Tottenham accused of 'taking advantage' of Russia's invasion of Ukraine as Shakhtar consider legal action against Premier League club

Shakhtar president Serhiy Palkin claimed Tottenham's behaviour over the Solomon signing has been "not acceptable" and suggested that a legal route - as the Ukrainian side have already gone down regarding Lyon and Mateus Tete - is an increasing possibility as they look for fair compensation.

Solomon is one of many players whose careers have been directly affected by the war in Ukraine, with FIFA granting all non-Ukrainian nationals the right to suspend their contracts. The Israeli forward initially joined Fulham on loan but was then signed to a long-term deal by Spurs while he still technically would have been under contract with Shakhtar. Palkin has said that in similar circumstances where players have gone to Real Madrid (Vinicius Tobias) and Corinthians (Maycon), the clubs haven't played the kind of "dirty games" he is accusing Tottenham of by paying for loans over two seasons.

Speaking at length to the Daily Telegraph, Palkin said: "I am feeling very bad towards Tottenham. I cannot believe this kind of club with a huge history can behave like this. From my point of view, it's not acceptable behaviour. They have taken advantage of the war. Maybe if this was a very small club in Europe with not much money, maybe I could understand it.

"It's very strange everybody says we are one football family, when one of the top clubs receives a player free of charge and the market value of this player is up to €25 million (£21m/$27m). We invested in this player and developed this player for this kind of value.

"I even said to Tottenham: 'I don't need money for him now. Let's have some kind of sell-on fee in the future: 30 or 40 per cent. That would be enough for us.' But they said: 'No, we'll give you 10 per cent.' Giving us 10 per cent is not respectful. You behave not like the football family. You behave like a robber on the road. It’s not correct. Therefore, at this moment we will see the next steps.

"We have stopped any negotiations with Tottenham. We are concentrating on a court case against Lyon and we will see the result of that and after that we will make a decision about what kind of steps we will take against Tottenham.

"Real Madrid took [Vinicius Tobias] and paid us for two years. Corinthians did the same [with Maycon]. You see the difference between Real Madrid and Tottenham? The management of Real Madrid behaved themselves and how did Tottenham behave?"

Having opened a case against Lyon, Shakhtar have shown they are prepared to launch a legal challenge over this type of thing. The outcome of that will be crucial in any future challenges because it will either set a precedent or rule against Shakhtar.