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Manchester City centre-back signing hits back at former club in powerful statement

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Juma Bah – who was signed by Manchester City from Real Valladolid during the January market – has hit back at his former club over a statement they released over his exit.

The Sierra Leone-born talent became the Premier League champions’ fourth completed deal of the January transfer window, and the third in the central defensive role after two new arrivals into the first-team squad.

After Txiki Begiristain and his colleagues finalised moves for Abdukodir Khusanov to join from RC Lens and Vitor Reis from Palmeiras, the arrival of Omar Marmoush from Eintracht Frankfurt to bolster attacking positions allowed City some breathing space in the market.

As such, a brief period in the window saw Manchester City complete two developmental deals with Juma Bah arriving from Real Valladolid and Christian McFarlane from New York City FC – a historic moment for the MLS side, seeing an Academy talent move to the Premier League.

However, Bah’s exit from the Spanish club was shrouded in controversy as his now-former employers accused Manchester City of not only tapping up the player, but also forcing him into terminating a youth contract and securing him for a low-cost price.

Since the move to Manchester City was completed, and the follow-up loan switch to RC Lens in France for the remainder of the season, the teenage centre-back has taken to social media himself to respond to a staggering statement issued by Real Valladolid earlier this month.

You can read the full statement below.

The full statement issued by Real Valladolid on the matter read as follows, “Abdulai Juma Bah and his agent informed Real Valladolid yesterday afternoon of their intention to unilaterally break the contract that binds both parties. Previously, yesterday afternoon, Manchester City sent a statement asking Real Valladolid to open negotiations for the player for a possible permanent transfer.

“Today, the Sierra Leonean has decided not to show up at his workplace for morning training. For all these reasons, the Club holds the player responsible for the breach of his contractual commitments, and has asked its legal department to initiate disciplinary action in this regard.

“The Club considers that Manchester City, a member of the City Football Group, is behind the Player’s decision, and appears to have advised the player to take this route, which puts Real Valladolid in a defenceless position, after having recently rejected financial offers of a higher amount, even more so when the player is in the protected legal period of his youth stage and, in recent days, had refused to sign the player’s license with a higher-category Blanquivioleta team, since this would entail an automatic increase in his termination clause. The Club warned the three parties about this situation yesterday through different requests, warning them of the possible consequences of their actions.

“Juma Bah arrived at the Anexos last summer on loan from AIK Freetown. The loan contract with the Sierra Leonean club ended on June 30 of this season and included a clause for Real Valladolid to exercise a purchase option, a clause that the Blanquivioleta entity exercised on January 1 so that the central defender’s federative rights would belong to Pucela under a new contract of longer duration, and with better conditions.

“The player’s intention, supposedly supported and guided by Manchester City and his agent, has caused great disappointment and indignation within Real Valladolid, who welcomed Juma Bah with open arms and gave him the opportunity of a lifetime.

“The Royal Spanish Football Federation has just confirmed that the player has deposited the amount for the unilateral termination of the contract. In this regard, Real Valladolid reports that it reserves the right to resort to the appropriate legal and sporting jurisdictions to exercise its rights and defend its interests.”

Manchester City have denied any wrongdoing in the matter and pushed back on allegations made by the Spanish club in their statement.

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