pocket a huge share of any transfer fee that West Ham earns on the sale of Tévez, should one occur, as it seems likely it will. Maybe all of it will be theirs. After all, the agreement between the agencies and West Ham has been likened to a loan deal. West Ham's ability to sell Tévez seems no different than Watford's ability to sell Ben Foster, but, nothing in this case is clear-cut, so I wouldn't bet the ranch on that, either. That seems the most likely case, however.

Those who are angry about this affair will have to sustain their vitriol on some other aspect of the deal. I doubt they'll have a problem finding the fuel.