FiFPro Chief Calls for U18 Transfer Ban

By Brian Lofrumento | 7th September 2009

FiFPro Chief Calls for U18 Transfer Ban | read this item

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gael-kakuta Last week’s biggest headline was the announcement that Chelsea have been handed a transfer ban. The Blues are accused of illegally tapping up former Lens youngster Gael Kakuta, and the ruling has sparked controversy all around the world of football. Manchester United appear to be the next club on the chopping block as French club Le Havre are accusing the Premiership champions of tapping up 16 year old Paul Pogba. Meanwhile, Marseille have now hinted that they could also report Chelsea for their approach on 11 year old Jeremy Boga.

These controversies have prompted a new debate in footballing circles. Players’ chief Gordon Taylor, who also serves as the chair of FiFPro has been the loudest voice thus far as he has stated his desire to see all under-18 transfers banned. Under Taylor’s proposal, no clubs would be allowed to sign any players under the age of 18.

“There’s been a general feeling that a ban on movement of players under the age of 18 would be better for the game,” Taylor told 5 Live’s Sportsweek.

“Football is about competition. You can’t have all the best youngsters at the biggest, richest clubs.

“You need to encourage clubs, if they’re going to have youth development programmes, to be able to pick out the lads and have some time with them.

“If they do move on, which may be inevitable you need a system whereby proper, effective compensation is paid.

“At the end of the day you can’t stop people moving but it’s about fair compensation.

“I don’t think this situation with Chelsea would have reached the stage it has now if compensation had been agreed between the two clubs.”

While there are many holes in Taylor’s argument, without a doubt something needs to be done. Simply banning all under-18 transfers would stunt the growth of many youngsters as these players would miss out on some of the bigger club’s state of the art youth academies. Additionally, with the Premier League’s further ruling stating that clubs can only sign players within a certain radius, the ruling would leave clubs in smaller towns with hardly any room for maneuver.

Do you think under-18 transfer should be banned? Have your say below!

Thomas O'Loughlin says:

September 8, 2009 at 9:04 am

I’m for this ban, signing players much cheaper when they are under 18 stops the development of smaller clubs and gives them no reward for making the player what he is.

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Niccolo Conte says:

September 7, 2009 at 8:28 pm

Maybe limiting the under 18 transfers is a bit too much, but maybe a regulation should be made allowing clubs to sign only a certain number of under 18s, this could still allow for the poorer youngsters to move, but it won’t be excessive like it currently is.

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Alfred says:

September 7, 2009 at 6:11 pm

I’m completely against this. Not only are they limiting the under 18s potential but they’re doing something much worse, limiting their standard of living. If you’re a poor family in South America, Eastern Europe, or Africa your kid’s football skills might be the only thing making a difference between living in poverty and living in the developed world. I don’t think FIFA has the right to take that chance from them.

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