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Football

06th Jan 2022

Jordon Ibe launches legal battle against former club Bournemouth

Daniel Brown

Ibe was granted payments on top of his four-year deal

Former Liverpool winger Jordan Ibe is suing old club AFC Bournemouth over an alleged dispute surrounding image-rights payments.

Ibe became Bournemouth’s record signing in 2016 when he arrived from Liverpool for £16million, with his contract containing a clause that is not often given to other players.

The 26-year-old was permitted payments on top of his four-year deal, linking to his commercial appeal such as additional shirt sales.

He is thought to be one of just two players in the Cherries’ history to be permitted an image-rights deal.

However, Ibe is claiming that he never received such payments from the final 12-months of his contract after the winger was disciplined following several off-field incidents.

The Telegraph report that Bournemouth have told the ex-Liverpool man that they will not pay him the funds until the club is certain it does not breach HMRC regulations.

Ibe is thought to be unhappy with the fact that the Cherries are claiming that his off-field conduct suggested he no longer had commercial appeal.

The player’s representatives held talks with Bournemouth about the dispute last year, but communications broke down which has led to Ibe’s management company filing a civil claim to the High Court.

According to the Mirror, a listing filed ‘Choongadunga Limited versus AFC Bournemouth’ appeared on the HM Courts and Tribunals online database for the first time on January 4, with Ibe and his advisor Michael Carnegie both featuring on the list of Choongadunga’s directors.

In 2019, Ibe failed to stop at the scene after crashing his Bentley into a coffee shop in Bromley. He was convicted in 2020 and informed fans he had undergone rehabilitation to improve his mental state after “making poor judgements”.

The Englishman has been without a club since his Derby County contract was terminated by mutual consent at the end of the 2020/21 season, having made just one appearance for the Rams.

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