Away from the field, Jean-Philippe Mateta is engaged in a legal standoff with his former lawyer. Pierre-Henri Bovis is demanding 540,000 euros in fees from the French striker. A case which has opposed the two men for several years and which concerns the remuneration of the advisor for his services to the player. According to The Teamit is a “classic lawyer inheritance dispute”. But the versions differ radically: the lawyer’s camp accuses the player of
“multiply procedures to avoid paying”while that of Mateta denounces “unfounded procedures”.
It all started in 2018, when Pierre-Henri Bovis took charge of certain personal and professional disputes from Jean-Philippe Mateta. A year later, the two men signed a sporting mandate. The lawyer is then responsible for managing the attacker’s career in exchange for 10% of his income. At this time, the player had just extended his contract for two years with Mainz. But his advisor will not immediately receive remuneration for his services, preferring to wait for a future transfer to receive the amounts due to him.
Loaned to Crystal Palace in 2021, Jean-Philippe Mateta permanently joined the Eagles the following year. But in the meantime, the attacker has changed lawyers. Dismissed in July 2020, Me Bovis was replaced by Me Paul Latouche. It is then that the dispute takes on another dimension. The former advisor still believes he can claim 10% of the remuneration negotiated as part of the player’s contract extension in Mainz, signed in June 2019.
540,000 euros at the heart of the dispute
This claim corresponds to the 540,000 euros claimed today by Pierre-Henri Bovis. After several formal notices, the lawyer won his case before the President of the Paris Bar, who ordered the payment of this sum. But the decision was then overturned by the Paris Court of Appeal in 2023. It ruled that the validity of the mandate must first be examined.
Indeed, Jean-Philippe Mateta’s lawyers contest the validity of the document, considering in particular that it does not comply with the required forms. They also claim that he would not have been signed on January 27, 2019, as indicated, but on the following July 27, i.e. after the player’s extension in Mainz. A version contested by Pierre-Henri Bovis, who claims to have transmitted the mandate to the French Football Federation in February 2019. The former lawyer has since taken the matter to court. A hearing is scheduled for spring 2027.
At the same time, Jean-Philippe Mateta initiated criminal proceedings with civil action for forgery. A complaint which was however closed without further action, according to information from
The Team. For his part, Pierre-Henri Bovis has registered a temporary mortgage on the French international’s Parisian apartment. The player tried to have this measure lifted, but without success.
