Manchester United have beaten Liverpool and Chelsea in the race for
14-year-old Burnley striker John Cofie and agreed an undisclosed
fee with the Clarets.
Burnley rejected a reported £250,000 bid from Liverpool for Cofie
this week.
But the German-born Ghanaian refused to return to training with the
Clarets and they agreed he could leave Turf Moor.
Burnley have inserted a 25% sell-on clause in the deal, which also
gives them first refusal on any loan deal and a future friendly
match with United.
It will be three years before Cofie can sign professional terms at
Old Trafford and the friendly game will take place within 12 months
of that.
Cofie was signed by the Clarets last summer after he was spotted at
a youth tournament in Germany.
"The player was unwilling to come back to Burnley so we didn't have
a choice in keeping him here," Burnley operational director Brendan
Flood told his club's website.
"He was going to go to one of the clubs chasing his signature and
in the end, we all felt that Manchester United was the right
option.
"He has a good future ahead of him and hopefully we can try and
keep youngsters of John's quality at the club in future."
