TS Galaxy did not get a cent from letting Aphelele Teto join Livingston but will benefit in his future sale, according to agent Aleksa Sredojevic, who was involved in the deal.
Galaxy confirmed the departure of Teto after three months of back-and-forth talks with Livingston but could not find a financial agreement with the DStv Premiership club and the best way possible was for him to leave for free since they saw the potential.
Livingston, who finished seventh last season, felt Teto playing abroad – means Galaxy stands a good chance of selling him to clubs like Celtic, Rangers.
Teto impressed scouts during the Galaxy’s trip to Europe during the FIFA World Cup break, playing against such as Giresunspor from Turkey, Sampdoria and Dynamo Dresden.
“We started to work and collaborated a little bit and we just figured out what can be the best solution because this is a team that doesn’t have so much money but they are very good in transition of players to bigger teams,” said Sredojevic to iDiski Times, who is the cousin of former Orlando Pirates coach Milutin Sredojevic.
“We tried in Europe and the kind of money that was required, we said it was not possible and maybe South African players can be interesting because we can make it as soon as possible and take a look at some players like this and we found Teto.
“The coach of Livingston (David Martindale) said ‘he knew him from the preparation in Italy and anyway you need to check everything for me because this is a huge jump of course’.
“I called the coach Sead Ramovic [Galaxy coach], we spoke and the coach told me that he has the potential – after that I spoke to the president of the club [Tim Sukazi] and we agreed about this transfer of the future sale, not money involved because Livingston cannot pay some transfer amount.
“Livingston will give Galaxy the percentage on the next sale because Livingston is a very good club in Scotland. If they sell Teto for a big amount the president of Galaxy will get good money because it is 50-50. So it is attractive because they can sell him to Celtic, Rangers and of course in England.”
Livingston, a former Scottish Premiership champion, have previously faced financial trouble in 2004, and were relegated to the Scottish First Division in 2006.
In July 2009 the club further faced financial skid and they were on the verge of liquidation before the deal was struck to save them, and they have no intention of spending more than they have to face the same situation.
But they have been given opportunities through their hands of players who have reached full international status such as Efe Ambrose, Leigh Griffiths, Wes Hoolahan, Robert Snodgrass and one of the great strikers in Scotland – Kenny Miller.
