One of the more exciting transfers to come out of the last transfer window was that of Wesley Fofana to Leicester.
After a rather public announcement that he wanted to swap Saint-Etienne for the Premier League, the defender was granted permission to negotiate the move, which eventually came to around €35m.
Leicester, in turn, got one of the more exciting centre-backs of his generation, one who has already made his mark in Brendan Rodgers’ team in a short amount of time.
However, it’s not just Saint-Etienne benefitting from this move, but some of Fofana’s previous clubs, those who helped him develop at a young age, who will be receiving some compensation for their work.
One of those is SC Air Bel in the south of France, where the 19-year-old spent three years and a month between the ages of 12 and 15.
The FIFA rule states that ‘during the first years of the player’s formation, being from his 12th to 15th birthday, the amount owed regarding the solidarity contribution is of 5% of the 5% for each years of development, meaning 0.25% of the total fee’.
That means SC Air Bel are owed around €420k, which will be spread over the next four years, meaning €105k per year, which Leicester will have to pay.
However, the way the money is distributed doesn’t always go down well, as, speaking to Actufoot, the president of the small French club explained: “When players sign youth contracts, we get money for development. I’m going to clear things up first, it’s not us that will get money, it’s Saint-Etienne. We are going to get peanuts compared to them! When it comes to Fofana, he played for us between 12 and 15, that means not quite four years. We had him for three years and a month when you look at his date of birth.
“The fourth year, it’s amputated by the Federation, knowing that between 12 and 15, we’re owed 0.25% and not 0.5% of the total fee for the second year. Therefore it’s Saint-Etienne who take the money, and not us. They take €35m plus the solidarity payment on top of that.
“While we get peanuts and the three years and one month are spread over four years, when you look at what we get… Of course, it will allow us to work even better with this money, because we will get some money, but it’s not what we were promised”.
