• Teams would receive fixed rates of compensation
• Reduced risk may encourage teams to sign English players
* Press Association
* guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 12 May 2010 14.49 BST
Tottenham were ordered to pay £700,000 for John Bostock, but he is yet to break into their first team. Photograph: Steven Paston/Action Images
The Premier League are pressing for a major change in the way smaller clubs are compensated for youth players in a move which could boost the number of English players in the top flight.
The league is proposing a fixed level of compensation for young players who are snapped up before they have signed a professional contract at the age of 16. The planned system would see more compensation money tied to 'add-ons' - such as playing for the first team, making a fixed number of performances and playing at Under-21 and senior international level.
The Premier League accept that the initial fee for young players will often be less than would be received under the current tribunal system, but believe it will often work out more in the longer term.
Some League One and Two chairmen fear that the new system will open the floodgates to poaching by top clubs but the Football League clubs have had to agree to a review of the system as part of their acceptance of a package for solidarity payments - including parachute payments of £48m being paid over four years. Premier League chiefs, who insist they will not impose the new system without Football League agreement, hope it will stop clubs going to France and the rest of the continent where compensation is cheaper, because there would be less of a risk in taking on English youngsters even if they fail to make the grade.
Clubs in the top-flight will be obliged to have at least eight 'home-grown' players in their 25-man squads from next season. The first effect of the new system would be to rank clubs' academies, with more compensation to be paid for a youth player from a four-star rated academy compared to a three, two or one-star academy.
The most recent high-profile tribunal decision for a youth player was for midfielder John Bostock two years ago, when Tottenham Hotspur were ordered to pay Crystal Palace £700,000 for the player who was then 16. The then Palace chairman, Simon Jordan, was furious at the level of the fee, claiming Bostock was "world class", but the midfielder has not broken into the Spurs team and has had mixed success on loan at Brentford.
• Reduced risk may encourage teams to sign English players
* Press Association
* guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 12 May 2010 14.49 BST
Tottenham were ordered to pay £700,000 for John Bostock, but he is yet to break into their first team. Photograph: Steven Paston/Action Images
The Premier League are pressing for a major change in the way smaller clubs are compensated for youth players in a move which could boost the number of English players in the top flight.
The league is proposing a fixed level of compensation for young players who are snapped up before they have signed a professional contract at the age of 16. The planned system would see more compensation money tied to 'add-ons' - such as playing for the first team, making a fixed number of performances and playing at Under-21 and senior international level.
The Premier League accept that the initial fee for young players will often be less than would be received under the current tribunal system, but believe it will often work out more in the longer term.
Some League One and Two chairmen fear that the new system will open the floodgates to poaching by top clubs but the Football League clubs have had to agree to a review of the system as part of their acceptance of a package for solidarity payments - including parachute payments of £48m being paid over four years. Premier League chiefs, who insist they will not impose the new system without Football League agreement, hope it will stop clubs going to France and the rest of the continent where compensation is cheaper, because there would be less of a risk in taking on English youngsters even if they fail to make the grade.
Clubs in the top-flight will be obliged to have at least eight 'home-grown' players in their 25-man squads from next season. The first effect of the new system would be to rank clubs' academies, with more compensation to be paid for a youth player from a four-star rated academy compared to a three, two or one-star academy.
The most recent high-profile tribunal decision for a youth player was for midfielder John Bostock two years ago, when Tottenham Hotspur were ordered to pay Crystal Palace £700,000 for the player who was then 16. The then Palace chairman, Simon Jordan, was furious at the level of the fee, claiming Bostock was "world class", but the midfielder has not broken into the Spurs team and has had mixed success on loan at Brentford.
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