On June 30, the Fuenlabrada Basketballas the club explains in a statement, received a document signed by the player Bassala Bagayoko (2.07 m power forward and 16 years old, from Mali) and his legal guardian, José María Jabardo Martín, in which they inform the club of their decision to unilaterally terminate the contract that united them to the Madrid entity. “Resolution that is carried out without alleging any reason for non-compliance by the club,” explains Fuenlabrada, who adds that the contract was signed by the player, his parents and the aforementioned guardian, regulating relations between both parties since then. “Fuenlabrada Basketballhow could it be otherwise, will act from now on adopting all the actions it deems necessary in the defense of its interests”. So far the statement.
The contract and compensation
The reality of the labor legal contract that was signed in September 2020 by all parties is that it was for six seasons, until June 2026, with the option of cutting by the club at the end of the fourth campaign, next summer. An important bet for a player who officially turned 14 in the month of the signing, and whose signing was achieved after competing with similar offers from two other ACB teams, Baskonia and Joventut. The most substantial difference is that Fuenla agreed to receive only a part of the player’s termination clause, estimated at 1.1 million euros, if executed. In other words, of those 1.1 million, 60% would be for the club and… 40% for the aforementioned tutorJabardo Martín, who signed the contract in 2020 and now also the unilateral termination of it. To all this, Bagayoko is injured, recovering from the serious injury to his right knee who suffered last November, a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament and the external meniscus, which has kept him out since then.
What it seems is that there a clear interest on the part of the tutor and the player in carrying out a future operation with a third party, leaving Fuenlabrada without financial compensation, which would weigh down the entity’s commitment to the quarry and to Bagayoko. In Fuenla they are meditating on the actions to be taken to ensure compensation, since it is intuited very difficult for the power forward to end up playing with the team, who will seek promotion to the ACB from LEB Oro next year. In fact, Fuenlabrada trusted him as one of their sporting bastions, which is why they made him debut in April 2021 at just 14 years and 7 months surpassing the previous record for precociousness in the League, that of Ricky Rubio with Joventut (14 years and 11 months).
The Biyombo case in 2011
Bagayoko case looms and has certain parallelism with what happened with Bismack Biyombo in 2011. The powerful Congolese center left at the age of 18 for Portland, to play the Nike Hoop Summit (a match for great international promises) against the club’s wishes a few days after the Endesa League ended, and Fuenlabrada did not return. He would end up the following year in the NBA, in Michael Jordan’s Charlotte Bobcatsonce the lockout was lifted (lockout) which coincided with the start of the 2011-12 campaign. However, in between, there was a great battle for player rights. Fuenlabrada, after meeting with Jordan himself in the United States, and after receiving a lot of pressure, he ended up getting a severance payout of $1.5 million. The player had previously sued the club to avoid payment of the clause, but in December 2011 the courts dismissed the petition.
The contract was valid, Biyombo wanted to break it and the club had the right to be compensated. And so it was, with 1.5 million dollars. Now, 12 years later, there is a situation with certain parallels, with Bassala Bagayoko wanting to break a commitment in force until 2026 that establishes a clause of 1.1 million, although 40% is for the legal guardian, the same one who now signs the document that unilaterally communicates the termination of the contract. Attentive.