Baggies to receive Nathan payout of around £6m
ALBION will earn in the region of £6 million in compensation for the transfer of former academy graduate Nathan Ferguson to Crystal Palace.
Despite a concerted effort from technical director Luke Dowling and head coach Slaven Bilic to persuade Ferguson to sign a new contract at The Hawthorns, the 19-yearold opted to make the move to south London.
The Birmingham-born defender’s impressive breakthrough brought him to the attention of a clutch of Premier League clubs.
Ferguson’s proposed £11 million move to Palace collapsed in January after a knee injury, which later required surgery, was detected in the medical.
The youngster, used by Bilic in both full-back positions despite rising through the ranks as a central defender, finally completed the move to Selhurst Park last month. He
Yet the dream so nearly turned into a nightmare as the Baggies limped across the line to finish second, 10 points behind champions Leeds.
A failure to win any of their final four games saw Brentford close the gap to a point but a nervy final day 2-2 draw against QPR secured promotion.
Albion are favourites for an instant return, the reasoning being obvious, but it was the same this time last year for Sheffield United – who Sawyers describes as an “eye opener” – before they finished ninth.
“It’s exciting but we don’t want to be tourists, we don’t want to take in the stadiums, the players, Match of the Day and then just go back to the penned a three-year deal after joining Roy Hodgson’s side as a free agent.
Albion were always due compensation because of his age and the fact he was joining another club in England.
The compensation fee will be discussed at a tribunal and decided by the Professional Football Compensation Committee after the two clubs could not agree a figure.
It’s a similar scenario to last summer when Manchester
Championship,” said Sawyers. “It’s easier said than done but you have to have that mentality. We’ve got that in the group, we’re not just there for the ride.
“This year we were expected to beat most teams, we had a Premier League manager (Slaven Bilic) in charge of a Championship team. But we also had Premier League talent in Jake Livermore, Charlie Austin, Grady Diangana and Matheus Pereira had a fantastic season. Now we have done it people feel we can hold our own in the Premier League but it’s about going and doing it. Next year we’re not expected to lose every game but you have to pinpoint what games to take points from.”
City were ordered by a tribunal to pay Albion £4.2 million compensation for the free transfer of highly-rated midfielder Morgan Rogers.
Liverpool were ordered to pay a record tribunal fee of £8 million to Burnley, not including sell-on, for the transfer of Danny Ings, when aged 22, in 2015. Burnley were made to wait close to a year for the fee to finally be decided and the Baggies could face a similar delay in receiving payment.