A report in today’s Times claims that City have agreed to pay £800,000 in compensation to Leeds for the two 14-year-olds, George Swan and Louis Hutton. Previously I’d wrote how the sum had not been revealed by Leeds. City haven’t released any official comment.
It does seem a large sum when compared with City’s reported initial offer of £70,000. One factor may have been the recent tribunal award for Luke Garbutt, who moved from Leeds to Everton. The tribunal set an initial fee of £600,000 which could rise to £1.55 million. However Harding is 16-years-old, and two years can make a big difference in the development of teenagers.
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While club football is put on hold for the current international fixtures, the same is not true for the African Cup of Nations which runs from the 10th to 31st January. A quick assessment of the fixtures in this period shows that City may do better than expected.
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One of the more improbable news stories this week claimed Ian Rush, at the behest of mobile phone operator Digicel, has recomended six youngsters from Central America for a 10-day trial at Platt Lane. Rush apparently visited Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador and Panama on behalf of the Blues.
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Fifa vice-president, Jack Warner, said yesterday that wage restraint was necessary in football to ensure a “level playing field”, and a “salary cap should be introduced”. Noble sounding talk from a high ranking official that was once again offering no detail as to how it would work.
Was he suggesting that Manchester United only be allowed to pay as much as Burnley? Who knows, but it’s doubtful. Was he tacitly supporting Michel Platini’s competition destroying idea of limiting a club’s expenditure on wages and transfers to a percentage of it’s revenue? Maybe he was.
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