Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigerian international footballer, Kelechi Nwakali, has called out his former club, SD Huesca Football Club, over the termination of his contract after he honoured the call to wear the Super Eagles shirt at the recently concluded African Cup of Nations (AFCON).
In an official statement via his official Twitter account on Wednesday, the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup winner narrated his ordeal at the hands of the club’s sporting director, Mr Ruben Garcia.
Nwakali alleged that following his call up in December last year, Mr Garcia, “put extreme pressure on me not to go to AFCON due to it ‘not being an important tournament’. He told me that if I go to AFCON, I will not play for Huesca again.”
He claimed that the club had applied several bullying tactics to get him to sign a new contract, accusing them of going as far as delaying his wages to get him to do their biddings.
In his words, “For months the club has been abusing its power to bully me into signing a new contract. These tactics have included paying me late on numerous occasions. The breakdown in negotiations came when my mother fell ill and I asked Ruben for the wages the club already owed me in order to pay for my mother’s hospital bill and treatment. Ruben Garcia responded to my request by saying ‘Sign this new contract and we will pay you what’s owed tonight!”
Nwakali represented Nigeria at the tournament in Cameroon where he wore the jersey number 25.
However, Nwakali was diagnosed with Respiratory Tract Infection before the Round of 16 match that Nigeria eventually lost to Tunisia, on the doctor’s orders, he could not immediately return to the club.
He further explained that on the last day of the transfer market (January 31, 2022) when he was to join his teammates at Huesca, Mr Garcia informed him that he had to leave the club after a late offer came in from another La Liga 2 club.
“He threatened that he would not pay me if I did not leave the club. The option that was given to me was leave or we will open up disciplinary action. Before January 31st, I was never told by the club that they wanted to let me leave in January and this was not a decision that I felt was right for me at the time,” the midfielder asserted.
The Nigerian International explained that on February 1, Mr Garcia and the club’s lawyers opened disciplinary proceedings that led to his suspension from the club.
Nwakali noted that following an intervention from the Spanish Footballers Union (The AFE), he was allowed back into the training but was still barred from using the facilities or even receiving treatment from the club physiotherapists.
Nwakali said, “Throughout this time, Huesca have not paid my wages, yet I have remained silent hoping that a reasonable resolution could be found.”
However, on Monday (April 5), things soon turned sour when he turned up for training and “a member of the club tried to force me to sign mutual termination papers which I refused to do,” he said.
The Nigerian International, however, says he does not regret his decision to play for the Super Eagles.
Business Post will continue to follow this story as it develops.
