Manchester City defender claims Spanish club “didn’t care” about him following controversial transfer | OneFootball

On-loan Manchester City defender Juma Bah has hit out at his former club Real Valladolid over the way in which the Spanish side handled his exit in January.

The teenage defender was secured by the Premier League champions during the recent winter transfer window, but was not integrated into the club’s first-team set-up upon his signing for the Etihad Stadium side.

Instead, Manchester City transfer bosses utilised their strong relationship with Lens following the deal completed for Abdukodir Khusanov to send Juma Bah on loan to the French side for the remainder of the ongoing campaign.

But in order to get to that position, the deal was marred by controversy in Spain just weeks after Real Valladolid exercised an option to sign Bah permanently and adding a €6 million release clause into the deal following a previous youth contract.

However, shortly afterwards the centre-back himself opted to terminate that agreement by paying the fee himself, subsequently signing a deal with Manchester City and leading to Valladolid releasing a heated statement on the matter.

The La Liga side claimed in a statement that the move caused “caused great disappointment and indignation”, with the Spanish club going on to threaten legal action after accusing Manchester City of encouraging the player to break his own contract.

Now, speaking during a new interview with BBC Sport Africa, Juma Bah has claimed Real Valladolid simply “didn’t care about” him and that he was the one who terminated his agreement with the club by paying his own buy-out fee in order to join Manchester City.

“I am the one who did that to terminate my contract,” Bah said. “They (Valladolid) didn’t care about me. They didn’t speak to my agent about giving me a new contract.”

The 18-year-old continued, “They didn’t even call me to speak. They didn’t want me to leave because there were a lot of clubs that came to sign me.”

The now-Lens star, who is expected to join up with Manchester City in the summer to make a further decision on his future in the game, went on to claim that he was also the lowest-paid player in the senior squad when at Real Valladolid.

For now, it remains to be seen what City will opt to do with Bah come the summer, however there remains a firm possibility that he could be granted an opportunity to be with the team in the United States between the conclusion of the season and start of the new campaign.

Pep Guardiola and his expanded Manchester City squad will jet out to the United States for the inaugural 32-team FIFA Club World Cup, where they will face Italy’s Juventus, Morocco’s Wydad AC, and the UAE’s Al-Ain in the group stage of the competition.