Wednesday 10 April 2013

Addicks lose out to Chelsea

Many Addicks remember the departure of Charlton youth product Scott Parker to Chelsea with some bitterness. With him in the team for the rest of the season, we might just have qualified for Europe.

Now Charlton have lost out on a talented young striker after England U-17 international Kasey Palmer moved to Chelsea. The 16-year-old has already made his Chelsea debut; he turned out for their U18 side against Manchester United at the weekend. A 'relatively low fee' saw Chelsea able to raid the Charlton academy, which they were able to do as the Premier League side have a category one graded academy whereas Charlton have a category two.

Under 'Elite Player Performance Plan' guidelines those with a category one grade can 'take their pick"' from young players at a club with a lower rating. Charlton have been looking into the possibility of category one status, but it is not thought that the facilities at Sparrows Lane are good enough.

A particular blow after we celebrated Academy Day at The Valley. More here: Kasey Palmer

1 comment:

Burgundy Addick said...

Really disappointed over this one. Only saw him in the Chelsea cup tie, but he looked the stand-out player on the pitch; obviously others thought so too. How can the rules end up framed in a fashion whereby clubs attempting to build or improve academies can see budding players cherry-picked at little cost, just because the top clubs can easily afford top academy status?