Jordon Ibe, the former Liverpool forward, is suing AFC Bournemouth over a dispute around image-rights payments held back after his career was derailed by off-field troubles.
After signing for a club record £15 million in 2016, executives made a rare exception of granting Ibe payments on top of his four-year deal linked to his commercial appeal, such as additional shirt sales. However, after the 26-year-old was involved in a string of disciplinary incidents and hit with a driving ban, the club are believed to be withholding additional payments from the final 12 months of his deal.
Bournemouth are understood to have since told Ibe they cannot release any funds until they are satisfied that paying Ibe image-related add-ons wouldn’t be in breach of HMRC regulations.
But the winger, who is now without a club after most recently leaving Derby, appears to have taken exception to Bournemouth’s argument that his conduct meant he no longer had a demonstrable commercial appeal.
Talks between Ibe’s representatives and his former club broke down around six months ago and now the player’s management company has filed a civil claim to High Court administrators.
A listing filed Choongadunga Limited versus AFC Bournemouth appeared for the first time on the HM Courts and Tribunals online database on Tuesday. Choongadunga counts Ibe and his advisor Michael Carnegie among its directors.
It is understood Ibe was among just two players in Bournemouth’s history who have been granted an image-rights deal, but over the past decade, increasing numbers of Premier League players have negotiated such agreements, where they demand reimbursement for the use of their name, nickname, slogan or signatures.
Last November, Ibe described his battle against depression as “the darkest time in my life” after his career nosedived. Having made his Liverpool debut aged 17, the former England youth international started brightly at Bournemouth, but in 2019 he was arrested after failing to stop at the scene having crashed his £130,000 Bentley into a coffee shop in Bromley. After being convicted the following year, Ibe revealed he was in rehabilitation to improve his mental health and become a better person after “making poor judgements”.
Bournemouth had also disciplined him after allegedly turning up for training in an unfit state. Ibe subsequently joined Derby last season, but he played just three minutes of football before being released and going on to sustain a broken leg just a fortnight later, whilst training alone. Bournemouth declined to comment on the case when contacted by Telegraph Sport. Lawyers for Ibe have also been contacted for comment.
