Aston Villa are set to continue their foray into the Scottish youth market by adding 16-year-old Rangers striker Rory Wilson to their ranks.
They have recently signed Dundee United’s Kerr Smith for a fee of around £800,000 potentially rising to £2 million, while they are also expected to sign Ewan Simpson from Hearts once he completes his first season as an under-16.
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But although Wilson has agreed terms with the Premier League side on what represents life-changing money, it has led to a dispute that could potentially have a seismic bearing on how cross-border transfers for Scottish teenagers are conducted.
Steven Gerrard’s arrival at Villa may suggest he was the main driving force behind the move, but Wilson, who scored 49 goals at youth level last season, has been on Rangers’ radar for years as part of a continued drive to strengthen the academy.
The two clubs have been in talks for months in an attempt to agree on a fee but a final offer, believed to be worth around a guaranteed £300,000 plus add-ons and bonuses, was rejected last week.
It means that, barring a late change of heart by one of the parties, the issue will now be subject to a FIFA resolution committee that will determine Wilson’s immediate future and the correct process going forward.
Scottish clubs have tended to avoid being dragged into legal battles by agreeing to a compromise fee before it reaches this stage, so exits have been handled amicably. That happened when Billy Gilmour moved from Rangers to Chelsea in 2017 as a 16-year-old and when Liam Morrison moved from Celtic to Bayern Munich in 2019 at the same age.
Rangers, however, hold the view that Wilson is contractually their player until December and that they warrant a transfer fee if he leaves this summer.
Fears of a talent drain are becoming more and more of a reality too, with some English clubs said to be “all over” the best talents in Scotland aged 14 and 15.
Brexit altered the landscape of youth recruitment for English clubs as they can no longer sign players from Europe at 16 and must wait until they are 18. The number of English clubs that big clubs can bully has shrunk massively too given the riches of the Premier League, so Scotland and the EFL are the markets where they can still flex their muscles.
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Villa were among those clubs who acted quickly before the rules changed in January 2021 to bring in youngsters from the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland. Now, with the pool vastly reduced, it means that shopping in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland now forms a much larger part of the club’s strategy due to domestic transfers being unaffected.
Villa’s intention is to press ahead with the signing and register Wilson on July 1, at which point the English Football Association will request international transfer clearance from the Scottish FA.
It is expected that the Scottish FA, representing Rangers as a member club, will block this and the dispute will then go to FIFA.
World football’s governing body is then likely to issue temporary international transfer clearance so Wilson can play before it looks at the case and gives its judgement. Previously, some young players have been frozen out of the game for months while the legalities are argued.
Villa’s case is that every player in Scotland is an amateur player until they have signed a professional deal. A player can only do so once they turn 16 and Wilson, who turned that age in January, had not entertained Rangers’ offer to discuss a professional deal as he wanted to explore his options in England.
Delighted to sign a long-term contract with @adidasfootball in London today. Thanks to @william_hannah, @elliottf77, @peasomac9 & @CAABase for getting everything sorted! pic.twitter.com/0RQVrYCbK4
— Rory wilson (@Rorywilson5) May 6, 2022
Villa’s stance is that, as he is only paid expenses and not a wage, he is an amateur and that rules regarding the termination of a contract are redundant as he satisfies the criteria to sign for an English club.
Scottish clubs had been bracing themselves for an influx of interest from England but it now appears to be reaching a tipping point. With few levers of protection at their disposal, it has become common for clubs to register players on contracts that expire in the December after their 16th birthday rather than the traditional lapse period of summer.
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Players can’t move to England until the end of their under-16 season, which Wilson has completed, so this overlap is designed to prevent clubs from being able to sign them during summer when their deal expires.
Until the end of their under-14 season, Scottish players can only sign a one-year rolling contract but after that, the maximum term increases to a three-year contract before they are eligible to move onto a professional deal.
There is a box to tick whether it is an amateur or professional form and Wilson signed an amateur form in December 2019 at the age of 13, which was a rolling contract for three years as the club activated the next year at the end of each season. However, Villa believe that registrations dated until December should not be recognised.
If Wilson were to move within Scotland, the case would stay under the jurisdiction of the Scottish FA and the registration would need to be honoured. But Villa are understood to believe that, as it is an international transfer overseen by FIFA, those rules are superseded and, as long as he has not signed a professional deal, he is free to choose his full-time employers at 16.
Celtic faced a similar situation with Morrison and initially said they were prepared to go to FIFA but they were recommended to do a deal instead.
Some clubs have become so desperate to protect their best players that they have sought to get ahead of English suitors by getting the players to sign a “pre-pro contract” at 14. It is essentially an agreement that they will sign a pro deal once they turn 16 rather than explore their options south of the border, often with “expenses” paid as a means to incentivise an early commital.
Although there is no suggestion that Rangers themselves do this, the concept is said to have grown in Scotland as a reaction to interest from English teams intensifying.
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However, leading academy figures believe it may not be too long before 14 year-olds are allowed to sign paid contracts in line with employment law that lets kids do “light” work from 13 and above in Scotland. There is already a working group discussing the plan comprised of Scottish government, the Scottish FA and leading football figures, who are hoping to have it signed off soon as it would provide clubs with two years of protection before their 16th birthday.
If FIFA rules in Villa’s favour then the Premier League club will only have to pay the minimum training compensation required, which would be around €130,000 (£112,000) in this case. That would represent a huge drop on Rangers’ initial valuation, which was a seven-figure fee.
Many feel that Scottish clubs are defenseless to shelter their best talents and get the best value possible.
The only way is to convince a player to sign a professional deal so the club can demand a significant transfer fee, as Rangers did with Nathan Patterson when he moved to Everton in January for a club-record fee. Alex Lowry’s and Leon King’s decisions to sign at Rangers were a huge positive as they are two talents who have been lined up for the first team and had suitors from England.
Rangers will hope the ratio of players opting to take the leap to England rather than staying at Rangers will remain a net positive one, but this is how the football food chain operates. It is not one-way traffic; Rangers have signed Lancelot Pollard from Aberdeen and are in the process of signing Cameron Cooper from Partick Thistle and Zak Lovelace from Millwall.
Some will say that Wilson’s case is simply a case of swings and roundabouts, but if FIFA’s ruling sets a precedent it could have huge ramifications.
Will English clubs be given incentives not to offer a transfer fee as a courtesy with the knowledge they will only have to pay a nominal compensation fee? Or, if Rangers are successful, then Scottish clubs may feel emboldened to try to maximise their best young talent.
(Top photo: Rory Wilson via Twitter)