Brexit and PSR are contributing to a spike in the fees and wages offered by big clubs for teenagers, but is this stockpiling really raising standards?
T
he discussion during a meeting of Premier League sporting directors this year turned to academies and the amount of money spent on homegrown teenagers. The market for players as young as 14 has turned wild, according to industry figures.
“Some wages are astronomical,” one agent says. A sporting director at a top-flight club struggling to keep their best youngsters away from the richest teams in England says: “It’s a nightmare. We have to offer 14-year-olds scholarship contracts just to protect ourselves.”
It is a ruthless business. It was once the case that Chelsea stood out for their pursuit of academy players. They paid well for the best and mostly faced little competition until Manchester City entered the field, taking it to another level. “Stockpiling players,” is how a figure familiar with the market puts it. “If Chelsea bought your player, agents would be saying: ‘We’re eating well tonight.’ Then you’d won the lottery if Chelsea or City wanted your client. But other clubs have started doing it now. The market is crazy.”
