While there are so many things in football which are purely in place to help the richer clubs get richer, there is a lot to like about FIFA’s solidarity scheme that sees a percentage of transfer fees trickle down the system.
It means that clubs get a percentage of future fees if they trained a player during their formative years, and there was a recent example where smaller French clubs received huge amounts after Edouard Mendy moved to Chelsea.
It now looks like we have a similar example with Thomas Partey after he completed his long awaited transfer to Arsenal on the final day of the transfer window:
Tema Youth to receive $2.25 million from Thomas Partey’s transfer https://t.co/Z1y3ksyYRj pic.twitter.com/r4uCQf0obn
— Pulse Ghana (@PulseGhana) October 7, 2020
On paper that is an amazing amount that could do so much for a club and a community, especially in the current circumstances, but it’s not clear if this will end so well.
There are numerous suggestions online that Tema Youth have stopped paying their players and you do fear that the money might not go to the best places, but it’s hard to fully verify those claims.
It’s still a positive thing for clubs because you could understand it if some sides give up on youth academies because the best players simply get poached at a young age, but examples like this show it can pay off in the long term.
You fat nan is fit