Grimsby Town manager Ian Holloway has launched a scathing attack on Liverpool and Chelsea over their interest in young duo Louis Boyd and Ben Grist.
The two 15-year-olds are highly regarded, and were named in Grimsby's team for an EFL Trophy game against Harrogate last month.
And The Athletic claim that both Liverpool and Chelsea are considering making a move in the near future.
Holloway, however, clearly thinks the big clubs are taking an unfair advantage in their approach, and hit out at them in an interview with Grimsby Live.
When asked about the interest in his players, he replied: "Am I surprised at that? No I’m not surprised at that. Am I fuming about it? Yeah.
"These big wigs who want to take over football on the sly, they’ve already got rules passed that they’re category A clubs, and they can steal those lads off us very, very cheaply, because it suits them again doesn’t it?
"Those rules were passed by who? The academy setup is run by people who have got enough money to have all those things in place to get a tick in the box for category A.
"They’ve all got it because they’ve all got the money, and that means they can take those boys off me.
"I want to play them when they’re 15 because they’re good enough, and when will they ever play for them? I’m going to have to wait and see.
"I knew it would be a risk, but I don’t really care, because I care about those boys and I want to get them in my team, and I’ll teach them as good as any one of those clubs will, if not better in my opinion.
"That’s what I’ll be telling their parents. Whether they listen to me I don’t know, but I can prove one thing. If you’re good enough, you’re old enough."
It remains to be seen if either Liverpool or Chelsea make their move in the coming months, but it does appear as though Boyd and Grist will not be Grimsby players for too much longer.
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