bought a 15 year old for free. so why am i paying upto 3.7mill ?

is this a new football rule that stops clubs from nicking youth players for nothing or is it something weird going on with FM?

i offered a full time contract to a 15 year old french defender. i didn't need to negotiate with the club and the player accepted me. i thought he would be free or it would be a very nominal amount of money but no, i'm paying £1.7mill up front, 425k after his first international game and 45k a game for 50 games.

i was never told about this cost until after i had allowed the transfer go through

It tells you the cost on the screen where you offer the player the contract. Down at the bottom in the comments section.

it didn't tell me anything i'm sure.

maybe it did though, but surely when you confirm the transfer it should also say on the news article?

presumably by your answer though, this is meant to happen?

Normally the ruling is that compensation has to be paid to the club that you have signed the youngster from as they would have paid for his footballing education.

A bit like the recent Bostock situation with Crystal Palace and Spurs.

As PW says, this is a rule to prevent players being poached by big clubs, a fee is set by a panel, judging how much the player is worth. It happened with Bostock and a couple of Leeds players moving to Chelsea a few years back.

Wasn't it similar on fm08? I'm sure that I had to pay compensation for every 17 y/o or younger, and it told me so on the negotiaion screen for the player. Usually foreign players. I think the younger the player is, the more you have to pay (the longer their education would be taught at your club).

Normally the ruling is that compensation has to be paid to the club that you have signed the youngster from as they would have paid for his footballing education.

A bit like the recent Bostock situation with Crystal Palace and Spurs.

Yep and we only got a snip of what Bostock was really worth, highlights the problem in English Football, moan that kids aren't being produced, but then lose the to 'bigger' clubs.

Sorry rant over!

But surely it should only be an up-front fee that is paid, not one based on appearances? That seems very strange indeed.

Tribunial rules on the potential of the player and how much club has invested in the development. Thats why the fees are in stages. This wasn't the case in previous FM's ( it was just a flat fee ) however it is the case in the real world and is a good relastic addition to the game.

If a player is under 17 then you have to pay compo, if the player is over 17 and out of contract then no comp is due.

Compensation was there before. You can't just take a player. This year I noticed the extra fees, I was gonna sign a youngster for free and it said I will have to pay something like £1.2m now rising to £4.7m. Not sure what the exact terms would be.