David Sullivan has accused fellow Premier League clubs of attempting to steal West Ham United's rising stars on the cheap.
Within the past fortnight West Ham have lost 16-year-old Ben Sheaf to Arsenal whilst Reece Oxford, 15 and a former fellow sholar of Sheaf's, is also being courted by the North London club.And that is simply not acceptable, according to Sullivan, due to the minimal compensation available for afftected clubs.
"Our academy costs just under £4million a year to run. Up until this season you could nick a 15-year-old for about £50,000," he told the Mirror. "I think they are going to change it now and there is going to be some retrospective compensation, so you'll probably get £250,000.
"But for each £4million you get one crop. So you'd have to have 16 players like that to cover the cost of running the Academy and [Oxford] is the best of the crop.
"It's a joke that they can come and nick your best players for £250,000. The big clubs just go to the player. If he refuses to sign a scholarship then they'll have offered him a guaranteed pro scholarship which we would match.
"There are a few young players that have been tapped up. There's nothing you can do about it. If you lose someone for a few hundred thousand quid it's nothing when the academy costs £4million to run.
"People want clubs to invest in academies but up to this year you could lose a 14-year-old for just £44,000."
Despite Sullivan's complaint, West Ham have themselves profited from the same methods currently employed by Arsenal in recent years.
Stephen Bywater and Jermain Defoe came to east London via Rochdale's and Charlton's Academies respectively, whilst earlier this week the Hammers signed 19-year-old Diego Poyet from Charlton against the club's wishes.
Despite having lost Sheaf - and facing a second potential loss with Oxford - Sullivan maintains that West Ham's Academy is still the place to come.
"I would say to any young player at West Ham to stay," he added. "Our track record over a 20-year period of producing players is as good as any club, maybe with the exception of Southampton in recent years."
* Something to say about this story? Please visit the KUMB Forum to leave a comment.
