Snowflake RoyalP!ssed OffFrom Despair To Where? And that undisclosed fee would have been in the region of £100,000.
However, the club would have known last May that there were long term question marks over McCleary and Harriott's fitness. Beerens was being used less and less so instead of being 5th choice, he's suddenly 2nd or 3rd choice. We hadn't signed Barrow or Aluko at that point so, on the back of 18 months out on loan getting first team experience, there was a very real chance this season would have been a breakthrough one for him. Just as good a reason for offering him a contract as £100,000.
You're thinking of set compensation for youth players.
The 'undisclosed fee' is whatever was agreed by the two clubs, and could very well involve a sell on %.
If compensation is not agreed then a tribunal determines market value.
e.g. Liverpool had to pay £6.5m + add ons for Danny Ings.
I'm sure Fosu was well aware last Summer that the club would continue it's annual tradition of bringing in an abundance of average tat and completely ignoring home grown players.
I thought the Academy system set fixed amounts when it came in. There was certainly hoo-ha at the time about it.
Clearly it's false to say Fosu was no where near the first team or was moved on. But he also clearly wasn't considered ready for the first 18 at the time, unsurprisingly as he'd had a relatively unsuccessful loan spell.
We certainly failed in our use of the likes of Fosu, Stacey, Tanner and Samuel given our recent dearth of good attacking options and spunking of millions on overrated pish like Aluko, Grabban, Piazon and Martin or perma crocks like McCleary and Harriott.
Not to mention mismanaging the defence to let the likes of Dickie, Hyam and Keown all go leaving us with one proper senior fullback and a collection of expensive centrebacks who haven't really done the business with the exception of Moore.
It’s not false to say Fosu was nowhere near the first team. There were five wingers ahead of him. Last May no one would have known how much Beerens form would drop off or for that matter McCleary. Besides if Fosu was close to first team selection why did the club buy Beerens, Harriott, Popa and Bodvarsson? (Bod can play wide too). We already had McCleary with Obita able to play on the wing too.
In addition if Fosu was close to first team selection why do you think he left?