Hartlepool United to take legal action against Fulham over controversial youth player transfer that left them without any compensation

Hartlepool United are taking legal action against Championship side Fulham over the controversial move of Luca Murphy in 2019.
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The defender, who is now out of contract, signed a two and a half year deal at Craven Cottage as a 17-year-old following his release from Pools after eight years at the club. Although Hartlepool played a key role in Murphy’s development, they haven’t received any form of compensation fee for the player.

Murphy joined Fulham under controversial circumstances back in 2019. Pools had agreed a fee with the then Premier League outfit in January as Murphy went down for a trial period which would ultimately be deemed unsuccessful.

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The teenager then returned to Hartlepool but it was claimed that his behaviour had deteriorated to the extent that he was failing to attend training sessions or college classes.

Luca Murphy joined Fulham in 2019.Luca Murphy joined Fulham in 2019.
Luca Murphy joined Fulham in 2019.
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Hartlepool deemed it no longer appropriate to have Murphy as part of the club’s youth set-up and agreed a mutual termination of the player's contract. Murphy then joined Fulham on a free transfer just 11 days later.

Hartlepool previously offered Murphy a professional contract but Fulham refused to compensate the then National League club.

Following Pools’ return to the Football League, the club are now taking their compensation claim to the EFL’s Professional Football Compensation Committee.

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Hartlepool chairman Raj Singh told Sportsmail: “We have seen the PFCC work with some enormous compensation cases in the Premier League recently, but it’s clubs like Hartlepool that really need protecting.

“Otherwise, why would clubs outside of the Championship or Premier League risk investing into youth and academy systems at all?

“With Luca Murphy, he had been at our club since the age of nine and had developed through our system.

“It can’t be right that a club like ours invest large amounts into player development over a number of years only to then lose him to another club without any recognition at all.

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“It completely goes against the spirit of the game and its development aims, as well as the training compensation framework that was established to protect us all.

“We have done everything we possibly can to resolve the matter club to club, but we have now been left with no choice but to take things forward through formal channels.”

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