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Sonny Perkins made his debut for Leeds Utd on Wednesday evening against Wolves after joining in ‘controversial’ style from West Ham in the summer.
West Ham Not Happy
Many of the West Ham management and fans were disgruntled at Perkins leaving. West Ham even posted a cryptic message on their website stating.
“Perkins, who joined the West Ham United Academy at Under-14 level, rejected the Club’s offers of a professional contract.
The Club is now entitled to receive compensation from any club Perkins decides to join.
West Ham United invests millions of pounds annually into its world-renowned Academy of Football – and naturally the Club is extremely disappointed that Sonny has chosen not to continue his development with the Hammers.
The Club is disappointed with Perkins’ representatives and strongly believe he was approached to sign for another club which led to him asking to be released from his scholarship at West Ham United.
West Ham United take this matter very seriously – we believe the rules and structures in place at the Football Association and Premier League should be upheld at all times.
The Club will be making no further comment.”
Messy Situation
We all knew this story was going to grow arms and legs and it looks like that ball has started to roll.
Phil Hay (Correspondent at the Athletic) said,
“West Ham did not name names but said they suspected he had ‘been approached to sign for another club, which led to him asking to be released from his scholarship”.
“Since then, conversations between the two teams at board level have been delicate at best. West Ham think Leeds were underhand in recruiting Perkins and want a good seven-figure sum.”
“Leeds deny any wrongdoing and do not believe Perkins’ status as a scholar, his salary at West Ham, his limited minutes as a first-team player or prior fees for academy footballers like him should value him at more than £750,000.”
Since joining Leeds Sonny has scored 8 goals in 13 appearances across al competitions and is showing the great promise.
A story to keep an eye on over the coming weeks.
