Source: Daily_Mail
Everton boss David Moyes calls for transfer change to close loopholes
Everton manager David Moyes has called for an overhaul of the rules regarding the transfer of young players.
The Toffees face Fulham in the Barclays Premier League with something of a new-look side with £22million of new signings available for selection.
But it was another transfer, that of 16-year-old Luke Garbutt from Leeds, which caused controversy this week, with the League One club unhappy about the amount of compensation they were awarded by a tribunal.
While Everton acted entirely within the rules, Chelsea were banned from registering any new players for the next two transfer windows after FIFA found them guilty of inducing a French teenager to breach his contract with Lens two years ago.
That led to a slew of allegations against Premier League clubs regarding signings of young players.
And Moyes believes the whole area needs new regulation.
He said: 'Should clubs be able to take players away from their clubs at such a low age? It has to be looked into.
'There should be set prices for younger players. When I managed Preston I got annoyed when we lost players and just got a bit of compensation.
'Now I am at a big club, we go to clubs to try to sign their players, so I have a foot in both camps.
'But if we are going to have smaller clubs that prosper, we have to have rules that let them keep their players for longer.
'Clubs like Everton and Liverpool used to buy players from the likes of Burnley and Chester.
Arsene Wenger
In agreement: Moyes says Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger (above) is spot on
'But that does not happen so much now, and is that because the big clubs are signing the younger players earlier?
'Maybe we should do something about the money that goes out of the game to agents. We should legislate to not allow them to control a player until he is 18.'
Moyes is concerned that any change should not leave players open to exploitation from third parties.
He said: 'I think (Arsenal boss) Arsene Wenger is right when he says that if the rules over bringing in young players from abroad are changed, then kids will start being bought up by agents.
'And that would start to throw up all the problems over third-party ownership again.
'But there are loopholes that need to be shut, things have to be done correctly.
'I've managed small clubs and you want to keep hold of your best young players, you don't want them taken away from you.
'But now I am at a big club that does try to get players from smaller clubs, I can see the problem from the other side.
'It would not be correct to allow a situation where agents do buy up young players.
'You have to make sure your business is done correctly, because we are all trying to improve our clubs.'
He continued: 'The problem from abroad is the difference between taking a player at 18 or 16 depending on whether it is an EU country he's coming from.
'It is different in different countries. Sometimes players are not professionals until they are 18, and taking them younger causes a problem. All countries should be under the same rules.
'Fans at smaller clubs want to see players they have brought on playing in the first team. I understand that, you are losing the romance of football if you take players away too early.'
Everton hope to put the controversy behind them and build on their first league win of the campaign a fortnight ago when an injury-time penalty beat Wigan.
Johnny Heitinga, Sylvain Distin
Debuts: Johnny Heitinga and Sylvain Distin set to play against Fulham
Moyes will have new boys Sylvain Distin, John Heitinga and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov on show at Craven Cottage.
Moyes says: 'Fulham is always a hard place to go. Roy Hodgson has done a really good job and put together an excellent team that is well organised.
'It did not surprise me that he has produced a good team at Fulham, you just need to look at where he has worked and the quality of teams he has managed.
'We got ourselves going after a couple of defeats with the win over Wigan. It gave us a feel-good factor when we won it with a late penalty after being behind.
'We did not have much of a record at Craven Cottage until we won there at the end of last season. But that was just once, now we have to do it again.
'We just hope that late penalty winner against Wigan will kickstart our season now.'
