David Alaba's agent and father strike back at Uli Hoeness over controversial comments
David Alaba's agent and father have responded to accusations made by Uli Hoeness amid their contract negotiations with Bayern München.
David Alaba's entourage have hit back at Bayern München honorary president Uli Hoeness over claims that the Austrian international's agent is a 'greedy piranha', who prevents the parties from agreeing a contract extension due to his financial demands.
Bayern are determined to extend the contract of Alaba, who has one year left on his current deal, but after several meetings with the 28-year-old, his father, George, and agent, Pini Zahavi, talked have stalled.
Zahavi is largely to blame for that, according to Hoeness, who recently claimed that the agent demands to be paid a 'double-digit million sum' once a deal is concluded. But speaking to Sky Germany, Zahavi now denies having made such demands.
"At no time have I discussed a possible commission payment with the responsible at Bayern. The only time this topic came up was at our meeting in Lisbon, at which [FC Bayern sporting director] Hasan Salihamidzic asked me about my expectations in this regard. I told him that we should work on agreement with the player first, but that I would not demand more than usually. I'm not looking to be paid more than other agents, who have received commission payments from Bayern. Once again: We haven't discussed numbers yet," said Zahavi.
Alaba's father, who Hoeness said has fallen under the agent's spell, has also responded to the claims of the former Bayern president.
"I brought David Alaba to FC Bayern as a teenager. Over all these years, there have been several opportunities to transfer David to another club, but we were loyal and always decided to stay. I didn't expect FC Bayern to spread dirty lies about salary and commission payments in public now. To claim that we can't come to an agreement because of such a payment is one of these dirty accusations. And all this just because we don't accept the figures they have offered. We have our own ideas," said George Alaba.