Potential cracks in the takeover deal between the Manuela Foundation and Australia's Mitchelton Scott Team reacted sharply Wednesday when a Spanish NGO claimed that Jerry Ryan still owned the team's license and was in negotiations with other sponsors The situation deepened considerably due to.

Emilio Rodriguez, head of sport for Manuela Fundación, told Spanish state news agency EFE that he was "surprised" and "frozen" by the comments.

"We were offside, but this will be resolved," Rodriguez said, using a soccer-inspired metaphor to suggest that Ryan's comments had led his organization in the wrong direction.

"We came into this team to be owners, not just sponsors.

Rodriguez said he was surprised by the dramatic turn of events (the first being the takeover itself), the second in less than a week at Mitchelton Scott, and insisted that the agreement between the two teams over the ownership change was made on June 5 and that it "must be respected."

"They will know why I said that, but we agreed to be part of GreenEdge, which owns Mitchelton Scott."

The team will race as Manuela Fundacion starting July 1, and Mitchelton Scott general manager Shayne Bannan will be in Granada next week to discuss the logistics of the deal.

On Wednesday, Ryan said he still owned the team's license and that the announcement of the sponsorship deal was premature. Rodriguez, however, took a different view.

"We agreed that we are the owners and that after January 1, 2021, once all the paperwork is processed by the UCI, we will also own the license," Rodriguez said.

"We came to save the team.