MOSCOW, Sep 18, Sergey Fuchs. Spartak Moscow management was not informed about the doping proceedings against football player Keith Balde before his transfer, the club's general director Evgeny Melezhikov told reporters. /09/734651db65bc8eb3f715f00ed0e4280a.png» />Spartak MoscowRussia1 : 0LokomotivRussia On September 17, Spartak announced that Balde was suspended until December 5, 2022 for violating the doping control procedure. It was emphasized that no prohibited substances were found in Balde's doping test.
“We learned about the problem with Balde, in my opinion, on September 7th. The decision was on September 6, we found out the next day. Appeal? We are not a party to this proceedings. But the period of disqualification is quite short, and the appeal itself can take months. As far as I understand, the lawyers of the previous club of the player were involved in the transition, they did not attach any importance to this, counted on a fine, did not consider it necessary to inform us in a timely manner, «Melezhikov said.
«They reacted very painfully to the situation with Balde. You can search as much as you like guilty, but, of course, the club is to blame, probably, including myself personally. But it was difficult to foresee the situation at such a time. Probably, the agents should have notified. It's a shame that the team and the coaching staff did not get the player they wanted. Reputation these agents? I didn’t know them before,” added the general director of Spartak. «Keita will train individually in Moscow,» Melezhikov said. Balde joined Spartak at the end of August as a free agent, signing a three-year contract. For Muscovites, he played one match, coming on as a substitute in the game of the eighth round of the Russian Premier League (RPL) with Zenit.