Fulham seeking £10m for Harvey Elliott from Liverpool
By Tom Gott
Fulham are expected to demand £10m from Liverpool for young winger Harvey Elliott when the two clubs head to a tribunal on Tuesday.
Liverpool signed the 17-year-old in the summer of 2019 before he had signed a professional contract with Fulham, but the Cottagers are entitled to some compensation after being responsible for his development.
Liverpool offered to pay close to £750,000 to sign the then 16-year-old, but as noted by The Athletic, Fulham want closer to £10m for a player who is: their youngest ever player, Liverpool's youngest ever starter and the youngest player in Premier League history.
Elliott is currently shining in the Championship with Blackburn Rovers, notching four goals and eight assists in 22 appearances, and he has been tipped to be a major part of the Liverpool setup upon his return to Anfield.
Fulham still feel as though a £10m would be daylight robbery. They felt that Elliott had the potential to blossom into a future superstar at Craven Cottage, and young England internationals have been known to sell for more than that figure.
For comparison, Liverpool recently sold Rhian Brewster to Sheffield United for somewhere close to the £20m mark, despite the fact that the striker had not made a single appearance in the Premier League at that point.
Whether Fulham will actually get that £10m is unknown, but given the record amount of compensation set by a tribunal stands at the £6.5m Liverpool were ordered to pay Burnley for Danny Ings, it's not looking good.
Liverpool will definitely hope to avoid paying that kind of money. Jurgen Klopp was open about the Reds' lack of transfer funds in January, which is why centre-back Ozan Kabak was only signed on an initial loan, and shelling out £10m might not sit well with club chiefs.
It's a big case for both Liverpool and Fulham, but also for academies as a whole. There's a perception that smaller teams are often short-changed in these situations, with most pointing to the mere £850,000 Exeter City were awarded from Chelsea's purchase of Ethan Ampadu, who earned his first cap for Wales just months after joining the Blues.
Fulham have invested a considerable amount of money in their academy to obtain Category 1 status in 2012, but there are fears that those efforts could be undermined if a player like Elliott is only worth pocket change to a tribunal.