Parma And Palermo In Dispute Over Le Mans' De Melo Tullio De Melo of Le Mans is a man very much in demand, with Parma and Palermo fighting an unortho

Tulio De Melo is set to leave Le Mans in summer for a stint in Italian football - but where?

The Brazilian forward, who has been in great form for MUC so far this season, has allegedly already signed a preliminary deal with Parma president Tommaso Ghirardi.

However, what followed could invalidate the whole thing. With Parma preoccupied with their chase for Cristiano Lucarelli, whom they eventually landed, Palermo's sporting director Rino Foschi thought to try his luck.

Sure enough, in front of Sky cameras, De Melo then signed a deal with Palermo instead.

Now it seems that both agreements are as valid as each other. Should he pick Palermo, as seems likely, then the rosanero will give Parma some measure of compensation.

But signing two deals may in fact result in the player being hit with a transfer embargo, just as Luis Figo was in 1995. The Portuguese legend signed on with both Juventus and Parma, but was then told he could move to neither. Eventually, he ended up at Barcelona instead.

Could De Melo suffer a similar fate?