Having stepped down as Lyon president and infuriated Crystal Palace fans, American businessman John Textor is now facing more trouble at Botafogo.
Last week AFP reported that a Brazilian court had frozen Eagle Football’s assets in the club, ordering a payment of €23million from Textor’s holding company to the South American champions.
Now it’s been claimed by leading Brazilian outlet O Globo that Botafogo have sent a letter to Lyon in attempt to recover funds from a number of transfers.
The Brazilian champions are allegedly seeking financial compensation of €65m, claiming that Luiz Henrique, Igor Jesus, and Jair Cunha were sold at ‘favourable prices’.
Botafogo have since responded to the report, confirming they’re seeking reimbursement, but defending their Eagle Football ownership.
They wrote: “SAF Botafogo clarifies that it has always valued collaboration within the Eagle Football ecosystem and maintains the desire for this partnership to continue, for the benefit of all clubs that make up the group.
“Unfortunately, measures adopted by regulatory bodies in France have compromised the functioning of this integration, resulting in the termination of cash pooling agreements that had been beneficial to all parties.
“Given this scenario, it became necessary to formalize, through legal means, that the current financial imbalance between the entities points to the need for reimbursement to SAF Botafogo for amounts previously loaned.
“Furthermore, some corporate measures were adopted, with due alignment with our shareholder partner, Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas (BFR), aiming to allow the entry of new capital contributions to the Club, in case the reimbursements from Eagle or Olympique Lyonnais (OL) are not immediately feasible.
“Such actions were not intended to be provocative, and SAF Botafogo fully recognizes the right of its majority shareholder to have priority in any investment opportunity in the Club before considering the participation of external investors.
“However, we emphasise that such investments would not be necessary if OL manages to honour the due reimbursements.
“For clarification purposes, we highlight that the corporate actions taken so far consist solely of legal authorizations and that there is, at the present moment, no plan aimed at diluting the shareholding participation of our majority shareholder. In fact, such measures would be necessary to enable the majority shareholder itself to make new investments.
“Finally, SAF Botafogo reinforces that any potential negotiation involving the sale of a majority stake in the company, whether conducted by John Textor or third parties, must necessarily go through a process of friendly dialogue and negotiation with the current majority shareholder.
“Although judicial and corporate measures may be misinterpreted by the press, it is essential that our supporters are fully aware that SAF Botafogo continues to have Eagle Football as its controlling shareholder, and that the latter, in turn, is majority-controlled by John Textor.
“We reiterate our commitment to ensuring that all discussions regarding the future of SAF occur in a transparent, responsible, and respectful manner.”
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