Why Southampton are demanding Man City make £1m transfer payment | OneFootball

Manchester City have poached an up-and-coming 14-year-old from the Southampton academy, and the Saints are demanding City pay them up to £1 million

Southampton are set to take Manchester City to tribunal over the fee for an unnamed highly-rated 14-year-old out of the Saints academy, with the Championship side looking for £1 million for his services.

Over the past few years, it's becoming more and more common to see the traditional big clubs in England spend seven-figure fees on talented academy products not only from EFL clubs, but also from fellow top-flight and 'big six' sides, too.

Jordan Campbell of The Athletic detailed some of the bigger deals in recent years, with Rio Ngumoha's move from Chelsea to Liverpool at just 16 for £2.8 million back in 2024 being the most high-profile academy switch of recent times.

Now, talented teenagers are getting poached by other clubs for, on the face of it, too much money for someone of those ages more often. In five or so years, though, the £2.8 million, for example, becomes a steal. It definitely already is for Ngumoha.

Southampton set to demand £1 million for 14-year-old after Manchester City complete signing

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That seems to be being taken to the next level, though, as Manchester City have poached an unnamed 14-year-old star from Southampton's academy.

The Athletic stated that the deal was close to completion, but that was confirmed by the Daily Echo's Southampton reporter Alfie House. Both reports state that the Saints and City are yet to agree on a compensation fee, though, which Campbell writes is around £400,000.

Both reporters state that the deal will be taken to a tribunal, with Southampton demanding closer to £1 million for the 14-year-old, given they were offered an early scholarship and had private schooling provided for them.

This isn't unlike Manchester City, who boast one of the biggest and best academies in the world, due in part to their ability to offer this much money for players yet to play under-18 football, let alone senior minutes.

Back in November 2023, City spent a seven-figure sum to make Leeds United's Finley Gorman the most expensive 15-year-old in British transfer history. Only this season has he started to make appearances in the PL2 for the club's under-21 side.

How Southampton fans have reacted to Manchester City signing their highly-rated 14-year-old

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The deal to bring in Gorman back in 2023 raised some red flags surrounding the amount of money children are being bought for by football clubs, and this is only emphasising those.

Alfie House followed his report on X up with a further tweet stating, "There is silly money changing hands for kids these days; the FA needs to do something about it imo! (I don’t know what would even be possible though…)," and people in the replies couldn't agree more.

"I honestly think academy transfers should be banned until they sign a professional contract. Once signed, there should be a standard fee, say £1m per year of development and sell on %. That would ensure clubs are protected, and players can focus on achieving the highest standard," one fan said in response.

"Just another tawdry aspect of the cesspit that modern football has become over the past 2 or 3 decades. Money being the root of all evil, and all that sort of thing," another added, clearly frustrated with the way academy deals are being done.

Others worried about the amount of pressure you'd be under as a 14-year-old being valued at £1 million, expressing frustration at Manchester City's seemingly unnecessary "cherry picking" of young talent.

"They did it to Leeds a few seasons ago… just cherry-picking kids.. Imagine the pressure on the lad being valued at £1m at 14…," they said.

Manchester City's potential £1 million deal for a 14-year-old creates worry over the future of academy football

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As mentioned earlier, the overarching reason for these deals is that, when played right, they can ultimately make a lot of profit in the future on this investment.

A scout at a major English club told The Athletic, "Everyone has realised that, yes, £1m or £2m sounds really expensive [as a fee when you sign an academy player], but they just have to be Championship level or above and you could make a huge profit. It’s a business within a business."

There are more factors, such as Brexit shrinking the under-18 market, more clubs moving their academy status into Catagory One, which increases the quality of their youth talent and some perhaps outdated rules that are seemingly being taken advantage of, too.

Either way, the fact that Manchester City can, and more importantly, are fine with spending potentially up to £1 million on a 14-year-old is quite the concern, both in terms of the value of players who are years away from making it into the senior game, and the ability for EFL clubs to keep developing their exciting prospects.