Crewe furious that the Reds have watched promising youngster and broken no rules

It appears that Chelsea’s (hilarious) transfer ban has opened the floodgates for smaller sides to make wild accusations at bigger sides about the future of their young talent. Crewe’s Director of Football Dario Gradi has today threatened to make a complaint to the FA against Liverpool, who have been watching 15-year-old midfielder Max Clayton. They haven’t approached him or coerced him into signing a contract by buying his family a pre-fab mansion in Cheshire, they simply sent a scout to watch him. Which is pretty much what all clubs do. If Crewe were a French team, Arsene Wenger would have had at least six scouts watching every youth game.

Terrfied by the prospect of losing Clayton when he turns 16, Gradi said in The Sun:

“There is no excuse for breaking the rules.

“It is so hard to protect your players. All this goes against the morality of the game - it’s the rich robbing the poor.”

Considering the fact that Liverpool have not done anything wrong, they have not commented on Gradi’s claims. If they were to sign him at 16, it is likely that a compensation tribunal would offer Crewe around £250,000.