GAEL KAKUTA
Gervais Martel immediately lodged an
appeal to FIFA, claiming the youngster
had been “stolen”. At the age of14,
Gael and his father had signed a
deferredcontrat aspirant. Such an
agreement was supposed to oblige
Gael to turn pro with Lens at16. But
on reaching this particular milestone,
his father refused to play ball.
In London, Kakuta has so far turned
out to be an early success, catching
the eye for the Chelsea Under-18s and
reserve side, but his progress has been
halted by a broken left leg and ankle.
CONTROVERSIAL CASES
Some havesuggestedthattheseverity
of Chelsea’s punishment is linked to the
controversial case involving Nigerian
teenagerJohn Obi Mikel, who joined
Chelsea in 2006 after sums of £12m
and £4m were paid to Manchester
United and Norwegian club Lyn
Oslo respectively.
Chelsea and United had both claimed
contracts with Mikel, one of the stars of
the 2005 Under-20 World Cup, and
it was suggested that Mikel had been
“parked” in Norway to bypass FIFA
regulations banning the international
transfer of Under-18s.
Chelsea are by no means the only
leading English club who are signing
overseas teenagers. Arsenal led the way
with the signing of Nicolas Anelka from
Paris Saint-Germain in1997. He has
been followed by the likes of Cesc
Fabregas and Fran Merida from
Barcelona and a string of others.
Italian teenager Federico Macheda,
who emerged last season to play a
crucial role in Manchester United’s
Premier League campaign, was signed
at16 from Lazio, while Gerard Pique
joined United for free aged17 from
Barcelona, who paid around £6m
to re-sign him last year.
In all these cases, English clubs
have taken advantage of European
labour laws that allow players to be
signed at16 even though they cannot
sign professional contracts with the
clubs who developed them until they
have turned18.
After Macheda made a dramatic
debut for United, scoring an injury-
time winner against Aston Villa, Lazio
president Claudio Lotito hit out at the
English club, saying: “The young players
are treated like cattle.”
The Kakuta case has also prompted
similar complaints from further French
clubs. Le Havre are angry that they
have received no compensation from
Manchester United for16-year-old
midfielder Paul Pogba, and across town
Manchester City face a complaint from
Rennes, over the signing of17-year-old
defenderJeremy Helan.
While the French argue over contracts,
others have used far more emotive
language. Former Brazil captain Carlos
Alberto attacked United for the signing
of Brazilian twins Rafael and Fabio da
Silva, saying: “It is disgraceful United
are allowed to rape Brazilian football.”
But the issue is not restricted to
England. Bayern Munich president
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has been
scathing about Arsene Wenger’s transfer
policy at Arsenal, calling it “kidnapping”
and “child trafficking”. Yet two years ago
the German club brought a13-year-old
Peruvian, Pier Larrauri Corry, to Germany.
Dubbed the “New Maradona”, he was
supposed to spend a season in Munich
“to see how it goes” but things did not
work out. The youngster ended up
getting homesick and only took part
in two or three training sessions.BETTER TO BE PATIENT
However, not all teenagers are lured
by financial offers. Romelu Lukaku has
turned down offers from major European
clubs to stay at Anderlecht.
“Arsenal, Inter and especially Chelsea
were interested,” his father Roger Lukaku
told Belgian dailyLa Derniere Heure.
“When you’re offered a house or a
car abroad, is it so special? The boy’s
development is more important.”
Five years ago, when River Plate’s
attacking prodigy Erik Lamela was12,he was a target for Barcelona, who
offered his parents jobs and the kid
an annual salary of £100,000. River
persuaded him to stay and he recently
made his first-team debut.
So where do we go from here? While
Chelsea pursue their appeal and other
clubs consult their lawyers, UEFA and
FIFA are persisting with a plan to ban
Under-18 transfers completely. A
European legal minefield lies ahead.
But Arsene Wenger is unhappy at
such a prospect. “If you ban players
from moving before they are18, you
know what will happen? The player
will be sold anyway,” he retorts.
“And to whom? To agents.
“If you have a child who is a good
musician, what is your first reaction?
It is to put the child into a good music
school, not an average one. Why should
that not happen in football?”
Better, clearer, more structuredcompensation for clubs who develop
promising players is the crucial issue.
“People should be compensated as
much as possible,” says Wenger.
As Chelsea continue their appeal to
CAS, they already appear to have found
a way round the global transfer ban.
Reports from Zagreb suggested Chelsea
have agreed a £2m fee for an option to
sign17-year-old goalkeeper Matej Delac
from Inter Zapresic. Delac will stay in
Croatia until 2011 but Chelsea will pay
his wages and he will travel to London to
train at Chelsea whenever possible. You
feel we haven’t heard the last of this.On appeal, the court eventually lifted Chelsea’s transfer ban, ratifying an agreement
between both clubs. However, with the benefit of hindsight, Chelsea’s decision-
makers would probably have opted against signing Kakuta – it was a deal
that proved to be an awful lot of trouble for very little reward.
Kakuta’s much-anticipated Premier League debut came in November 2009, yet
hewould go on to play just five more games in the competition for the Blues,16 in
all comps, without scoring a goal. Loans at six different clubs – including Fulham
and Bolton Wanderers – followed before he joined Sevilla permanently in 2015.
In 2020 he finally made his debut for that club that had tried so hard keep him
at the start of his career, Lens, with everyone wondering what might have been if
he had just stayed there in the first place.WHAT CAME NEXT...
One that got away...Jon Obi Mikel wearing a
Manchester United shirt before joining ChelseaAfuriousRCLens
president Gervais
Martel immediately
lodged an appeal to
FIFA,claimingthe
youngster had
been “stolen”