Toon Get £5m Bill They Weren't Expecting!

Last updated : 27 April 2009 By Footy Mad - Editor

A court in Mallorca this morning ordered United to pay 5.6m Euros (£5m) for the winger, nine months after his arrival at St James's Park on a supposed free transfer.

Half of that fee is due to Real Mallorca, who Gutierrez left to join Newcastle, and half to Velez Sarsfield, the Argentine club who owned 50 per cent of his registration.

Gutierrez came to Tyneside claiming to have legitimately left on Mallorca under the terms of FIFA's Article 17 - otherwise known as the Webster Ruling.

The clause allows players to unilaterally walk away from a contract after a fixed period.

But the court in the Mallorcan capital of Palma has ruled otherwise, upholding Mallorca's claim to a transfer fee for 26-year-old Gutierrez.