Report: Romanian Federation blocking Ricketts’ move to Germany

Tosaint Ricketts

Tosaint Ricketts bid to play in Germany may come to a crashing halt — as Bild reports that the Edmonton native may have to go home without getting a deal with second-division side Dynamo Dresden.

The Romanian Football Federation is apparently demanding that Dynamo pay a transfer fee in order to retain Ricketts’ rights, something that the German club is not willing to do. Ricketts had impressed in his trial with Dynamo, scoring four times in his first three preseason games. But he didn’t appear in Tuesday’s friendly with Manchester City.

When he was back in Edmonton visiting family in June, Ricketts told The 11 that, after a five-month process of extricating himself from a contract with Politehnica Timisoara, the Romanian Football Federation told him to “just leave.”

Ricketts signed with the Romanian side in 2010, when the team was in first place in the Romanian League. But, in 2011, the team’s financial issues saw it lose its place in Champions League qualifying and relegated down a division in Romania.

As Ricketts explained it to The 11, he went unpaid for three months before he could even bring up the situation with the Romanian Football Federation. And it wasn’t until five months after the cheques dried up that he was finally allowed to leave. But, despite that, the RFF is now claiming that Ricketts’ contract is still valid, and that Dresden would need to come to a loan deal or buy Ricketts.

And, to make matters worse, he can’t stay in Germany and train indefinitely, either. His work permit will expire as early as Thursday, Bild reports.

Coach Ralf Loose was quoted: “If the contract situation proves too difficult, we’ll just have to do without him.”

This could be a major blow to the Canadian national program, to have the speediest attacker in the lineup shelved because of a contract issue.

Ricketts’ most recent Tweet says it all. It simply reads, “What a blow.”