Liverpool Set for Tribunal to Determine Harvey Elliott Compensation Fee

Liverpool could be made to pay Fulham around £7m in compensation following the summer signing of teenage starlet Harvey Elliott, who made his competitive senior

Liverpool could be made to pay Fulham around £7m in compensation following the summer signing of teenage starlet Harvey Elliott, who made his competitive senior debut for the Reds as a starter in the Carabao Cup win over MK Dons on Wednesday night.

Born in 2003, Elliott joined Liverpool from Fulham and won’t sign his first professional contract until he turns 17. No transfer fee changed hands given the circumstances of the deal that saw the young winger reject the opportunity to stay at Craven Cottage as a scholar.

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Fulham are at least protected by the system in that they are recognised as the club that trained and developed Elliott and will be owed a compensatory amount once a figure is decided. The two sides are at liberty to agree it between themselves, but failure to do so will prompt a tribunal.

According to The Times, the Championship club are seeking a payment of £7m. However, the report also notes that no talks are currently taking place between Liverpool and Fulham, with the matter therefore expected to be ruled on by an independent third party instead.

That is not uncommon in these kinds of situations when clubs cannot agree on how much a young player is worth. Liverpool avoided a tribunal when they signed an out-of-contract Dominic Solanke from Chelsea in 2017, eventually compromising on compensation a year after the deal.

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On that occasion, it was reported that Liverpool wanted to pay £3m for the striker, while Chelsea were seeking an amount closer to £10m. An undisclosed figure somewhere in the middle was what the rival clubs eventually settled on, before the case went to a tribunal.

Solanke ultimately scored just one goal in 27 appearances for Liverpool, but the Reds did succeed in selling him on for a profit when Bournemouth paid a reported £19m in January 2019.

At the age of just 16 years and 174 days, Elliott became the youngest ever player to start a competitive game for Liverpool when he lined up at Stadium MK this week. He had already been an unused substitute for the UEFA Super Cup against Chelsea in Istanbul.