Stoke City refused work permit
Posted on November 25, 2013
Stoke City’s expectations of signing United States forward Juan Agudelo seem to be totally over after Juan was refused a work permit. The twenty year old footballer had been anticipated to join during the transfer window in January, the time when his contract with Major League Soccer team New England Revolution ran out. In August, he signed up a pre-contract deal with the Potters.
On Wednesday, after attending a hearing in London with manager Mark Hughes, Stoke City chief executive Tony Scholes told that they were highly disappointed that the panel rejected their appeal. Regrettably, under the regulations of the appeal panel system, they were handed no account why the application was denied and so could only assume as to the reasons why they have not been successful.
He added that the standards by which the panel must make work permit covering decisions are quite well established and they have been in place for few years and in spite of recent discussion in the news, that measures were not altered.
Therefore they were left amazed that their application for work permit for Agudelo has been denied when one compares his ability and talent to footballers who have been allowed a work permit on appeal in the past.
Agudelo, born in Colombia, represented United States at both under-20 as well as under-17. In the year 2010, he made his debut for the national team against South Africa. In that match, he scored the only goal of the game.