FIFA ruling on West Brom and Louie Barry is ’embarrassing’ – Steve Madeley
Steve Madeley has delivered his honest verdict after the announcement that Barcelona will not have to pay West Brom any compensation over Louie Barry.
As relayed on The Athletic website, FIFA have ruled that West Brom failed to formally offer the England youth striker a scholarship before he left their academy for Barcelona in the summer of 2019.
Barry returned to England with Aston Villa six months later, for a fee of just under £1million, which could rise to more than £3million with add-ons.
West Brom have been in a long-running dispute with Spanish giants Barcelona over the absence of any compensation for Barry, now 18, but FIFA have decided that there was no “binding” offer to the teenager in the summer of 2019.
Writing via his personal Twitter profile on Tuesday [02/11/21], The Athletic’s Madeley has branded the verdict as “embarrassing” for the West Midlands club, but explained their outlay on proceedings has been minimal.
“Worth saying that while this is clearly embarrassing for Albion, it has only cost them a relatively small amount of money in the grand scheme of things,” he wrote. “The wider issue here is the cross-border rules which, irrespective of the facts of this case, are there to be exploited.”
Failure of individuals?
There are issues with the system of transfer in youth football that have been evident for some time now.
However, it shouldn’t mask the fact that West Brom’s claim has seemingly fallen down over the inability of some at the football club to formally offer Barry a scholarship.
As such, Barcelona have been able to circumnavigate the issue of paying out for Barry.
Indeed, they made a quick profit on the highly-rated teenager, who is currently out on loan at League One side Ipswich Town from Villa.
It seems all parties have won except Albion – Barcelona will likely receive a seven-figure fee, all in all, while Villa have their hands on one of the most prodigious talents in the country.
In other West Brom news, this rarely-seen Albion player is in line for a shock start v Hull after a major recent development.
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