It’s no secret that Nathan Ferguson will be leaving West Brom at the end of the season.
The Baggies’ young defender has made it very clear that he doesn’t want to renew his contract, and it looks as though the Midlands club are set to lose him when his deal expires at the end of the season.
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Losing a player of Ferguson’s talent is never a good thing, but a recent report on his potential destination should be seen as a boost.
What’s the story then?
The Standard's Jack Rosser is reporting that Crystal Palace are still confident of landing the full-back after their failed deadline day move for him.
The Eagles had an £11m swoop lined up for the defender in January, but his knee injury saw the deal fall apart late on.
The Baggies may not receive £11m for him now, but they will still benefit financially from his move to Palace.
Silver lining
For a time, it looked as though Ferguson could have headed abroad this summer with Juventus and Atletico Madrid both linked to him, but the Baggies would benefit a lot more if he stayed in England.
Due to his age, West Brom will be due compensation when Ferguson leaves the club, but if he were to move abroad that would be significantly less due to the EFL’s rules slightly differing from FIFA’s.
FIFA only have rules in place based around training payments on moves like this meaning that players are basically moving for free while their new club pay an amount based on how much it has cost their old side to develop the player.
However, domestic moves go to tribunal, where a fair fee is decided by the powers that be.
Perhaps the most famous example of this was after Danny Ings’ move to Liverpool where the Reds were ordered to pay £8m for the striker.
Ferguson is quite clearly a valuable commodity, Palace offered £11m for him in the winter, and if his exit goes to tribunal, the Baggies may be in line for a significant windfall.
In other news, West Brom didn’t adequately replace these two players.