Stefan De Vrij he gave a long interview to the Telegraph in which he talks about his legal case with the FOLLOWINGhis old agency that represented him at the time of the transition from Lazio toInter.
The dispatcher says he had some doubts about the quality of SEG’s work after speaking with Romelu Lukaku in 2019. In the proceedings it then emerged that SEG earned a commission of 9.5 million euros and was entitled to a further 7.5% on any further compensation paid for De Vrij. The defender, thanks to the lawsuit filed, obtained compensation of 4.75 million euros plus interest in the first instance, which then became 5.2 million plus interest in the second.
And thanks to this process the player says he has also received several calls from some colleagues. “I did my moral part – he says – I’ve told my story and what they do with it is their own thing. What I always recommend is… whoever represents you obviously matters. But make sure you have an independent party reviewing all documents. I think that’s the best advice I can give. Sure, it costs, but it’s worth it. This is the most important thing. To make sure everything on paper is done right.”
SEG, in fact, represented De Vrij with a handshake, without any written contract to formalize the agreement and earned first 5% and then 6% on the Dutchman’s contracts, also negotiating the agreement for the transfer to Lazio in 2014. IThe risk, as Lukaku reported to De Vrij, was that the authorities would ask De Vrij for taxes on the commission, despite the fact that a representative agency was not officially listed in the contract with Inter. At that point Lukaku himself passed the number of his lawyer, Sebastien Ledure, to De Vrij, who in turn spoke to his brother Niels, who is also involved in the world of finance. Even before those talks, in any case, the defender had some suspicions about how the negotiations (then collapsed) for the renewal with Lazio and then for the move to Inter had been carried out.
“They would have earned maybe a tenth [della commissione con la Lazio] so it was really important for them that I signed with Inter,” says De Vrij, who at that time asked SEG to reveal the amount of the commission. Request which was finally granted and after which the player discovered that SEG had earned 7.5 million euros paid in three installments over 12 months and a further 2 million euros paid in installments of 200,000 euros every six months for the entire stay of De Vrij to Inter, plus 7.5% of De Vrij’s possible future transfer fee.
Subsequently, SEG asked several times to meet De Vrij, but the player refused and continued the legal battle. “One of the main reasons I kept going was that I was taking a big risk. I ran the risk of paying taxes on their commissions and also a fine. So I had to make sure I was covered by this and if they were not willing to grant it, I would go to court. This was the main reason for moving forward with this project – says the footballer – I knew I had a strong thesis and that I had nothing to hide. I had the truth on my side. They, SEG, had to explain that they did not represent me. All they could say was that I didn’t pay them directly, I wasn’t a customer and I didn’t have a signed contract. But in Dutch law a verbal agreement is binding. It was about justice, so I wasn’t afraid to do it. How did I react to the victory in court? I was elated, the first time and the second, because let’s say that they were years in which I worked very hard. This was a big thing for me. It was very satisfying that the hearing went very well, but you never know what the judge will say. I was very happy. The judges said I was right.”
Among other things, in the years preceding the hearings, De Vrij was contacted by Italian tax authorities and ordered to pay taxes on SEG’s commission on his 2014 deal with Lazio, as well as a fine. “I receive this tax bill seven years later and, obviously, it was a lot of money, but the sums that SEG earned then with Lazio were nothing like the ones they agreed with Inter. But it shows that this risk of fiscal liability it’s real”.
Today De Vrij he has another agent, Federico Pastorello, but any commissions are decided by De Vrij and not between the company and the agent. So much so that last year the player signed a new contract until 2026, with the option to extend for another year. Initially, in fact, De Vrij he had asked the agent to explore the market for alternatives. “My agent found them, but none of them interested me – says De Vrij – It is really very difficult to find an improvement compared to Inter. I spoke to the agent and told him I thought it was okay for the commission to be added to my salary. I said, ‘You [Pastorello] you’ve put in a lot of effort but you haven’t found me a better deal or an alternative that I want, so I’m paying you for the effort.’ He was fine with that.”
