Should there be a rule...

[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.

[Rjk]

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.

Chelsea is a good place to go if you're a talented youngster. You might not ultimately play for Chelsea, but they know how to develop players and they get good loan opportunities.
With respect to Lukaku, they probably wouldn't have been sold if it wasn't for FFP. Chelsea went out of their way to comply, whereas other clubs just bent or ignored the rules.

[thehumblegringo]

It should definitely be a rule but unfortunately the big clubs had the lower leagues over a barrel when the voted in the eppp ruling allowing them to poach kids for next to nothing.

The Palace chairman Steve Parish was incredibly vocal about the damage this was doing to the game when Palace werr in the championship but for some reason he's gone quiet about it since Palace got promoted!

[Llanedeyrnblue]

Yes there should but as the EPL teams hold all the cards there's not a cat in hells chance of having one

[J R Hartley]

How do you police it? What do you class as a big club? Blackburn Rovers are a big club for example compared to say Rochdale in the same division. It would be just as unfair for them to nick a kid from Rochdale than it would Chelsea poaching someone from Exeter.

You either say the rule applies to all clubs or none at all.

[thehumblegringo]

I think the abolition of loan fees would be a good idea.

[Pedro de la Rosa]

You have to either stop the club's stockpiling players or force them to play youngsters. At the moment, the Chelsea's of this world are having their cake and eating it too.

I agree with Gringo, banning loan fees would help. It stops Chelsea etc buying players they never have any intention of playing to turn a profit.