It’s safe to say that, since rescuing Deinze from becoming the latest Belgian club to disappear, AAD Investment Group might have hoped for a more subdued start to their tenure. The investment group, who are looking to use crypto investment and their version of a scouting metaverse to ‘revolutionise football scouting’, managed to rescue the club with a very quick takeover that saw the club change hands in just a matter of weeks.
However, they have already accused one major Belgian newspaper of fake news. It had been reported by Het Nieuwsblad that the players, who have not been paid for two and a half months, had been refusing to train. The club announced that this was wrong and that, due to some delays, they would be paying players on Friday. However, a friendly game against Cercle Brugge was cancelled as players, understandably, did not want to put themselves at risk of injury without being paid.
The club are confident that wages will be paid tomorrow (15th of November), and are challenging a licensing committee ruling that deducted the club three points for not paying wages. Deinze blame this on the fact that a deadline of the 12th of November was not feasible as they could not release the funds following the takeover in that short timeframe. AAD, according to HLN, has a starting capital of only 12,000 euros and is located at a post box address in Luxembourg. Founder Doudou Cisse claims that they are backed by an investment holding company named Licorne gulf, with two venture capitalists who find financiers in the middle eastern gulf states. Furthermore, they are also joined to an American venture capital fund called GEM.
Pressure will certainly be eased on the new owners if they can come through on their promises to pay players by the 15th, otherwise there will be plenty of questions.
GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson – Author of The Africa Cup of Nations: The History of an Underappreciated Tournament
