Fulham have paid £3.1 million to Olympique Lyon in settlement of the controversial transfer of French international striker Steve Marlet.
‘We received the check this week, the case is closed,’ Olympique Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas told Reuters on Sunday.
In January, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ordered Fulham to pay the French champions after rejecting an appeal by chairman Mohammed Al-Fayed’s club.
Marlet moved to Fulham in August 2001 for £12.1 million but the Cottagers refused to pay the last instalment of the transfer fee due in December 2002.
Fulham said they withheld the payment because they were unhappy with the role Barcelona-based agents Sebastien and Pascal Boisseau had played in the negotiations.
Lyon complained to world governing body FIFA who ruled last February that the French club were in the right and Fulham should pay the remainder of the fee in full.
Fulham appealed against this decision but in March the club’s chairman Mohamed Al Fayed was ordered to lodge the amount of the last instalment with London’s High Court. The chairman had personally guaranteed the money.
Marlet, who has 14 French caps but who never really settled at Fulham, joined Olympique Marseille on loan in August.
