Sunderland ordered to pay Argentine club Velez €362,500 for Ricky Alvarez after FIFA ruling

Sunderland signed Inter Milan’s Argentine international winger Ricky Alvarez on loan back in 2014, and five years on the club are STILL having to pay for the player.

Surviving relegation at the end of the 2014-15 season triggered the obligation to buy Alvarez for €10.5m but the club attempted to renege on that deal due to an injury that Sunderland had claimed Inter would not allow to be treated.

That led to the club losing in the Court of Arbitration for Sport and with FIFA, leading to Sunderland having to pay a significant transfer fee for a player they never signed permanently and who had since move to Sampdoria.

Now, Argentine club Velez Sarsfield have revealed on their official website that FIFA ordered Sunderland to pay them €362,500 for the playmaker.

Velez were due a cut of the fee from Alvarez’s “transfer” from Inter to Sunderland as a solidarity payment due to the 31-year-old coming through the ranks at El Fortin and initiated negotiations in October of last year.

That did not produce results, so the Argentine club went to FIFA on March, 25 and the sport’s governing body ordered Sunderland to make the solidarity payment, which they did on the 25th of last month.

Alvarez only played 11 times for Sunderland in all competitions, with his only goal coming away to Fulham in the FA Cup.