Originally Posted by
Zenith
That a big old club like Man City or Chelsea can't poach a player who is under 18, unless the club agrees to sell for a fair fee - and then only on a pre contract deal. I.e. They can buy the player for 2m but can't actually have him at the club until the window that his 18th birthday falls on.
At the moment, clubs are talking to the kids agents at 13-14-15 saying come and take a look at our club etc. That's all well and good but I think it has proven that it does less good than should do. Thought I think the agents are massively to blame as well because there are clauses like, first team debut and agent gets 10k etc.
We've just seen Ampadu sign for Chelsea last month who is 16. But the chances of him actually playing a single game for Chelsea is so unlikely, just look at the players who can't a game and have been loaned out - Ake, Loftus-Cheek, Zouma. These are quality young talents and aren't getting a chance.
Look at Tammy Abraham as well. He'll probably turn out similar to Lukaku in the sense that he never got a chance at Chelsea either after being bought and now he's worth 90m whether you agree or not.