An absolute disgrace..

[shoddycollins]

I wouldn't call £1.5m peanuts exactly, it's more money than most clubs at this level have ever seen, and you could put a promotion winning team together at this level for that.

It's the fact that he's apparently already worth £10m+ at his age with the experience he has, barely a year after breaking into the Exeter squad that's ridiculous, and the comparison between that and the amount he's apparently valued by a tribunal.

I do wonder if when tribunals are deciding what the cost to the club was to bring him through their system, they take into account the cost of bringing through all the players that don't make it, because you spend a lot of money, bringing dozens of players through your youth system in the hope that one or two will prove to be good enough. So those one or two, if they're to be sold on, need to justify the entire process, not just the amount of resources that went into those specific individuals.

 

[Vanni]

Calm down Kenny. I was only kidding.

But seriously though, while I'm all for lower league clubs not to get fucked over by PL clubs such as Chelsea (what is 1.5 mil to them anyway?), I didn't realise that the kid had only played 8 league matches for Exeter, in fact I was going on wrong info that I had read on FB that said the lad had played more games. So now I think it's anything but a disgrace tbh. I know he's been at Exeter for quite a few years now, but surely the tribunal takes into consideration the actual number of league games he featured in, as TFCH correctly hinted at in his post.

So let that sink in - only 8 games. Would've been a much higher fee if that number was say 20 -25 games. Also, that other big PL clubs were sniffing around is all irrelevant in my eyes. The clue is in the word 'sniffing'.

 

[Grecian O'Grecian]

I'm sure objectively it looks like we haven't done too badly. £1.3mill for a 17 year old who only played 13 times for our first team looks like a fair return but from an ECFC perspective it just isn't.

Those involved at the club and fans know that he's probably the best player we'll ever see come through our academy. He truly is a once in a generation talent. How often will see someone come through at 15 (becoming our youngest ever player), be the best player on the pitch in almost every single one of his appearances, be called up to full international squads all in the year when they've got to fit it around studying for their GCSEs?

It probably isn't the right forum to have this debate on. Hardly anyone apart from ECFC fans watched Ampadu play and will just see the stats of him only playing 8 league games and think we've got a good deal, which is fair enough. He's played 7 times for Chelsea this season, which is almost unheard of for someone of his age. Is that really down to Chelsea's few months of training or our years of development which put him in that situation?

I do think we can feel hard done by. With the money floating around at the top level with extortionate agent fees and the like, why shouldn't the money filter down to the lower leagues?

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

This sounds very similar to Jermaine Pennant with us. Only played a few games, incredibly young and with huge potential. We got “done” on that one too but not my a tribunal but by our then Chairman. He and his Dad had absolutely no chance once agents and Arsenal got involved

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

The 20% sell on figure is only good if he does get sold, and doesn't remain at Chelsea like a John Terry type player, or receives a career ending injury. The entire system favours the Premier League clubs and shafts the little clubs who are trynig to make ends meat.

I love how you quoted John Terry as your example of a one club Chelsea player. Good choice Devon_Lad , literally the only example you could quote . It’s Chelski after all

 

[Devon_Lad]

You should have got him sign a big one with you knowing he'd be sold to a premier league club for big money. You didn't gamble therefore you don't get the big money. You never get big money from a tribunal. Ever.

Too young to sign a professional contract. As soon as he was we offered him one, as did quite a few PL clubs. He chose Chelsea rather than us.

 

[Tarzan]

You should have got him sign a big one with you knowing he'd be sold to a premier league club for big money. You didn't gamble therefore you don't get the big money. You never get big money from a tribunal. Ever.

The family were completely straight with us and it was known that he was never going to sign a pro contract as he had his pick of a few Prem sides (this makes you wonder why he chose Chelsea but I read somewhere that he supports them). He was though offered a proper grown up deal, not that he could have signed it until he turned 17, so that it meant that it would go to a tribunal.

Some people seem to think that the family screwed us over but they actually did the opposite.

 

[denzel ecfc]

The fact he was playing for a League Two club is irrelevant. It should be about his ability and potential. He only played 8 games for us because he needed to sit his GCSEs FFS. Those 8 games showed an absolute class player, much better than Ollie Watkins, who we got 1.8mn for, or Matt Grimes, which was 1.7mn.
Compare this amount to Danny Ings going to Liverpool. I believe this was 5mn but he was at a Championship club and presumably they had better lawyers.
We will NEVER produce a player as good as Ethan again

 

[SoutheySWFC]

George Hirst, arguably one of the hottest strikers in his age group was offered a decent deal by us but his advisors (fuck off Doyen) turned it down, we have had 2m bids from PL so I'd hope if/when he goes we get that amount, it's a kick in the bollocks that clubs outside the elite can cherry pick our youth for pittances (compared to their earnings) but we pay the piper with the tv deals we take.

I grew up watching David Hirst and he was my idol, seeing another Hirst 9 was summat i looked forward to but sadly it won't happen.

 

[Sydney Posse]

I think he is good enough to become a regular premier league player at the very least. But if he becomes just another youngster who doesn't make it once he reaches the promised land, that up front cash would not look too bad. I read the rules carefully when he signed for them so kind of expected a smallish up front fee. The rules should be reviewed, but they are what they are. If he shines we will benefit massively as will Chelsea. If he falls from grace it will be either because he isn't good enough or suffers a bad injury. I watched him a few times for us and I reckon he is the ducks nuts, so I reckon we've got some serious money in the bank to come down the line. Most city fans are absolutely seething though. It's the system they should be seething at, not Chelsea.

 

[Luke Imp]

Surprised the amount was lower than Chelsea were prepared to pay before going to tribunal. You'd think they would use that as a starting point.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Really??? If that was the starting point everything would go to tribunal wouldn’t it?
No risk for selling club Luke

 

[Moomin]

Surprised the amount was lower than Chelsea were prepared to pay before going to tribunal. You'd think they would use that as a starting point.

I heard from someone who has club connections that Chelsea only offered £400k. We will never know for sure though.

 

[Kenneth E End]

We will NEVER produce a player as good as Ethan again

How do you know?

 

[denzel ecfc]

How do you know?

These players come around once in a blue moon. I know we have a few talents at the academy now but none has the raw talent Ethan has.

 

[Luke Imp]

Really??? If that was the starting point everything would go to tribunal wouldn’t it?
No risk for selling club Luke

What the tribunal also take into account is what the buying and selling Club have negotiated previously, so I was reacting off the £3m figure banded about. If Chelsea had indeed offered only £400k, then the fee is fair enough from that point of view.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

We're talking about a fourth division centre half here for Christs' sake.

We only got an initial £2 million for England youth international Nick Powell in 2012. His first appearance and first goal for them took that to around £3 million but I don't think we received anymore than that. The fee would've risen to £6 million plus a sell on if he had actually achieved something at Manchester United.

Nick Powell ripped up this league and single handedly guided us to promotion. He scored 16 goals I believe and scored in the play-off final at Wembley and was a regular in our first team.

If a goalscorer only got us that sort of money, then a centre half who made far less appearances than Powell has no chance of making that money. People believe the PL clubs should be spending millions on lower league players, but lower league teams don't have the leverage of holding out for astronomical fees that the bigger and continental clubs have, which is why fees will be similar to as they were a decade or two ago. At the end of the day, if players like Andy Robertson are going for £8 million despite playing in the Premier League, then Exeter should be grateful for what they've got in my view. At the end of the day, if Exeter get £1.3 million as an initial fee for Amapdu, that fee alone is more than the record initial transfer fees received for.

Morecambe
Accrington
Carlisle
Barnet
Crawley
Stevenage
Lincoln
Yeovil
Cheltenham
Newport
Forest Green
Chesterfield
Mansfield
Wycombe

Not bad for a club who haven't played above the third tier in their history, which is the big reason why the other 9 sides have had higher record sales for players than the Ampadu fee (Crewe, Port Vale, Notts County, Colchester, Swindon, Luton, Coventry, Cambridge and Grimsby).

 

[denzel ecfc]

We're talking about a fourth division centre half here for Christs' sake.

We only got an initial £2 million for England youth international Nick Powell in 2012. His first appearance and first goal for them took that to around £3 million but I don't think we received anymore than that. The fee would've risen to £6 million plus a sell on if he had actually achieved something at Manchester United.

Nick Powell ripped up this league and single handedly guided us to promotion. He scored 16 goals I believe and scored in the play-off final at Wembley and was a regular in our first team.

If a goalscorer only got us that sort of money, then a centre half who made far less appearances than Powell has no chance of making that money. People believe the PL clubs should be spending millions on lower league players, but lower league teams don't have the leverage of holding out for astronomical fees that the bigger and continental clubs have, which is why fees will be similar to as they were a decade or two ago. At the end of the day, if players like Andy Robertson are going for £8 million despite playing in the Premier League, then Exeter should be grateful for what they've got in my view. At the end of the day, if Exeter get £1.3 million as an initial fee for Amapdu, that fee alone is more than the record initial transfer fees received for.

Morecambe
Accrington
Carlisle
Barnet
Crawley
Stevenage
Lincoln
Yeovil
Cheltenham
Newport
Forest Green
Chesterfield
Mansfield
Wycombe

Not bad for a club who haven't played above the third tier in their history, which is the big reason why the other 9 sides have had higher record sales for players than the Ampadu fee (Crewe, Port Vale, Notts County, Colchester, Swindon, Luton, Coventry, Cambridge and Grimsby).

Where to start?

1) he's not a centre half, he's a midfielder (Though he has played centre half, making him more valuable)
2) That was 6 years ago. You do realise transfer fees have gone up exponentially since then?
3) it's irrelevant what level we are at, or where we have been.
4) if those other clubs had a decent academy then they'd deserve the money. We have one of the best academies at this level. Topped our group in the Premier League Cup, won our league (again) for the under 21s..

I could go on.
.