Liverpool and Chelsea in bitter legal row over Rio Ngumoha

 The Liverpool teenager Rio Ngumoha is at the centre of a bitter legal dispute between the Premier League champions and his former club Chelsea.

The 16-year-old, who scored a dramatic late winner at St James’ Park on Monday night, can sign his first one-year professional deal when he turns 17 on Friday, although no fee has been agreed between the two clubs since he left for Merseyside in July last year.

His departure from Chelsea marked an escalation in the battle between the Premier League’s big hitters in youth development – notably Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool – to target one another’s school-age players.

The biggest clubs have never agreed a set tariff of fees for boys transferred between their academies, rated as “Category 1” under Premier League regulations, and in many cases the fee will now be set by a compensation committee.

Ngumoha’s case is due to be heard by a committee, also known in the game as a tribunal, in the near future with Chelsea determined that the fee will be high enough to act as a deterrent to the targeting of their academy stars. Yet they too have signed academy players from rivals and have also seen fees for those players being set by the Premier League’s compensation committee.

Ngumoha’s winning goal against Newcastle United on his Premier League debut will undoubtedly be used by Chelsea as evidence of his value to them – and justification for a higher fee. Although in the past lawyers for acquiring clubs have argued that any development subsequent to a move should not be considered.

There has traditionally been animosity between Liverpool and Chelsea at all recruitment levels. That was the case with Dominic Solanke’s move to Liverpool as a 17-year-old in 2017, and up to last season when Chelsea were interested in signing Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk as a free agent.

Under Roman Abramovich, Chelsea signed Liverpool striker Fernando Torres in 2011, for a then British record fee of £50m, and tried on more than one occasion to sign Anfield’s biggest star, Steven Gerrard.

But while those deals for established first-team stars were a part of football’s traditional transfer culture, the phenomenon of big clubs pursuing one another’s academy players aggressively is relatively new.

In recent months there have been similar deals for boys in Ngumoha’s cohort – many of them moving between clubs who did not traditionally poach school-age talent from one another.

Ngumoha joined Chelsea among the pre-academy trialling of six- and seven-year-olds and was offered an academy place in the first under-eights cohort. If a boy is offered a scholarship – a two-year deal for the school years in which they turn 17 and 18 – that ensures that a fee is payable for that player should he decide to leave.

Ngumoha went into Chelsea’s full-time education programme in year 10 of his schooling – meaning he attended school near to the Cobham training ground. He was offered a scholarship, but he and his family did not commit.

After June 30 last year, Ngumoha was free to leave and ultimately joined Liverpool. While he could not sign a professional deal then, two months shy of his 16th birthday, clubs are able to offer boys a scholarship with a guaranteed professional deal as soon as they turn 17. The first professional deal for a 17-year-old cannot be any longer than one-year.

Since June last year, no agreement has been reached between Liverpool and Chelsea for Ngumoha and in the meantime others of a similar age have been on the move. The Chelsea teenager Ryan Macedo joined Manchester City from the London club’s academy last year. Chelsea subsequently signed the England Under-15 international Isaac McGillvary from City.

In addition, Chelsea have seen fees set by tribunal for other school-age academy signings. For the Brighton and Hove Albion academy prospect Shim Mheuka, Chelsea had to pay around £3.25m. There was also a deal in excess of £1m set by committee for the 15-year-old Reggie Watson, previously at Crystal Palace, one of the clubs his father Ben played for in his professional career.