Kolkata, November 21: Manchester United circumvented French league rules to pay AS Monaco a bonus of €4million by playing a 'ghost game’ as part of the agreement to take Radamel Falcao on loan, according to the latest set of documents released by Football Leaks.
The Colombian forward had joined United in 2014 on loan on the deadline day.
A €10m loan fee was agreed. However United allegedly wanted to make €4m conditional on the club finishing in the top four. But with Ligue 1 rules prohibitting performance bonuses, both the parties came up with an alternative agreement that involved United signing two contracts with Monaco on the same day on Sept 1, 2014.
As per football leaks, the Red Devils in the first contract set a €6m loan fee for Falcao and in the second reportedly agreed that United would pay €4.5m to play a friendly against Monaco in July, 2015, if they finished in the top four of the Premier League.
One of the clause was if the friendly did not go ahead, United must still pay Monaco.
United finished fourth next season under Van Gaal. However the match did not take place. With United needing to play a European qualifier to secure a place in the Champions League group stage, Van Gaal following the tour of US cancelled the friendly.
Both the clubs have not yet commented on the allegations.