Ex Cardiff City Academy player leaves for £11.29 million

Man City agree fee with Schalke of £11.29 million pounds for Rabbi Matondo after joining Man City from Cardiff City 12 months ago. i believe no sell on clause to CCFC as he was an academy product and only the nominal fee that CCFC received from Man City was due. Another talented British player heads to the Bundesliga




This Man City starlet and Cardiff boy just became the most expensive Welsh teenager in history


30/01/19


Rabbi Matondo has completed a big money move to Germany


Manchester City and Wales starlet Rabbi Matondo has completed his move to Bundesliga giants Schalke.

The 18-year-old has signed a four-and-half-year contract in Gelsenkirchen, in a deal believed to be worth just over £11 million.

The move makes Matondo, who initially came through the ranks of Cardiff City before being poached by the Premier League champions for just £500,000 back in 2016, the most expensive teenager in Welsh football.

You read our in-depth interview with the man himself here.

It's the latest chapter in what has been a whirlwind couple of months for Matondo, who despite getting few opportunities to shine for Man City's first team, was handed his first senior Wales cap in the 1-0 defeat to Albania back in the November.

He first appeared on Pep Guardiola's radar last summer after tests allegedly showed he was the fastest player at the club, outpacing the likes of Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane.


Guardiola was believed to be and admirer of the player, but with his first team opportunities likely to remain limited for the foreseeable future, Matondo has now decided that the Bundesliga is the best place for him to progress, particularly in light of former City starlet Jadon Sancho's progress at Borussia Dortmund.

Speaking after his side had confirmed the deal, Schalke boss Domenico Tedesco said: "We have been working for Rabbi for a long time, because we are convinced of his potential: He is extremely fast and technically good

"But we must not forget that he is still very young. That's why we'll give him the time he needs to get a grip on Schalke and the Bundesliga. "

It's believed that City have a buyback clause in place worth at least £30million, meaning that a return to English football could eventually be on the cards, but Matondo himself is focused on making an impression at his new club, and is keen to follow in the footsteps of its more notable alumni.

"Mesut Özil, Ivan Rakitic and Leroy Sané took important steps in their careers [here]," said the young winger.

"In addition, there were very good discussions with the coach, even my new teammates knew only good things to report. In addition, the Bundesliga is a great league.

"Schalke is the right choice for my footballing future and I'm looking forward to being part of the club and its plans for the future."

Incredibly, Matondo is eligible to face his former employers when the two sides meet in the Champions League's last 16, with City set to travel to Germany on March 12.

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Man City agree fee with Schalke of £11.29 million pounds for Rabbi Matondo after joining Man City from Cardiff City 12 months ago. i believe no sell on clause to CCFC as he was an academy product and only the nominal fee that CCFC received from Man City was due. Another talented British player heads to the Bundesliga

We would’ve got 6m if he made a first team appearance, think that’s why pep was trying to avoid using him in cup games as for only 1 or 2 appearances they would’ve had to pay up 6m, nothing to them really but still 6m

This highlights what's wrong in football? Big clubs strip other clubs academies because rules allow it then they don't play them but sell on at massive profit when find they're not good enough for their 1st team.

We will get that ridiculous 1% fee that previous clubs get which had we been strapped would have been nice.

Thankfully under Tan it’s a drop in the ocean.

Think it’s a disgrace, how can it be allowed that a big club can pick any player from an academy, keep him a year then sell him at a massive profit with the club receiving peanuts! Surely minimum should be a large sell on clause! Don’t blame clubs for not bothering with academies

My own personal opinion on this is that clubs should not be able to buy/poach players from other clubs academies until they turn 18.

Good luck to him though hopefully he does well and ends up being world class for Wales.

My own personal opinion on this is that clubs should not be able to buy/poach players from other clubs academies until they turn 18.

Good luck to him though hopefully he does well and ends up being world class for Wales.

bold move - seems an ambitious player who wants to play - good luck to him.

does seem unfair that we haven't got a sell on clause, but that's par for the course with this club. when was the last time we sold a player and you thought 'that's a great deal for us'? 1983?

bold move - seems an ambitious player who wants to play - good luck to him.

does seem unfair that we haven't got a sell on clause, but that's par for the course with this club. when was the last time we sold a player and you thought 'that's a great deal for us'? 1983?

He was poached and we were compensated, we had no chance or option to put in a sell on clause.

Tan also made a lot of appeals against what happened.

bold move - seems an ambitious player who wants to play - good luck to him.

does seem unfair that we haven't got a sell on clause, but that's par for the course with this club. when was the last time we sold a player and you thought 'that's a great deal for us'? 1983?

He was poached and we were compensated, we had no chance or option to put in a sell on clause.

Tan also made a lot of appeals against what happened.

We will continue to lose our best youngsters until we get a Category A Academy like the Jacks? Surprised Tan hasn’t sorted this,better than wasting millions on crap players,Madine,Tomlin etc!

bold move - seems an ambitious player who wants to play - good luck to him.

does seem unfair that we haven't got a sell on clause, but that's par for the course with this club. when was the last time we sold a player and you thought 'that's a great deal for us'? 1983?

He was poached and we were compensated, we had no chance or option to put in a sell on clause.

Tan also made a lot of appeals against what happened.

We will continue to lose our best youngsters until we get a Category A Academy like the Jacks? Surprised Tan hasn’t sorted this,better than wasting millions on crap players,Madine,Tomlin etc!

I would scrap it, the biggest clubs would still take the best young players for their academics, always have and always will.

We can't really complain we've done it in the past to smaller clubs, it's the way of the World !!!

bold move - seems an ambitious player who wants to play - good luck to him.

does seem unfair that we haven't got a sell on clause, but that's par for the course with this club. when was the last time we sold a player and you thought 'that's a great deal for us'? 1983?

He was poached and we were compensated, we had no chance or option to put in a sell on clause.

Tan also made a lot of appeals against what happened.

We will continue to lose our best youngsters until we get a Category A Academy like the Jacks? Surprised Tan hasn’t sorted this,better than wasting millions on crap players,Madine,Tomlin etc!

I would scrap it, the biggest clubs would still take the best young players for their academics, always have and always will.

We can't really complain we've done it in the past to smaller clubs, it's the way of the World !!!

Is that what happened with Ralls and Harris?

This Man City starlet and Cardiff boy just became the most expensive Welsh teenager in history


30/01/19


Rabbi Matondo has completed a big money move to Germany


Manchester City and Wales starlet Rabbi Matondo has completed his move to Bundesliga giants Schalke.

The 18-year-old has signed a four-and-half-year contract in Gelsenkirchen, in a deal believed to be worth just over £11 million.

The move makes Matondo, who initially came through the ranks of Cardiff City before being poached by the Premier League champions for just £500,000 back in 2016, the most expensive teenager in Welsh football.

You read our in-depth interview with the man himself here.

It's the latest chapter in what has been a whirlwind couple of months for Matondo, who despite getting few opportunities to shine for Man City's first team, was handed his first senior Wales cap in the 1-0 defeat to Albania back in the November.

He first appeared on Pep Guardiola's radar last summer after tests allegedly showed he was the fastest player at the club, outpacing the likes of Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane.


Guardiola was believed to be and admirer of the player, but with his first team opportunities likely to remain limited for the foreseeable future, Matondo has now decided that the Bundesliga is the best place for him to progress, particularly in light of former City starlet Jadon Sancho's progress at Borussia Dortmund.

Speaking after his side had confirmed the deal, Schalke boss Domenico Tedesco said: "We have been working for Rabbi for a long time, because we are convinced of his potential: He is extremely fast and technically good

"But we must not forget that he is still very young. That's why we'll give him the time he needs to get a grip on Schalke and the Bundesliga. "

It's believed that City have a buyback clause in place worth at least £30million, meaning that a return to English football could eventually be on the cards, but Matondo himself is focused on making an impression at his new club, and is keen to follow in the footsteps of its more notable alumni.

"Mesut Özil, Ivan Rakitic and Leroy Sané took important steps in their careers [here]," said the young winger.

"In addition, there were very good discussions with the coach, even my new teammates knew only good things to report. In addition, the Bundesliga is a great league.

"Schalke is the right choice for my footballing future and I'm looking forward to being part of the club and its plans for the future."

Incredibly, Matondo is eligible to face his former employers when the two sides meet in the Champions League's last 16, with City set to travel to Germany on March 12.

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Its funny how Ben Woodburn has been talked about as the poster boy for Welsh football, however it seems like this kid will overtake him. Thought he looked brilliant in the last 15 mins of the game against Albania when we played awful. Maybe Ben Woodburn should look to do the same and leave Liverpool and go abroad if he gets the opportunity.

academies are expensive to run. they cost many millions to run each year. as an indication, sunderlands category one academy costs them £4m a year.

it's therefore no surprise to me to see money being scrimped from this department, given the penny wise, pound foolish mentality that this club has had for many years now. even swansea have a c1 academy FFS.

it is essential that we get category one status if we want to produce high quality young players, and keep as many players in cardiff as possible.

it might not gain short term headlines, but it should pay off in the long run.

academies are expensive to run. they cost many millions to run each year. as an indication, sunderlands category one academy costs them £4m a year.

it's therefore no surprise to me to see money being scrimped from this department, given the penny wise, pound foolish mentality that this club has had for many years now. even swansea have a c1 academy FFS.

it is essential that we get category one status if we want to produce high quality young players, and keep as many players in cardiff as possible.

it might not gain short term headlines, but it should pay off in the long run.

dont buy it tbh..millions spent and nothing produced.
as for all this category stuff, well the vast majority of players you watch on a Saturday or on live TV games came through prior to all this expense. you mention Swansea, their 2 best known sales Ben Davies and Joe Allen came through when they trained at local leisure centres/public parks..
the academies and these categories are all relatively new so how can anyone judge ? as for Matondo, would Man City have still pinched him if we had a cat 1 accademy,you bet they would have.