Chaos Continues to Reign at Sporting CP as Former President Accused of Ordering Kidnap of Player

The chaotic nature of Sporting CP under Bruno de Carvalho continues to be revealed, after allegations have emerged stating the former club President ordered the kidnapping of his winger Bruma in 2013. 

Carvalho has been at the centre of a storm of troubling accusations this year, and was removed from his position in June after allegedly enabling fans to attack his players at their training base in May. For this, he was arrested by the local authorities, and is due to discover his sentence in the coming days.

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In these most recent charges, Carvalho is accused of ordering the Juve Leo ultras group, with which he was friendly, to carry out an abduction of then 18-year-old Bruma, in a bid to force through his contract renewal.

This was revealed by Bruma's agent, Catio Balde, in a note sent to Portuguese publication A Bola. The agent, who also looks after former Sporting representative Ruben Semedo, claims the now RB Leipzig forward was the "first victim of Bruno de Carvalho and his Juve Leo army."

The story goes that the player, amidst ongoing and sour contractual negotiations with the club, was heading to stay at a hotel in Lisbon. However, when he got there, he was accosted by a group of the Juve Leo thugs.

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Writing to the newspaper, Balde proclaimed: "When Bruma arrived in his new Mercedes, barely getting out of the car was surrounded by Juve Leo lions, bronzed, tattooed and bald boys. The first conversation for Bruma 'you have to accompany us because President Bruno de Carvalho wants to talk to you'.

The player fled the scene in his car, at which point he called up Balde and told him he was being "persecuted and a victim of attempted abduction by Sporting supporters". The agent agreed to drive and meet the player in the Monte Abraão district of Lisbon, where they confronted the men chasing him, who continued to reiterate their desire for him to speak to the president.

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The police were then called by an associate of the duo, and the men dispersed at their arrival, but not without threats that they would catch both of them in the end. Bruma and Balde cooperated with the authorities, and the former fled to Dubai whilst the latter engineered his exit from the club.

Balde continued in his note: "It was very clear that it was Bruno de Carvalho ordering the abduction of Bruma to be taken to the stadium with clear intentions to force him to sign the new contract."

At the end, he confirmed: "After the decision that did not recognise the request for termination, I met with Bruno de Carvalho and reached an agreement for the transfer to Galatassaray, Turkey. In these meetings, alone with Bruno de Carvalho, he confessed to me that this situation of the hotel with the supporters was only to frighten and speak with Bruma. "