Le Havre lodged a complaint on Monday against a man accused of arranging a trial for one of their young players at Bolton, who then returned to Paris having been turned down.
The player in question is a 17 yr old graduate of the academy at Le Havre, called Wesley Ngo Beng. He was absent from 21st to 24th November in Bolton under the pretext of visiting his father, without Le Havre's permission to undergo a trial which later proved to be unsuccesful.
The club therefore accused Franck Hubert of Le Havre of persuading the player to attend a trial organized by himself but he "denied any implication in this business", he is also alleged to have left the player all alone in Paris on his return from Bolton, "putting his physical and moral integrity in danger".
A member of the club went to Paris in the middle of the night to bring the player home but was prevented from doing so by the police force in Blanc-Mesnil, who had found the player.
The situation becomes complicated because of the family context around Ngo Beng: his mother is imprisoned and his father has no custody rights, so he had been placed under the moral supervision of one of the leaders of the club. "We have obligations with respect to the young people we look after, a member of the club insisted. We made guarantees to his mother. Our young player returned shocked because somebody made him lavish promises, but then left him abandoned after having served his purpose. He felt betrayed. There are people (poor quality agents) who are not acting in the best interests of our young players, only out to make money ", denounced Jean-Pierre Louvel, the president of Le Havre Athletic Club.
The club thus decided to take this matter to the authorities "to strike a blow against the conmen and swindlers and to have the support of the other French clubs" also confronted with this problem.
According to the president of Le Havre, who presented the issue to the federal authorities, "this case illustrates the urgency for UEFA to make legislations in this area".
At present, no contact has come from Bolton towards Le Havre, according to the Normandy club.