Royal AM lawyer misleading the public says Samir Nurkovic camp

The striker and the KwaZulu-Natal outfit are still embroiled in a contract dispute going back a year ago when Nurkovic won the matter at FIFA, with Royal AM ordered to settle a debt of R12-million or be sanctioned.

Following their decision not to pay, the world governing body slapped the club with a transfer ban that is still in place to date.  

Speaking on Metro FM earlier this week, Leruma Thobejane claimed CAS would soon issue a ruling having referred the case to the sporting body to hopefully reverse the decision to prohibit Royal AM from registering players.

But Davoc Lazic told SABC Sport that Thobejane was off the mark. 

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“The fact that the club’s lawyer continues to publicly comment on confidential CAS hearings is, in my opinion, quite unacceptable. In my practice, I would never adopt such an approach, especially not by publicly discussing details of confidential arbitration proceedings, as this can only harm the club's reputation and position,” he explained.

Nurkovic returned to the Premier Soccer League [PSL] last season to join TS Galaxy and Thobejane said he was expecting the player to be open-minded about negotiating a payment structure to put the saga to bed.

But the Serbian forward is still holding out for the full pay-out, with Lazic confident the case will still go in their favour – whenever a decision is made.

“My learned colleague’s statement that CAS awards are rendered within 45 days of the hearing is simply incorrect. Typically, there are several postponements, and it generally takes a few months to a year to receive an award from CAS,” he explained.

“CAS is a serious institution, and each award undergoes multiple levels of review within CAS itself before reaching the parties involved. Therefore, it is common for decisions to be postponed several times, especially during the Olympic Games and summer when much of the staff is engaged in other tasks. Keeping that in mind, I would not be surprised if CAS postpones its decision yet again and does not deliver it in September, as such delays are a normal course of action.”

Royal AM were slapped with an additional ban after FIFA ruled they’d breached their contract with defender Ricardo Nascimento, making the total ban a six-window restriction from signing new players.