Jim Solbakken has repeatedly confirmed to the state prosecutor that he is the agent of Babacar Sarr. Last week Sarr was due to appear in court facing a rape charge, but failed to show up.
An international arrest warrant has been issued for Sarr. And Solbakken suddenly denies being Sarr’s agent.
By Lars Johnsen and Håvard Melnæs
Photo: Dylan Martínez/Reuters
Just days before the footballer Babacar Sarr was to stand trial accused of rape in Norway, Jim Solbakken confirmed to the state prosecutor Ingvild Thorn Nordheim that he was the agent for the Senegalese player. Solbakken assured the prosecutor that he had passed on the relevant information about the court appearance to his client.
But when trial in the Court of Appeals started 12 June in Molde, Babacar Sarr was nowhere to be seen.
On 11 June, the day before the trial, Damac FC, a club in the second tier in Saudi Arabia, announced on Twitter it had signed Babacar Sarr. The player had been released by his former club, FC Yenisey Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, after the club’s relegation from the Russian Premier League.
Last week, the day after the trial was scheduled to take place, agent Jim Solbakken, Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s best friend and adviser – and agent for several of the players on the Norwegian national team – claimed in a text message to the local newspaper in Molde, Romsdals Budstikke, that “I haven’t been representing the player si...
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