AZ Alkmaar are the latest European club to be angered by English teams’ youngster-stealing antics as they lost two promising youths to Arsenal and Liverpool this week.
Liverpool swooped to sign 17-year-old striker Vincent Weijl, while Arsenal added 15-year-old midfielder Oguzhan Ozyakup to their ranks. Alkmaar will receive small compensation packages, having trained the players, but it will do little to calm AZ sports director Marcel Brands who is frustrated that clubs like his are easy-targets:
We know how the case is, we are completely powerless against it here
The two players follow the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Mathieu Flamini and Gerard Pique in being taken to the Premiership at a very young age without the clubs that trained them being able to fight for them.
Is it fair that clubs receive so little compensation for players they have trained for so many years, or are they lucky to get anything at all?