Real Madrid Are Taking Our Children!

By: Daryl | February 29th, 2008

Like the evil child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in club football form, Real Madrid are being accused of stealing children. Brazilian club Vasco de Gama have a (presumably) talented 15 year old on their books by the name of Philippe Coutinho, who should be protected from any attempts at an international transfer by FIFA rules. But that hasn’t stopped wily Madrid (pictured) who are eager to catch Coutinho in their ~~net~~ youth academy. Rather than offer money (or sweets) to the 15 year old, both of which would be flat out illegal, Madrid have allegedly offered Coutinho’s father a job in Madrid.

We don’t know what sort of job, but we can assume it’s something where he wouldn’t have to do much and would get rewarded handsomely for it. So the idea seems to be that Coutinho Snr. would move the family to Madrid and then once they’re settled in Spain, Coutinho Jnr. would be able to join the Real Madrid youth academy.

“Real Madrid went to the player’s family and made very tempting but illegal offers,” Vasco president Eurico Miranda told reporters. “We have reported Real Madrid to FIFA and the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) for their approach to Philippe Coutinho. Coutinho is only 15 and the FIFA rules are clear, transfers abroad are only allowed for 18-year-olds.”

It’s not as direct as whisking the player away in a helicopter but the end result is the same.

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Category: World Football

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Free Bet Man

I disagree with many of the posts here suggesting that the big European clubs should be allowed to come in and poach any talented player they like from thousands of miles away in South America.
Teams like River Plate have worked hard on developing their own youth academies on very little money, aided by the fact that they are not getting the money they should for players they developed from a young age.
These clubs will never be able to fend of clubs such as Madrid, Chelsea and Barcelona if they are not able to hold onto their youth players for long enough to reap the rewards.
There's two sides of the story remember.
Daryl

John,

Just to be clear, I wasn't taking a shot specifically at Real Madrid. I totally understand that all clubs do this type of thing (click that last link in the post.)
john

Yeah, this isn't necessarily a Madrid thing, it's actually much more common with Barcelona (who've made 2 similar moves in recent months, most recently 15 year old argentine Mauro Icardi, two weeks ago), and happens not Infrequently with English clubs as well. In fact, Madrid is sometimes critisized for not pursuing young players more aggresively to bolster their youth team, Castilla. So nice attempt to take a shot at Real Madrid, Daryl, but this is not a new, nor particularly Madridista tactic.
Diatus

Give me a break...let the kid go!!!Kids like that are a dime a dozen in Brazil and West Africa. Greedy Vasco!!!
Jan

The reason why European clubs start caring about poor families in Brazil is because of millions of Euros as well, not because they've gone philantropic.
Corey

I dont read much into these things, Brazilian clubs simply want to make the most money off players they can, it hardly has to do with the child living a normal life for awhile before becoming a pro footballer. If a 15 year old and his family want to move to Spain and join Real's youth setup, how can Vasco stop them, they cant contract a 15 year old. They simply want to hold on to him til 18 or 19 then sell him for millions, they care very little in his long term development unless it yields them euros.
Jan

Lionel Messi's family moved to Spain to start a new life there, while Barcelona was willing to pay for the hormone therapy Messi needed and which his club in Argentina couldn't afford. He joined Barcelona's youth academy and then became a superduperstar for cheap.

Those are the new tricks of the trade. Rich European clubs offer families from poor countries a new life and save between €20-30m on transfer fees later.