By David Gold
December 29 – England manager Fabio Capello says that FIFA should bring in stricter rules to prevent clubs from “stealing” the best young talents from other countries.
The former AC Milan and Real Madrid coach voiced his concern that leading teams were stockpiling the best talents from around the world in their youth teams and that doing so is detrimental to their development.
“A line needs to be drawn,” Capello said at a conference in Dubai.
“Clubs are talent-scouting all over the world and are stealing young players.
“FIFA should pass new rules.
“I’ve spoken to [the UEFA President Michel] Platini and in the future clubs will be forbidden to steal players when they are very young.”
Rule 19 of FIFA’s statutes prevents players under the age of 18 being transferred but this can be circumvented if the parents of the individual concerned move to another country for non-football reasons.
Capello fears that this means that players are moving because their families are encouraged to move countries by bigger teams.
“These clubs are offering players and their families a lot of financial support,” he said.
“If the family is poor and it will contribute to the family, they will be happy to move abroad.”
In the European Union under-16s cannot be transferred though there are loopholes that are used with this regulation as well.
A key example of the practise was the transfer of Cesc Fabregas (pictured) from Barcelona to Arsenal in 2003 when the Spanish club felt that the Premier League team had unfairly taken one of their most promising youngsters.
Arsenal paid less than €954,000 (£800,000/$1.2 million) for the Spaniard but Barcelona had to spend €29 million (£24 million/$37.5 million), which will probably rise in the coming years, to lure him back this summer.
Other controversial transfers included the signing by Chelsea of Gaël Kakuta from Lens, for which a transfer ban was originally given to the English team before compensation of €1.2million (£1 million/$1.5 million) was agreed between the teams.
Conversely, the positive side of such transfers was shown when Barcelona brought Lionel Messi from Argentina’s Newell’s Old Boys.
The player was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency as an 11-year-old but Barcelona offered to pay for vital treatments to counteract the problem, as well as moving his father to Spain with him, helping Messi to develop into the world’s best player.
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