02-12-2025, 10:06 AM
The embattled multi-club football investor John Textor has claimed that he and Nottingham Forest’s Evangelos Marinakis worked together to adjust player transfer fees to suit a mutual trading agreement.
In a three-hour YouTube interview with supporters which will cause consternation at Uefa, Textor describes Marinakis as the “partner that we wanted to have with Crystal Palace”.
The admission will also cause alarm at Palace who lost their Europa League spot to Forest because of Textor. He sold his stake in the club too late to avoid a breach of multi-club ownership (MCO) rules because of his controlling interest at Lyon. Palace always denied any MCO relationship with Lyon.
The American businessman’s Eagle Football Holdings company, which has enormous debts, is now the subject of an investor rift, with Textor only controlling a part of it – the Brazilian club Botafogo. Ligue 1 club Lyon, who announced a total debt of more than €500m (£493m) this week, are effectively controlled by another US investor, Michele Kang.
In a Q&A with Botafogo fans online, Textor revealed new details about his relationship with Marinakis.
It was put to Textor on the Canal do TF YouTube channel that Forest had not paid enough for Jair Cunha, a young defender who was one four signings the Premier League club made from Botafogo. The striker Igor Jesus also arrived at the City Ground in a deal worth £16.5m along with the goalkeeper John Victor and the left-back Cuiabano.
What I would say about the Marinakis relationship is that, though we do not own Nottingham Forest and Marinakis does not own any piece of Eagle Football, he has really become the partner that we wanted to have with Crystal Palace,” Textor said.
“It’s important, I believe, to have a strong Brazilian club, to have a strong European club, to have a strong United Kingdom club. I would like a partner in Portugal, not just in Europe. I might even prefer a partner in Spain more than a partner in France, but Marinakis has effectively become that partner because he has clubs in Portugal, clubs in Greece, and a club in the UK. He, more than any other owner I’ve met in the world of football, believes in Brazilian talent.”
Textor challenged suggestions that Botafogo’s best players were sold at a reduced rate to Forest. “You feel really stupid when suddenly Igor Jesus is the best player against Liverpool and you’re sure you should have gotten paid more money for him,” Textor said. Jesus, 24, was a standout performer in Forest’s 3-0 win at Anfield last month. “But the fact is his injury history was the greatest reason we didn’t get paid more for him.”
Textor added: “Sometimes the amount that you put on a player transfer may also be adjusted to correct some discrepancy in value that occurred in some part of your relationship that might have related to a completely different player.
“So we do our best to allocate proper amounts to each player because often there are partners in the player, the agent or his other club. But the way you negotiate values with somebody that is a regular trading partner is very different than you might negotiate those with somebody where you just do a single transaction.”
He denied Cunha was sold at the wrong price as he claimed he had first “heard about him from Marinakis”. “In a way, it was a player that we recruited together to say, ‘come to Botafogo’, and when you’re ready, you can go to the Premier League,” he said. “So it’s a bit of a special case.” Prices, he suggested, “will bounce around, and sometimes you’ll look stupid, and sometimes they’ll make sense, and sometimes it’s part of making an adjustment, because you trade with that particular friend in a lot of situations”
In a three-hour YouTube interview with supporters which will cause consternation at Uefa, Textor describes Marinakis as the “partner that we wanted to have with Crystal Palace”.
The admission will also cause alarm at Palace who lost their Europa League spot to Forest because of Textor. He sold his stake in the club too late to avoid a breach of multi-club ownership (MCO) rules because of his controlling interest at Lyon. Palace always denied any MCO relationship with Lyon.
The American businessman’s Eagle Football Holdings company, which has enormous debts, is now the subject of an investor rift, with Textor only controlling a part of it – the Brazilian club Botafogo. Ligue 1 club Lyon, who announced a total debt of more than €500m (£493m) this week, are effectively controlled by another US investor, Michele Kang.
In a Q&A with Botafogo fans online, Textor revealed new details about his relationship with Marinakis.
It was put to Textor on the Canal do TF YouTube channel that Forest had not paid enough for Jair Cunha, a young defender who was one four signings the Premier League club made from Botafogo. The striker Igor Jesus also arrived at the City Ground in a deal worth £16.5m along with the goalkeeper John Victor and the left-back Cuiabano.
What I would say about the Marinakis relationship is that, though we do not own Nottingham Forest and Marinakis does not own any piece of Eagle Football, he has really become the partner that we wanted to have with Crystal Palace,” Textor said.
“It’s important, I believe, to have a strong Brazilian club, to have a strong European club, to have a strong United Kingdom club. I would like a partner in Portugal, not just in Europe. I might even prefer a partner in Spain more than a partner in France, but Marinakis has effectively become that partner because he has clubs in Portugal, clubs in Greece, and a club in the UK. He, more than any other owner I’ve met in the world of football, believes in Brazilian talent.”
Textor challenged suggestions that Botafogo’s best players were sold at a reduced rate to Forest. “You feel really stupid when suddenly Igor Jesus is the best player against Liverpool and you’re sure you should have gotten paid more money for him,” Textor said. Jesus, 24, was a standout performer in Forest’s 3-0 win at Anfield last month. “But the fact is his injury history was the greatest reason we didn’t get paid more for him.”
Textor added: “Sometimes the amount that you put on a player transfer may also be adjusted to correct some discrepancy in value that occurred in some part of your relationship that might have related to a completely different player.
“So we do our best to allocate proper amounts to each player because often there are partners in the player, the agent or his other club. But the way you negotiate values with somebody that is a regular trading partner is very different than you might negotiate those with somebody where you just do a single transaction.”
He denied Cunha was sold at the wrong price as he claimed he had first “heard about him from Marinakis”. “In a way, it was a player that we recruited together to say, ‘come to Botafogo’, and when you’re ready, you can go to the Premier League,” he said. “So it’s a bit of a special case.” Prices, he suggested, “will bounce around, and sometimes you’ll look stupid, and sometimes they’ll make sense, and sometimes it’s part of making an adjustment, because you trade with that particular friend in a lot of situations”
