City to seek compensation if Sturridge joins Chelsea

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Manchester City to seek compensation if Daniel Sturridge joins Chelsea
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• £10m ‘development fee’ wanted by City for Sturridge
• Joe Hart agrees to join Birmingham on year-long loan
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Manchester City will seek £10m compensation for Daniel Sturridge if, as expected, the teenager defects to Chelsea when his contract at Eastlands expires at the end of the month. City have resigned themselves to losing the talented 19-year-old striker while another of their young English stars, Joe Hart, is also making plans to join the potential exodus, having verbally agreed a year-long loan to Birmingham City.

Hart has opened talks with Birmingham after concluding that his only chance of breaking into England’s World Cup squad is to secure regular Premier League football. The 22-year-old, who made his England debut in a friendly against Trinidad & Tobago last June, lost his place at City when Shay Given was signed from Newcastle United in January but would take over from Maik Taylor as Birmingham’s first-choice goalkeeper, with a view to a permanent transfer next summer.

Sturridge’s situation is based more on finance – he turned down the offer of a new £45,000-a-week deal to open negotiations with Chelsea about joining them as a free agent. He would become the best-paid teenager in English football, with a weekly salary around £75,000. However, City are entitled to claim a “development fee” through an FA tribunal because Sturridge is below the age of 24 and the club are determined to get a substantial sum for a player they took from Coventry City’s youth academy as a 13-year-old.

The club have already started compiling their case and will argue that Sturridge should be regarded in the same bracket as Theo Walcott, who joined Arsenal from Southampton for a fee of £5m rising to £12.5m. They will also cite Fraizer Campbell’s proposed £6m move from Manchester United to Hull City.

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Manchester City are set to demand massive money from Chelsea for the signing of Danny Sturridge.

The Daily Mail says City will ask for £10m in compensation if — as expected — teenage striker Sturridge quits Eastlands for Chelsea this summer.

City are resigned to losing the 19-year-old to Stamford Bridge after the youngster allowed his contract run down.

But it is understood that City will pitch for a ‘development fee’ of £10m when the matter goes before an FA tribunal.

Players under the age of 24 cannot switch clubs under a ‘Bosman’ free transfer, a rule designed to ensure that those who develop young talent do not lose it for nothing.

City will make a claim for a downpayment in excess of £5m and propose that the remainder of the money comes in performance-related instalments.

Chelsea will — in all likelihood — offer substantially less for a player they have been tracking for three or four years.