Dolly loses dispute, but hopes for new deal

KEAGAN Dolly has lost his case against Mamelodi Sundowns at the Premier Soccer League’s dispute resolution chamber, but his representatives are still hopeful that a deal can be negotiated for the player to move to Europe this January transfer window.

Dolly was taken to the dispute resolution chamber (DRC) by Downs in a dispute over a R12-million European buyout clause in his contract that Sundowns asserted was a mistake.

Downs were applying on the legal basis of rectification to change their own self-admitted mistake in the contract – which they drafted – from the R12.5-million stated in a new deal signed 17 months ago‚ to the original R24-million.

Downs’ representatives are considering whether to take an appeal on the ruling to the labour court in South Africa‚ or straight to global ruling body Fifa.

It has been learnt that Dolly’s representatives are still hopeful of negotiating a deal with either French side Montpellier or Greek club Olympiacos‚ who had each made bids of R14-million in an effort to secure Dolly at the R12-million buyout figure.

They believe that Montpellier‚ especially‚ may be willing to offer an amount slightly less than the R24-million required‚ and that Downs might be willing to accept such a figure based on Dolly’s market value.

A stumbling block to this would be that Dolly’s preference might be Olympiacos‚ who regularly challenge for the Greek league title and so also often compete in the Uefa Champions League.

Sundowns general manager Sizwe Nzimande could not be reached for comment.