Are youngsters chasing glory or riches?

I’m sure we all had an argument with our parents as teenagers that ended something along the lines of ‘I’m 16, not a kid anymore’.

Well one 16-year-old has been ruffling a few feathers in the world of football this week after a move that could set a dangerous precedent for other young players.

Crystal Palace’s highly coveted midfielder John Bostock completed his controversial move to Tottenham Hotspur after a compensation fee was decided by tribunal.

I’m sure those around Bostock played a major part in the move, but he would have had the final say and let’s hope he has made the right decision.

The Selhurst Park were awarded a fee of £700,000, rising to £1.25 million depending on appearances, in a decision that left Palace chairman Simon Jordan outraged.

Jordan isn’t the sort of man to go quietly and he has labelled the decision as ‘scandalous’, accusing the tribunal of being a ‘panel of half wits’.

Jordan compared the sum to the £5 million Arsenal paid to Cardiff for Aaron Ramsey this summer of the Theo Walcott deal in January 2006 that saw the player move from Southampton to Arsenal for £5 million plus substantial add-ons.

He also claimed he received an offer of £900,000 from Chelsea for Bostock when the England Under 17 skipper was just 14.

The danger is the Bostock deal may become a way of the future, Spurs and Palace were unable to agree a fee for the player and – because he is only contracted on scholarship terms until he is 17 – Bostock was free to leave the club with a tribunal then set to decide the compensation fee.

The idea is that young players are free to move between clubs while the club that trains them receives some sort of compensation for their work.

For example, when Jermaine Defoe signed professional terms with West Ham after a traineeship with Charlton, the Addicks were eventually awarded £1.4 million compensation.

The problem comes when the remuneration the smaller club receives far outweighs the true market value a player would attract were he tied to them in a long term contract.

With no protection of this sort young players across the country will be picked off by the big clubs, who will pay a fraction of what they are actually worth – they already do it to European clubs.

As Jordan suggested, smaller clubs will question whether it is worth trying to develop young talent if they are simply going to be picked off by the vultures of the Premier League.

Why not just let them pay for the football education of all youngsters and pick up the ones who fail to make the senior level?

This would be a disaster because as the big clubs continue to stockpile dozens of young players they are all missing out on the most extremely valuable part of their footballing education – playing week in week out in front of a crowd.

There may be a decent standard in reserve team football but there is not the same commitment and certainly not the same atmosphere.

Youngsters are also more and more frequently loaned out to smaller clubs but this is just a temporary solution and, judging by some of the loan players I have seen down at Bournemouth, there is not always the same desire as if they were playing for their own club.

First team football is something Bostock appears to have left behind for a couple of seasons as, with the greatest of respect to him, I cannot see even an exceptionally talented 16-year-old forcing his way into a central midfield berth ahead of Luka Modric, Jermaine Jenas, Tom Huddlestone and Didier Zokora.

He cannot say he hasn’t been warned as he only has to look at the likes of Theo Walcott and another former Palace player Wayne Routledge to see the pitfalls of moving to a big club at such a young age.

Sure he will benefit from training under Juande Ramos with the likes of Modric, Dimitar Berbatov and Ledley King, but I strongly believe the best thing for a young player at his stage in his career is to play week in week out and develop his game.

Maybe one solution would be to return to Palace on loan for a year but then I can’t really see Jordan welcoming him back with open arms.

I just hope youngsters who make these moves are doing it in the genuine belief it will further their footballing careers and not just on the advice of agents because they are keen to make a quick buck.