Dinamo Zagreb terminate Alieu Darbo contract

Dinamo Zagreb part ways with Alieu Darbo

Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb have terminated the contract of Swedish-born Gambian forward Alieu Darbo, this blog can reveal.

Darbo became the second Gambian after defender Lamin ‘Basmen’ Samateh to be signed by a Croatian top flight club but his stay was short-lived after the 15-time Croatian champions terminated his contract without making a single appearance.

The 21-year-old signed a three-year contract with Dinamo in August 2013 but the club has decided to part ways with the forward citing injury problems.

“Alieu Darbo is no longer a Dinamo player. We signed him last summer but because it has taken so long for him to recover from his injury, we decided to terminate the contract,” Dinamo Zagreb’s press officer Vedran Attias told Fotbolltransfers.

The case of Alieu Darbo was a strange one after he claimed to have signed for English Championship club Wigan Athletic last year, claims the 2013 FA Cup champions denied.

Wigan’s club secretary Stuart Hayton told this blog back in July 2012 that his club has nothing to do with the former Gambia Under 17 and 20 international and that his club do not conduct their business in such ways.

“Sorry none of this is true [Alieu Darbo signing for Wigan]. Clearly such things are fake and not the way a professional organization would conduct its business,” Hayton said at the time.

“It is a total scam. He has never been on trial with them and Wigan have never heard of him,” Östersunds FK’s Chairman Daniel Kindberg, speaking to Östersunds-Posten, also said at the time.

When asked why a player would do such, Kindberg replied, “Normally it’s the agents or advisers who do not adhere completely to the truth, but in this case the player himself fooled many people [particularly Gambians]. He wants to try to sell his own name.”

Alieu Darbo left French club Le Mans after growing disillusioned over being continuously overlooked for the A team, but has now sat three years without kicking a ball.

He was the subject of a transfer battle between two French clubs in Le Mans and Nice before he decided to join Le Mans in 2009.

He was invited on trials by both clubs after he was spotted playing for the reserves at a local club in Sweden, Örgryte IS, which is located in Gothenburg but impressed both after only two days into his two weeks stay before he was offered a deal by now Championnat National [French third division] club, Le Mans.