Jordan 'brutalised' By Price Set for Tottenham-bound Bostock

Crystal Palace's chairman Simon Jordan has criticized a Football League tribunal for deciding that Tottenham should pay an initial £700,000 for the club's youngest ever first-team player, John Bostock. The 16-year-old midfielder agreed a five-year contract with Spurs when his Palace deal expired last week but the clubs went to arbitration when they could not agree a fee.

Jordan wanted in the region of £5m for the player, who was still 15 when he made his debut in October. But the tribunal settled on a fee rising to £1.25m.

"I feel mugged and brutalized, it is scandalous, and this sends a message to smaller clubs," he told the Times. "Why bother to bring players through if tribunals cannot reflect the work that has gone in?"

He added in the Daily Mail: "You get players like Aaron Ramsey, who has gone for £5m from Cardiff to Arsenal because that is the UK transfer market. The tribunal, in my view, are supposed to reflect the conditions of the transfer market place. And they came up with a figure of £700,000 for a player who has captained his country at Under-17 level, who is perceived to be one of the best youngsters in the country and is being chased by Barcelona, Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea.

"We had a £900,000 offer from Chelsea when he was 14 which we turned down. It's beyond me and it makes me question why I bother with football. I have an academy who have produced a world-class footballer for someone else and got paid two-and-sixpence for it."