Premier League clubs are no strangers to business with each other when it comes to their brightest talents but youth football at the elite level has a murky side
Rio Ngumoha cost Liverpool £2.8m when he moved from Chelsea
Rio Ngumoha cost Liverpool £2.8m when he moved from Chelsea(Image: Getty Images)
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One academy director describes the race to sign the best young talent in football as the “wild west".
There are so many stories about Premier League clubs pinching the best kids from each other or bending the rules on academies. Here’s one.
A nine-year-old who lives in Switzerland flies in as many as three times a week to attend training and to play. The family has an address in England which effectively gets round the rules.
Mind you, clubs cannot actually sign foreign players until they are 18 because of Brexit rules. It is just another example of how youth football has become notorious for clubs nicking kids from each other, offering big fees and inducements plus widespread “tapping up."
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You can be sure that every academy has got a story about another club’s youth set-up. Some might actually be malicious or jealous gossip. But you can be sure that, in this business, the truth can be stranger than fiction.
It is arguably the most bitchy, cliquey and difficult side of football. The feeling is that it has gotten worse in the past couple of years because Premier League clubs are scrambling to sign the best kids, the best prospects and some will stop at nothing.
There was definitely an unwritten code between certain clubs when it came to signing youngsters from rival teams - but now all bets are off.
There have been some high-profile disputes like Rio Ngumoha who left Chelsea to join Liverpool which led to a bitter dispute between the clubs. A tribunal eventually ordered Liverpool to pay an initial £2.8m.
Liverpool teenager Ngumoha, 18, was born in Newham, trained with West Ham, had a spell at Arsenal and then went to Chelsea when he was nine which is a key age at academy level.
James Scanlon
James Scanlon swapped Manchester United for Arsenal in the summer(Image: Getty Images)
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That is when it becomes more formal and the Performance Pathway is set out for the under-nines onwards with strict rules that kids must live within an hour’s distance of the club’s academy.
The Youth Development Phase kicks in for under-12s and the travel is extended to 90 minutes. Ngumoha left Chelsea in 2024 for Liverpool who offered a clear plan for his first team pathway - and that has paid off.
The 18-year-old is a huge England prospect, scouts on the youth scene say his upbringing has been outstanding, his family supportive and is destined for the top.
He has just become one of a raft of kids moving between clubs. It is such a hot topic in boardrooms, among scouts and youth coaches. Every week comes a new story of one club pinching from another.
Ayden Heaven was older when he moved from Arsenal to Manchester United. That caught some big headlines. But you are seeing more and more moves at a younger age group. Some even involving swaps for other kids.
Ayden Heaven
Ayden Heaven joined Manchester United in February last year(Image: Getty Images)
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One very highly-rated player moved from London to Manchester, citing family reasons when his dad conveniently got a new job in the North West. It is so common.
One tells a story about seeing the parents of a youngster at a game, a scout said hello and the next minute a “tapping-up” complaint was made to a club’s academy director. The academy director rubbished the complaint and said they would simply stop playing the other team.
Clubs have almost become paranoid. They have become bitchy, jealous and fiercely protective of their own reputations compared to other clubs.
Part of it is down to Brexit. The UK leaving the European Union means there is an even greater clamour for the best home grown kids.
But it is an issue which is only going to get worse before it gets better.
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