Bohemians and Belvedere cashed in from Matt Doherty’s big move from Wolves to Spurs but there will be no such rewards after the Dubliner’s unusual move to Atletico Madrid.
The termination of Doherty’s contract to allow a short-term emergency move to Spain until the end of the season took a transfer fee out of the equation which means that development clubs get nothing.
Given that he had more than a year remaining on his contract, it would have been reasonable to assume that Doherty would command another fee if he was surplus to requirements with the London club.
The rushed arrangement to turn a loan into a permanent deal to keep Spurs inside FIFA rules moved the goalposts somewhat.
Not that his former clubs will be complaining. They did very well out of his £15m switch to Spurs from Wolves in 2020 with a sell on clause in the deal allowing Bohs to collect a figure of around €1.5m.
However, they were bound to pay Belvedere, his last schoolboy club, 20pc of that because of the terms of his move to Dalymount Park.
The sell-on clause expired after the player left Wolves; it was an arrangement between Bohs and Wolves so it doesn’t carry on to any subsequent deals.
Therefore, all that his Irish clubs would be missing out is their piece of the 5pc of all transfer fees – regardless of whether clauses were in place or not – that are divided amongst the ‘development clubs’ of the players in question.
Under FIFA rules, it is awarded to the clubs where the individual in question spent the years between the ages of 12 and 23 with 5pc of the total for each year from 12 to 15 and 10pc for the remaining eight years.
In the case of Doherty, the greatest share would actually go to Wolves given that he signed for the club aged 18. Belvedere, Bohemians and Home Farm would split the rest so, in reality, they haven’t missed out on a major dividend here.
Doherty moved from Home Farm to Belvedere aged 14 so the former did collect around €75,000 from the Wolves-Spurs deal as their cut of the 5pc.
Bohs will be watching the future trajectory of Evan Ferguson with interest with St Kevin’s Boys also standing to benefit from his long term exploits. The Gypsies did negotiate clauses as part of his move to Brighton so they will be very invested in his progress.
Doherty is settling into life in Madrid, with his new employers bringing up a 2016 tweet where he praised the style of Diego Simeone’s side.
"I always remember watching and having admiration for the way Atletico Madrid play,” said Doherty who spoke with Kieran Trippier about his new employers. Trippier made the same switch in 2019 before eventually returning to Newcastle.
"I'm very excited, just from what I've heard from people like Kieran Trippier and the way the players are and how they are coached," said the 31-year-old. “It's going to be very interesting for me to see a (Simeone) team and how they even set up for games in training.”
