Mpong lied over botched Turkish deal - Agent

Agent leading the purported transfer of Richard Mpong to Adana Demirspor claims the Medeama player has lied over his narration of the botched deal.

The 22-year-old was set to sign for the Turkish club only for the diminutive midfielder according to the agent, ‘all of the sudden went AWOL’.

A contract was drafted for the Black Stars player to sign after Medeama reached an agreement with Adana, but the signing ceremony was delayed since the contract was written in Turkish.

Mpong however sneaked out of Turkey and traveled to Ghana without the knowledge of the Agent (Charlie Baffour) after claiming he was threatened to sign the contract.

Representative of Charlie Baffour, Jackson Owusu-Osei however says the players’ account of happenings in Turkey is a pure fabrication.

“We had received a mandate from Medeama to find a club for Richard Mpong which we did,” he told GHANAsoccernet.com.

“All negotiations were done by Medeama’s President and that of the Turkish club (Adana Demirspor) and they came to an agreement.

“The player however couldn’t sign because the contract was written in Turkish which even we as agents don’t understand.

“So the agreement was to bring in an expert to translate before he (Mpong) signed the contract.

“We then adviced the player joined the team to familiarize himself with the environment, the players and the facilities as we await the expert who was to arrive in a few days time.

“The next we heard, the player was in Ghana without even informing us.”

Osei-Owusu also responded to the charge of death threats meted the player in an attempt to force him to sign the contract.

“There is no way we could have threatened the player or force him to sign a contract even we don’t understand,” he said.

“If he did not feel well with what was happening all he could have done was to inform us and we would have had no other choice but to opt out of the deal.

“First and foremost we did not negotiate the deal, Medeama’s President did on his own and therefore if  he wasn’t happy with anything, he could have easily opted out.

“My suspicion is that the player (Mpong) wasn’t happy with the new environment and not the contract because we both hadn’t got the chance to read the details of the contract.

“In this case, all he needed to do was to inform us to abrogate the process rather than leave the country without notice.

“We are a reputable agency licensed by Fifa with a track record and would not do anything to tarnish our own hard earned reputation.”

Mpong considered one of the best players in the Ghanaian top flight is courted by several clubs both local and abroad.

He made an impressive debut for the Black Stars back in March where he scored in Ghana’s 1-1 friendly with Chile.