Post by QPR Report on Dec 4, 2008 7:01:16 GMT
Telegraph/Patrick Nathanson
Michel Platini losing fight against Premier League ‘poaching’ Europe’s young talent
As Premier League clubs look to sign younger and younger players Uefa president Michel Platini is losing the battle to curb plundering of child prodigies from clubs across Europe.
His name is Madin and he is being touted as the Zinedine Zidane of the future.
Like the former World Cup winner, Madin is a French Algerian. That is not the only thing they have in common, as the YouTube footage of his fleet-footed pirouettes demonstrates.
A whole host of Europe’s richest clubs are allegedly monitoring his progress.
So far, so normal. Except that Madin is only six.
Edgardo ‘Gato’ Obregón, a nine-year-old from Mexico, is another precocious child to have attracted interest from the biggest names.
Meanwhile Barcelona were keen to snap up the Turkish wunderkind Muhammed Demirci, 12, before they were reportedly put off by Besiktas’ 5 million euro asking price.
As even the most affluent clubs attempt to tighten their belts in the darkening economic climate, it is perhaps inevitable that they should develop their interest in players at ever younger ages.
If they sign a talented player on his sixteenth birthday for a relatively small fee, they could end up saving millions further down the line. Just think how much the Fran Meridas and Rafael da Silvas of this world will be worth in 10 years time.
However, something is seriously amiss here. What is the point of the smaller clubs spending huge amounts of money on nurturing talent through the formative early teenage years when a big club comes along and pays a nominal amount of compensation the moment the player reaches the age of 16?
Just ask Simon Jordan. The Crystal Palace chairman was so incensed by a transfer tribunal’s decision to award his club the sum of £700,000 after teenager John Bostock left for Tottenham in the summer that he thought about leaving the game altogether.
“We had a £900,000 offer from Chelsea when he was 14 which we turned down. It’s beyond me and it makes me question why I bother with football,” he said.
“I have an academy who have produced a world-class footballer for someone else and got paid two-and-sixpence for it.
“I don’t feel it sends out a good message to people who pump millions into youth development. A significant amount of money we could have got from the disposal of John Bostock would have been ploughed back into youth development.
“And what’s going to happen to our young players when they are stockpiled in the butter mountains of the Tottenhams and Chelseas of this world?”
Over in Italy, they are asking similar questions. Earlier this year, Reggina president Lillo Foti accused Chelsea of “plundering” his youth team after Vincenzo Camilleri joined the London club upon turning 16.
Foti’s complaints were echoed by Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini, who likened English clubs to “pirates taking treasures”, while Roma were left fuming during the pre-season after they received the derisory sum of £200,000 from Manchester United for their highly-rated striker Davide Petrucci, who was 16 at the time of the move.
It is a situation that Uefa president Michel Platini is desperate to address, despite the blow dealt to his plans to ban all transfers of players under the age of 18 by Europe’s sports ministers last week.
Platini has promised to wage war on the ‘poaching’ of fresh talent. He faces a stiff battle and until he gains the upper hand, the rich clubs’ courting of ‘tweenage’ prodigies such as Madin, Obregón and Demirci will continue unabated as the smaller academies suffer the consequences.
www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/3544517/Michel-Platini-fights-against-Premier-League-poaching-Europes-young-talent-Football.html
Michel Platini losing fight against Premier League ‘poaching’ Europe’s young talent
As Premier League clubs look to sign younger and younger players Uefa president Michel Platini is losing the battle to curb plundering of child prodigies from clubs across Europe.
His name is Madin and he is being touted as the Zinedine Zidane of the future.
Like the former World Cup winner, Madin is a French Algerian. That is not the only thing they have in common, as the YouTube footage of his fleet-footed pirouettes demonstrates.
A whole host of Europe’s richest clubs are allegedly monitoring his progress.
So far, so normal. Except that Madin is only six.
Edgardo ‘Gato’ Obregón, a nine-year-old from Mexico, is another precocious child to have attracted interest from the biggest names.
Meanwhile Barcelona were keen to snap up the Turkish wunderkind Muhammed Demirci, 12, before they were reportedly put off by Besiktas’ 5 million euro asking price.
As even the most affluent clubs attempt to tighten their belts in the darkening economic climate, it is perhaps inevitable that they should develop their interest in players at ever younger ages.
If they sign a talented player on his sixteenth birthday for a relatively small fee, they could end up saving millions further down the line. Just think how much the Fran Meridas and Rafael da Silvas of this world will be worth in 10 years time.
However, something is seriously amiss here. What is the point of the smaller clubs spending huge amounts of money on nurturing talent through the formative early teenage years when a big club comes along and pays a nominal amount of compensation the moment the player reaches the age of 16?
Just ask Simon Jordan. The Crystal Palace chairman was so incensed by a transfer tribunal’s decision to award his club the sum of £700,000 after teenager John Bostock left for Tottenham in the summer that he thought about leaving the game altogether.
“We had a £900,000 offer from Chelsea when he was 14 which we turned down. It’s beyond me and it makes me question why I bother with football,” he said.
“I have an academy who have produced a world-class footballer for someone else and got paid two-and-sixpence for it.
“I don’t feel it sends out a good message to people who pump millions into youth development. A significant amount of money we could have got from the disposal of John Bostock would have been ploughed back into youth development.
“And what’s going to happen to our young players when they are stockpiled in the butter mountains of the Tottenhams and Chelseas of this world?”
Over in Italy, they are asking similar questions. Earlier this year, Reggina president Lillo Foti accused Chelsea of “plundering” his youth team after Vincenzo Camilleri joined the London club upon turning 16.
Foti’s complaints were echoed by Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini, who likened English clubs to “pirates taking treasures”, while Roma were left fuming during the pre-season after they received the derisory sum of £200,000 from Manchester United for their highly-rated striker Davide Petrucci, who was 16 at the time of the move.
It is a situation that Uefa president Michel Platini is desperate to address, despite the blow dealt to his plans to ban all transfers of players under the age of 18 by Europe’s sports ministers last week.
Platini has promised to wage war on the ‘poaching’ of fresh talent. He faces a stiff battle and until he gains the upper hand, the rich clubs’ courting of ‘tweenage’ prodigies such as Madin, Obregón and Demirci will continue unabated as the smaller academies suffer the consequences.
www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/3544517/Michel-Platini-fights-against-Premier-League-poaching-Europes-young-talent-Football.html