Aberdeen aren't the only ones miffed by Connor Barron tribunal as fee for Rangers star has alarm bells ringing
The independent tribunal has not only short-changed Aberdeen but Scottish football with the transfer fee they have set for Connor Barron.
The fee of just over £600,000 that Rangers have been ordered to pay for Barron has left alarm bells ringing all across Scottish football. Record Sport has been in dialogue with several prominent figures at different Premiership clubs and there is genuine concern over the fee that has been set in this case. An independent tribunal for the Scottish Professional Football League sat on the final day of 2024 to finally come up with a long, overdue compensation figure for the Dons. Aberdeen will get a six figure fee and a sell-on of around 10%.
It is hardly a great return or protection for the Dons who took Barron through their academy and nurtured him for 14 years. Also, from that fee Aberdeen will need to take off substantial legal fees which they had to pay to put their case forward. They have also had to wait more than five months for a fee to be agreed.
It is another area where Scottish football needs to be dragged into the modern era. Barron was a player who has played regularly in the Premiership, was a Scotland under-21 international and was also on standby for Scotland’s Euro 2024 squad in the summer. The talented midfielder has since played regularly for Rangers domestically and in Europe and forced his way into the Scotland squad.
Yes, Aberdeen would only have got around £550,000 in training compensation if Barron had moved outside of Scotland. It is different if a player moves from one Scottish club to another club in Scotland and there are association rules in place to stop young players being poached.
Aberdeen will now only get a five figure fee increase and now one of their young talents will be lining up against them. Scotland’s top clubs all spend substantial funds on their academies but if they are not going to be fully protected then is there any point?
It is at a time when Scottish clubs are already counting the cost of Brexit. The big English clubs are no longer able to bring in the same overseas players and so they are now looking cross-border and snapping up our young talents from as young as 16.
Those compensation figures are limited and are set in stone by FIFA’s cross-border ruling, with money due for every year a player has been developed by a club up to the age of 23. The irony is that those compensation levels haven’t gone up much in the last two decades even though wages in some cases have gone up 400%.
Where is the incentive for clubs to invest in their academies? The clubs will be paying the cost but the Scottish national teams could end up being the biggest losers.
If clubs decide to cut back on youth academies and developing their own talent. Scotland boss Steve Clarke doesn't exactly have an abundance of talent just now it could get even worse for his long-term successors unless there is more of a move to protect clubs, their academies and future gems.
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