New York City FC are looking to complete the purchase of Ronald Matarrita’s rights from former club Alajuelense in the coming days. NYCFC only acquired half of his rights last season for $525,000, with the other half still belonging to his former club.
The renewed push to buy out all of Matarrita’s transfer rights comes amid increased bids from clubs in Europe. Matarrita’s agent Joaquim Batica arrived in Costa Rica earlier this week and is negotiating the purchase of the other half of his rights by NYCFC. Matarrita himself is set to arrive in Costa Rica on Wednesday.
According to Costa Rican newspaper La Nación, NYCFC’s original offer to buy the remaining portion of his rights for $350,000 was rejected by Alajuelense for being too low.
NYCFC currently hold his international transfer certificate meaning they have the final say on any transfer. However, NYCFC only own half of his rights which means they will have to split any transfer profit with Alajuelense. As of today if NYCFC were to sell Matarrita they would only receive 33.3% of the total transfer amount with 50% of the transfer fee going to Alajuelense and one third of New York’s 50% going to MLS as per roster rules.
For NYCFC to make a profit on the sale of Matarrita under the current structure, he would have to be sold for approximately $1,750,000, and even then NYC would only receive $583,000 back from the $525,000 they spent.
This math is important to keep in mind considering reports that NYCFC turned down an offer from Club Brugge KV of $1.5 million. If NYC accepted Brugge’s offer, they would have received just $500,000, meaning they would have lost $25,000 on the transfer and in a league with a salary cap, that’s not a smart move.
As reported previously, Alajuelense coach Raul Pinto has stated that there is interest in Matarrita from Bundesliga clubs Borussia Dortmund and Hamburg. We have also been able to confirm interest, but no offer yet, from Turkish club Galatasaray. His agent confirmed interest from clubs in Germany, France, Portugal and Turkey.
#MLS : El agente Joaquim Batica confirmó que Ronald Matarrita es seguido en la #Bundesliga, #Ligue1, #Portugal y #Turquía. pic.twitter.com/UiPJJyD1Zf
— TDMás (@tdmas_cr) December 7, 2016
NYCFC have increased their offer to Alajuelense for Matarrita’s full rights as they strongly consider moving Matarrita this winter. According to a source familiar with the talks, a Bundesliga club has already offered New York City $4 million for Matarrita.
A $4 million transfer fee would get NYCFC just over $1.3 million, increasing to $2.6 million if they control his full rights. With a difference of $1.3 million on the table, one can understand why NYCFC is trying to secure his full transfer rights before the January transfer windows open in Europe.
Ronald Matarrita has impressed in his first year in MLS, being named defender of the year by NYCFC. While Matarrita is happy in New York, he has never been shy about his goal of one day playing in Europe. It would be difficult for NYCFC and Ronald Matarrita to pass on a lucrative offer from a European club in the January window.