Ricky Alvarez Update: Player Signs For Sampdoria, Legal Dispute Ongoing

Ricky Alvarez has signed a contract with Seria A side Sampdoria until the end of the season, with the player cleared to play football after being left in limbo with regards of who he belongs to since the summer.

Although Alvarez was only on loan at Sunderland from Inter Milan last season a clause in the deal caused a dispute between his parent club and ourselves with regards to who he actually belonged to, with the Milanese outfit claiming we were duty bound to purchasing the player on a permanent basis. Sunderland, however, have attempted for many months to distance themselves from the deal, claiming that the contract they agreed upon was invalid as Inter Milan failed to act upon a knee problem which sidelined the winger for the majority of the season.

Despite the ongoing situation involving him Alvarez had been training with Sampdoria for some time and, after FIFA agreed to make the player a free agent upon the opening of the free agent market, he agreed to sign for Vincenzo Montella's side.

Alvarez has spoken publicly of his desire to resolve his situation, and was quoted as saying last month:

I really wanted to come back. I'm keen on staying here and I'm very driven.

Over the last six months I had a number of problems that meant I had to stop, but I feel okay now.

Samp are a great team, they have some excellent footballers and they did well last year. It's a really good challenge for me.

Despite the player being allowed to find a club, the legal dispute between Sunderland and Internazionale is still ongoing.

The whole situation is a bit of a mess and I just hope that a final resolution can be found sooner rather than later. Alvarez didn't actually seem that bad a player but for the fee we were set to pay it was a giant risk considering the amount of time he spent out injured.