The former captain of Colo Colo, now a figure in Toulouse, responds harshly to Alan Silberman, who accuses his current representative, Fernando Felicevich, of having removed such a condition from him. He assures that he has never had a proposal that would benefit the cacique on the table. He also talks about his present in French football and the Chilean team.
Gabriel Suazo is living one of the best moments of his career. At the end of last year he was crowned champion with Colo Colo, he made the leap to European football and today he is a consolidated player in the Chilean team. In Toulouse, the French club that recruited him as a free player, precisely in response to the evolution that his game had, he also gained space. He is already a starter and every weekend he adds recognition. He also left some traces of this South American technique which made the difference on the Old Continent and which earned him a special nickname: Suazidane. It is the contraction between his surname and that of Zinedine Zidane, an emblematic figure of France.
He will talk about it all Jock even if what alienates him the most is the complaint filed by his former representative, Alan Silberman, who accused his new agent, Fernando Felicevich, to have stolen his representation . The left-back is upset, above all, because he is accused of having accepted an offer that would not leave money for Colo Colo, supposedly, having other beneficial proposals for the Cacique. “It’s all a lie. Never in all the years I’ve been with Silberman have I received a formal offer. Never” the national team shoots from France.
What is the story of your transfer to Toulouse? Inexplicably, you were the captain and the face of Colo Colo, but you were a free player, you didn’t have a club and you were unemployed…
Like you say, I didn’t believe it either. The uncertainty that everyone had about my future, I had it too, because at no time did I receive an offer from Silberman and Jason. I worked with them between 9 and 10 years old, since I was 15 or 16 years old. From the beginning, I always said that my dream was to play in Europe and at no time did an offer come to me, being owner and captain of Colo Colo, especially for the last two years, and also player of the team national. I must be free. If I already had a contract, with a clause, no offer came to me, maybe they thought that when I was free they could send me an offer, because there was no longer any need to negotiate with no club and there is no longer a clause involved. That’s how they thought. And the truth is, I also thought the offer was coming to me, and now it does.
And he didn’t come?
Nothing. At no time did I have an offer. Until I started discovering different situations that I didn’t like. They started telling me directly about other countries, that there were mandates, from both Silberman and Jason Pappe, for the same club for me. In other words, to give you an example, three different intermediaries offered me the same club. So, of course, when is a club going to trust a player if he is offered by three different agents. Different mandates for different clubs started coming in on my personal WhatsApp, and sometimes mandates for the same clubs, but from different people.
When did you discover all this?
This is something I started to discover in December. I couldn’t believe it, really. I couldn’t believe it.
Did you ask Silberman for an explanation?
In truth, to be honest, I didn’t even ask for an explanation. I just kept trusting him, believing he was going to make me an offer, until the glass started to overflow. Then I started to discover that there were offers for me. And I imagined there were, because being in the national team, being a starter and captain of Colo Colo, playing in the Copa Libertadores, well, there must be something. Unfortunately, I started to discover that they were being asked for excessive commissions, where they received amounts that even I would not have received, as a transferred player. At no time did I receive an offer, even as a free player.
Silberman accuses him of not having left Colo Colo money, having offers that benefited the Cacique…
I would have liked Colo Colo to receive what it would have been for me, for all that it brought me and for all that Colo Colo is for me, but over the 10 years that I have worked with them , they never sent me a formal offer. WhatsApp or my email, for such a club. Never. And that’s when they contacted me from Fernando’s (Felicevich) company saying, ‘Listen, Gabriel, we talked to your rep, we talked to him about an option of a club that loves you. And that was the answer.” They send me the answer and they don’t even ask about the club. The only thing they ask and they are told: “Great, if you have the offer, send it to me and we will split the commission between three”. In other words, the only thing they cared about was the commission. They weren’t interested in which club, or in which league, or where it ended. When I learned that, I arrived from vacation, they contacted me, we got together and they said to me “it happens, it happens”. And that’s where Fernando appears. I have an appointment with him. And in that moment, all the tension that I had went away thanks to them, thanks to the work team that they have. The truth is, if it wasn’t for the work crew they have, I wouldn’t be here. I don’t know where it would be. If I’m being honest.
You were already half desperate by then, weren’t you?
I swear, but I swear, many times I came home after practice to kiss my wife, kiss my parents, I said to them “I don’t know what will happen to me”. I mean, I swear to you that, in pain, in pain, I will come home. It was totally uncertain for me. Full of uncertainty. It was something that didn’t fit in my head. I said: “I am the captain of Colo Colo, a Chilean national team, playing as a starter for practically three or four consecutive years, now there is no more clause, I am a free player, how not to be interested team! How not to have an offer! I don’t understand!”. I swear I found no explanation. It was hard to believe. In December, already ending the year, I could not understand it. It is totally a lie that an offer came to me and I rejected an offer so that Colo Colo would not receive any money. Totally lie. And that’s what makes me angry, because I don’t like the club that I really like, where I was born and which has always been my home. And let me feel bad, that’s up to me. Let them say what they want about me, but don’t let them touch my love for Colo Colo or what Colo Colo is to me. I cannot allow this.
Is that what bothers you the most?
As such. Let it be said that I left nothing in Colo Colo, when in reality I never had an offer from them. Nothing ever came to me. And I started to find out through these intermediaries, that I have no idea how they got my number. They wrote to me saying how is it possible that my representative has such and such a person speaking for you in the same club. It even left me very badly in other clubs, because it was like I went with different people to see if someone brought me something and I went with them.
This gave him the image of an unreliable player…
As such. Fernando appears there. I went to talk to him, we had a meeting. He helped me a lot and thanks to him I am here in Toulouse, living one of my dreams. As I told you, I would have liked to leave some money at the club, but unfortunately an offer never came. At any time.
Silberman says Bolados and Cortés practically brainwashed him on trip to Miami to sign you with Fernando Felicevitch …
Another lie that bothers me, especially because they are my friends. Let them get involved in things they have no idea about… I’m very reserved about my business. I tell my things to my wife and my parents, and yet there are things I don’t even say. And that didn’t happen in Miami. It happened when I came back here. Also, Brayan and Marcos never asked me because they knew what a tough time I was going through. I was a little ashamed to say that I’m a free player, that I don’t have a club, that I’m the captain of Colo Colo but that I don’t know where to go, because I had nothing. Silberman represented me and I didn’t want to let him down either. So what am I saying?
Did you speak with Silberman after signing for Toulouse?
Go figure. I went through all the bad times, of all the things I found out, I signed here in Toulouse, but I still left him a message, explaining my decision. I told him, “I made this decision because I believe it was the best for me, my family and my future. I didn’t get an answer, and I didn’t expect it either, but I was still a gentleman, for the time I was with him. Otherwise, I wouldn’t leave him anything, from what I found out. I spent 10 years there and never received an offer, even when I was free. It’s not true that I rejected an offer to leave nothing to Colo Colo.
At some point there was a rumor about River, Besiktas in Turkey, nothing came to fruition?
Nothing, because, in truth, nothing ever came. Neither from Besiktas, nor from River, nor from any of these clubs.
And now, how is he? He has already scored a goal, we call him Suazidane… Alberto Acosta He said if he continues like this, he will go to a higher level league soon. He looks mature and is having a great time.
I am very happy here. With my wife, my son who is on his way. It’s a great club. Although not one of the biggest, they treat you amazing. There are people who help you a lot. An example: there is a person who devotes himself exclusively to the family, who goes with my wife to the hospital. They are dedicated to this level of detail. One, as a player, can devote himself exclusively to what he knows how to do. These are very important things. We are going to have a child here and we don’t understand the language. All of this, as I tell you, is due to the work I sacrificed myself to and, also, to Fernando’s work with his company, which helped me to be here. It’s a decision that we made with his work team, which analyzes what is in each club, the options they have. They told me about the club, the staff, that the assistant spoke Spanish, that the coach had directed to Real Sociedad. We arrive with everything much clearer. Afterwards, it’s up to everyone to do it in the best way. I am very happy and I hope to continue to compete in the best way and also be in the best shape for the national team.
In this regard, La Roja needed a win and they got it in a friendly match, which was more like the Qualifiers…
Yes, as is, we feel the same. At the end of the game, we hugged and said, “We won a playoff game.” It was important to win, it was what we needed. Little by little we show our game, although there are still details to adjust. We feel more comfortable. And, above all, the commitment of each player to the national team has been demonstrated. This has been demonstrated with every bullet. We had this conviction and this desire to win the match. Little by little, we will grow as a team and with the technical staff that we have.
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Source: Latercera
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
