Quest investigates more of Bolton transfers

The transfer activity involving the former English Bolton midfielder, Fabrice Fernandes, was investigated by Quest, Lord Stevens' bung inquiry team.

Football authorities are also looking at transfers involving Tal Ben Haim, Ali Al-Habsi and Hidetoshi Nakata.

Simon Marland, the club's secretary, refused to discuss any aspect of Bolton's role in the Quest inquiry.

"This is a private matter and we are not able to answer the questions you have posed. In respect of the Quest inquiry, I must refer you to the FAPL [the FA Premier League]. It is their inquiry and any questions in respect of this are a matter for them and not us," said a club spokesman.

The Premier League said that Quest's inquiry into 39 transfers is continuing and it would "await the findings in early December."

Fernandes had joined Bolton after leaving Southampton on transfer-deadline day in August 2005. Following their relegation from the Premier League under Harry Redknapp, Southampton engaged the agent Willie McKay to find a new club for the midfielder.

"His salary was not small," said the source. "I don't think the [agent's] fee was bigger than GBP 30,000. It made good business sense to spend GBP 30,000 to save GBP 300,000. There will be the necessary agreements with McKay and it was all documented and disclosed to the FA," said a source involved in the move.

McKay said the payment from Southampton was his only compensation in the deal.

"I can confirm I was involved in the transfer from Southampton to Bolton and not one penny changed hands from Bolton," he said. "Southampton were in [the Championship] and they wanted him off their wage bill. This was where my commission came from," said McKay.

At the time, FA rules did not allow payments from more than one party to an agent in any single transfer deal.

Bolton may have thought they were getting a good rate from what was a free transfer, but after five months and only 15 minutes of football, Fernandes was transferred again.

BBC's Panorama reporters taped agent Peter Harrison in a conversation last season aimed at finding a club who might take Fernandes out of Bolton.

Harrison, who said he has cooperated fully with the Quest inquiry, was not involved in the transfer but confirmed that he was one of several agents contacted by Bolton as they sought a club for the Fernandes.

Sam Allardyce, the Bolton manager who was featured in the Panorama documentary, and Redknapp, who was also in the programme, have strongly denied breaking any rules.

Fernandes' final destination was Beitar Jerusalem, the Israeli team owned by Russian-born billionaire Arkady Gaydamak, whose son Sacha owns English Portsmouth.

"We dealt with Fernandes directly, not through agents," said a Beitar spokesman. "The chairman [Vladimir] Shklar dealt with him directly. I know for sure he dealt with Fernandes directly with the contracts and everything. We have a lot of people scouting and our scouts know about players."

Quest has requested records regarding the transfers of the goalkeeper Al-Habsi, who joined last January for an undisclosed fee and Nakata, who was on loan last season from Fiorentina and now back at the Serie A club.

"I've shown them the paperwork and I am sure they are happy with it," he said. "Those are the only Bolton deals I was involved in," said Harrison.

Tal Ben Haim, came from Maccabi Tel Aviv in July 2004 for GBP 149, 000.

Lyn's director of football, Torgin Bjarmann, was unavailable yesterday but Maccabi have said they had "nothing to do with this case. We just sold the player."

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.