Manchester United have withdrawn the threat of legal action against Lazio after announcing last night, to their intense relief, that the Italian club have finally paid off the £16m transfer fee for Jaap Stam - nearly four years after he left Old Trafford.
United also revealed that Lazio's inability to pay the full amount, as stipulated, within a year of Stam signing in August 2001 had netted them a further £1.3m. Under the terms of a rescheduled agreement, the Old Trafford board had insisted Lazio pay interest as a form of compensation that would, in effect, take Stam's transfer fee up to £17.3m. Stam moved to
The alternative was the possibility of a legal case in which
United had called in Uefa as long ago as September 2002 after revealing they were owed still £12m. Their lawyers subsequently obtained a contractual guarantee from Lazio's parent company, Cirio, that the money would be paid in full.