Carbone warned: Don't be greedy

Carbone, who is joining Como, is owed around £3.5m by the Bantams for the remainder of his £40,000-a-week four-year contract. But the pay-off from the club is certain to be a fraction of that.

Chairman Geoffrey Richmond has revealed that talks are ongoing with Carbone's advisors but refused to comment on reports of an £800,000 figure. But it is unlikely City could offer more than £1m.

Agent Giovanni Paladini is urging Carbone - the only one of the 16 sacked players not to come back - to be sensible with his demands.

He said: "Benito won't get half of what he is owed - and probably not even half of that. But my advice to him is to reach agreement without being greedy.

"He won't get that money back so they need to agree terms that are acceptable as well as helpful to the club. We don't want it to drag on and on because that is good to nobody.

"Nobody wants to go to court over this and I'm sure he agrees. The club have made their decision and Benito has left it in the hands of his legal people to sort out quickly."

Paladini still believes that Carbone made the wrong move when he joined City two years ago after a successful time on loan with Aston Villa.

He said: "I told him at the time that Villa was the best choice but Benito wanted to take the money. Sometimes people are greedy and when you are offered that much then it is difficult to turn it down.

"Bradford were chasing him all over the place before he agreed. But now you get these type of problems.

"Clubs must learn from what has happened. You are seeing in football now what happens when chairmen pay so much money to players, hopefully people will learn from this not to go crazy.

"The people who are to blame are the people who offered to give him that kind of money in the first place. The agent is there to do the best for his client's interests but you have to be sensible as well."

Carbone has been training with Serie A new boys Como for a week after agreeing a three-year deal.