Don Bortey reveals how agents cheated him in Israel

Former Ghana and Hearts of Oak forward, Bernard Don Bortey, has revealed some cruel moments he had to endure in the hands of football agents during his active days as a professional football.

Bortey, regarded as one of the best players to grace the local scene, says he was unable to make millions out of the game due to unfair treatment from football agents.

According to him, football could not make him rich despite playing in Europe, Ghana and the laurels he won.

The Hearts of Oak legend made a lot of revelations in an interview with Ohene-Bampoe Brenya on Happy Sports, on Happy 98.9 FM, on how he was cheated during his short-stint with Isreali club Bnei Sakhnin.

Bortey joined the Israeli side on loan from Hearts of Oak for a period of six months.

According to him, the deal to Israel was orchestrated by the Ghana Football Association President, Kurt Okraku and Vicent Odotey-Sowuah, both management members of Hearts of Oak at the time.

“I signed a pre-contract here in Ghana before going to sign the original contract in Israel. The problem I had during my second time in Israel was that I didn’t get my signing on fee of $30,000. Kurt Okraku was in charge of the deal. But I don’t know who received the money on my behalf, that is if its Kurt Okraku, Vicent Odotei or the foreign agent”, he told Happy 98.9FM.

“I had played in the Europa League, some international matches for the club and I wasn’t receiving my monthly allowance of $1,000 so I made a complain to my agent, but he told me to forget about it. I couldn’t ask the club because of language barrier”.

Don Bortey mentioned that he only received one-month of his salary before terminating the contract.

“I only received one-month salary from the six-month contract that I signed. The rest of the five-months salary I didn’t even know where it went. The team was ready to do everything for me. They sent me $500 even when I was here in Ghana. They even gave me $1,000 to send home when I got there. Someone stole my money but I can’t blame anyone. I should have been bold to enquire from the club”.

“I complained to former Hearts of Oak Coach, Eyal Lachman who told me to terminate the contract because I was being cheated. When I terminated the contract my agent didn’t even say anything”, he added.