Club News

Albion reject Chelsea offer for Brown

And Baggies make their stance clear on compensation figure

ALBION have today rejected an offer from Chelsea for Academy product Isaiah Brown.

Under Premier League rules the Baggies are due compensation from the London club for the 16-year-old midfielder, who has been at The Hawthorns for three years and had agreed to sign scholarship forms.

Albion Sporting & Technical Director (Designate) Richard Garlick said: “We are disappointed by Chelsea’s offer.

“We have invested a lot of time and money in Isaiah’s development as a player and - as one of our most exciting Academy products in recent years - we had hoped to bring him through into our first team.

“But Chelsea have forced our hands and we are more than prepared for the matter to be decided by a tribunal if needs be.

“More importantly, it makes you question why these young players are joining bigger clubs when they are likely to gain more first-team opportunities in the Barclays Premier League at clubs similar to us.”

Brown has won three England Under-17s caps and two for the Under-16s, scoring his first goal at that level in a 4-3 friendly defeat by Germany in February.

Three months later he became the second youngest-ever Barclays Premier League player when he made his Baggies first-team debut as a substitute against Wigan, aged 16 years and 117 days.