Former Salernitana director Walter Sabatini has threatened to take his ex-president, Danilo Iervolino, to court after being accused of lying as their row continues to escalate.
Sabatini left his role at Salernitana at the end of last season despite their near-miraculous survival act which saw them stay in Serie A on the final day of the season.
Sabatini recently told Il Corriere della Sera the whole thing was a misunderstanding over a contract extension for midfielder Lassana Coulibaly.
Sabatini said he paid the player’s agent a huge commission fee to ensure the deal was signed as he said Iervolino had given him carte blanche to whatever it took to get the extension sealed.
However, Iervolino category refuted this. He told Gazzetta dello Sport: “Sabatini think everybody is stupid but the only misunderstanding is his.
“He thinks he is more intelligent but was just lying. He wanted to pay the agent’s commission, we argued because I don’t accept these distortions.”
Iervolino added: “We wanted to give Lassana Coulibaly an increase of €200,000 but in order to complete the negotiations we would have had to give his agent €1m: a negotiation Sabatini had taken on, perhaps wary the same agent would take interest in other offers.
“I will never bend to this system: if a player gets a better offer from another club, he is free to go. Sabatini actually told me that he has been dealing in this way for some time now.
“And in the group chat we have with the Salernitana director and the PR representative, he wrote that, given my position in relation to commission, he did not believe he was the right man for Salernitana.
“I’m now reading that he thinks he’s at Champions League level, let’s see where he goes: he doesn’t even know how to use a computer or send an e-mail.
“But, on a personal level, I am disappointed with how it ended. I brought Sabatini to Salerno, I didn’t find him here and I wouldn’t have let him go.
“But I consider the things that happened to be serious. I want another type of football.”
Sabatini hit back on Monday and said he would take Iervolino to court and conceded that, while he agreed in principle with his former president on the notion of paying agency fees, he accepts this is part of football and regrets previous deals he missed out on by not paying the commission.
Sabatini told Radio Anch’io Sport: “If he called me a liar, I’ll see him in court, even if he does have great lawyers. I think it’s shows a lack of class and is in poor taste.
On paying agency fees, he added: “The problem with the commissions is not my issue but a a football one ideologically. I am not arguing this and I accept what Iervolino says.
“To this day I regret not having paid the €4m to [Mino] Raiola to get [Paul] Pogba to Roma. To this day, I feel I damaged Roma, even for [Marko] Arnautovic at Bologna, I fought for the commission to be paid and think I did the right thing.”
Sabatini replica a Iervolino: "Io bugiardo? Lo porto in tribunale" #salernitana #calciomercato https://t.co/gAjq0xKu2O
— La Gazzetta dello Sport (@Gazzetta_it) June 6, 2022