Liverpool, Everton & Man City accused of ‘poaching’

Manchester City, Everton and Liverpool are the latest Premier League clubs to come under scrutiny for their alleged 'poaching' of youth players from lesser teams, as the row sparked by Fifa imposing a one-year transfer ban on Chelsea for their 'unlawful' signing of Gael Kakuta from French side Lens rumbles on.

City are accused of illegally approaching the Rennes defender Jeremy Helan, whom Mark Hughes' side signed in February this year. But the Eastlands club claim that the dispute between the Ligue 1 side and the player, which is over whether the 17-year-old signed a pre-contract agreement with Rennes, and that they have acted correctly.

"Manchester City is aware of the ongoing contractual dispute in the French Labour Courts between Jeremy Helan and Stade Rennais," a City statement read. "The dispute between the player and the club pre-dates any interest from Manchester City. We are comfortable that we have acted within the rules throughout the process and in no way induced any breach of contract by Helan."

Everton meanwhile were forced by the Football Association (FA) to pay a fee that is likely to rise to up to £1m for Leeds United's England Under-17 captain Luke Garbutt. The Merseyside club had offered £200,000 for the defender, an offer described by Leeds' voluble chairman Ken Bates as "paltry" and the FA tribunal set the higher fee as compensation for the Elland Road side.

Everton chief executive Robert Elstone maintained that his club had "played by the rules" in the pursuit of the promising youngster, and feel aggrieved that the fee set for them to pay was adversely affected by the welter of stories about 'poaching' around at the moment.

Across town from Goodison Park, Liverpool are facing accusations that they are deliberately unsettling Crewe's latest teenage sensation Max Clayton and could end up having to pay a similar figure as Everton should they be ordered to a tribunal.

Dario Gradi, director of football at Crewe and the man behind the remarkable production line of talent at Gresty Road that has seen players of the likes of Danny Murphy and David Platt emerge from the Potteries club, is angry that Liverpool are attempting to "steal" Clayton, and has let it be known that he may make an official complaint to the FA about the approaches.

"The big clubs are stealing other people's players and you worry financially for the clubs the players are stolen from," Gradi told the Daily Mirror. "What sort of compensation are we going to get for all the work that has gone into developing him? Any compensation is insignificant for the effort that's gone in." ·