Augusto Melo on Corinthians debts: "No longer my problem" | OneFootball

The ousted president of Corinthians, Augusto Melo, used his social media on Thursday to comment on the club's debts. Despite another conviction by FIFA, this time for the non-payment of José Martínez, he denies responsibility and treats the situation as a problem of the current board, led by Osmar Stabile.

Augusto Melo says he does not deserve to be blamed for the financial crisis, although three signings made during his tenure have resulted in sanctions from the highest football entity, which could lead to transfer bans.

“I came here to clarify about these players who are not being paid. It's not my problem anymore. From the second half of last year, all the players bought had authorization from the legal, financial, football departments, the coaching staff and myself. The financial department stipulated the date and when it could be paid. They took us out of power to take over Corinthians, so it's their problem from now on. I left revenues, quite a lot. We left more than R$ 150 million. Why did they let it get to this point?”, argued Melo, on his official Instagram account.

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Currently, Timão is prohibited from registering new players due to a debt of R$ 40 million with Santos Laguna, from Mexico, for the acquisition of Félix Torres. There are also outstanding debts with Talleres for Rodrigo Garro and with the Philadelphia Union, for José Martínez.

Augusto, however, says he left “revenues” to solve the problems. He believes he put Corinthians “on track” and complains that the current administration is “tarnishing the club's name”, despite having become a defendant in court for allegedly committing the crimes of qualified theft, money laundering and criminal association in the VaideBet case.

“Last year, I dealt with thousands of situations and never complained. I paid image rights, transfer ban… It was the same situation. This is not my problem, it's theirs. Stop throwing it on my back, I'm not there anymore. It's their problem, they have to charge them, why aren't they paying and tarnishing the name of Corinthians in this way, when last year, with many difficulties, I managed to get Corinthians on track. You are in power, pay these players, because we left revenues”, he concluded.

(Photo: Peter Leone/O Fotografico/Gazeta Press)

Fifth conviction by FIFA

The case of José Martínez is the fifth in which Corinthians was convicted by FIFA. The club also answers for debts related to Matías Rojas, Rodrigo Garro, Félix Torres, and Maycon.

Last Tuesday, the club was condemned by CAS, the last instance of the entity, to pay R$ 45 million to midfielder Matías Rojas. Timão has 45 days to pay off the debt or reach an agreement with the Paraguayan's staff. Otherwise, it will suffer a new transfer ban.

In an interview with Gazeta Esportiva, Rojas' lawyer, Rafael Botelho, said he is open to negotiating an agreement with the board of Osmar Stabile.

The cases of José Martínez, Garro, and Maycon are under judgment of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, only the final sentence is pending. See below all the outstanding debts:

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.