Bristol Rovers’ director of football Ricky Martin has expressed his pride following the sale of academy product Kofi Shaw to Premier League club Brighton and Hove Albion in what has been described as a “very complicated deal.”
Shaw, who joined Rovers as a 14-year-old, is set to link up with the Seagulls’ under-21s after swapping the South West for the South Coast on Friday in a deal that is expected to reach the seven-figure mark. The news of his departure was then followed by the announcement of striker Fabrizio Cavegn’s arrival from FC Vaduz.
The 18-year-old leaves the Gas with 19 senior appearances to his name having broken through as a first team regular in the second half of last season following a loan spell at Yeovil Town.
Although the Pirates have had to say goodbye to one of their own, seeing a player developed in house head to a Premier League club has been seen as a proud moment for the academy.
“What that’s enabled us to do is bring in Fabrizio,” Martin told BBC Radio Bristol ahead of Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Harrogate Town. “Doing that bit of trading has then enabled us to go in and recruit new talent.
“We’re really proud of what Kofi’s done to date. 19 senior appearances, broke into the first team from the academy. I want to put a word out now to say how well the academy has done to produce these types of players. I’m really proud for Byron [Anthony] and his team. They’re going to get some recognition, and rightly so, because that productivity has enabled us to generate some income that has been able to be reinvested into the squad.
“That got asked the other night; what happens when we generate money? We’ve shown evidence already that there’s a tactical play. We announced Kofi, and then we announced a transfer that we’ve gone and purchased. So that’s a clear message to our supporters and everyone out there in the football world that we are here to do business and make the right transactions for the club.”
Although the fee remains undisclosed, it is understood to be a significant deal for Rovers which will hopefully generate further income as Shaw progresses.
“It’s a very complicated deal, like you would expect from a young player, because we are trying to predict what he could do in the future,” Martin added. “You have to put lots of different milestones in there, but yeah I can assure you that I’ve negotiated over many deals and I was really tough on this one.
“I think on both parties we’re really happy, but really proud as well. I think we want to get that out there that Kofi deserves this opportunity for a well-run club like Brighton. If they come crawling for one of your players, that’s a real tick on us as well that we’re doing some good work and we’ve got some real talent.”
Rumours linking the teenage attacking midfielder to Brighton and other Premier League clubs first surfaced last season with some speculation suggesting that the 18-year-old could be loaned back to the Gas.
Although that won’t be the case this season, Martin didn’t rule it out as a possibility for the future.
“You never say never. Let’s see what happens in 12, 18 months. I’m sure if he’s looking for first team football, and we’re back in League One, we’d be a bigger attraction to him.
“We were never going to say never, but ultimately we wish him well and hope that he makes that transition into Brighton as smooth as he can and it’s a really exciting time for him. But we move on, and we already have moved on by bringing in Fabrizio and Ellis to complement our strikers.”
Friday evening also saw another academy graduate leave the club, albeit on loan, in Jed Ward, who has joined National League side Yeovil Town on a season-long loan.
Bristol Live first reported that Ward was likely to head out on loan this summer following the arrival of Luke Southwood last month, as well as Brad Young, with game time set to be limited this season.
Despite Ward playing in Rovers’ final 18 games of last season following his recall from Forest Green Rovers in February, the club have made the decision to send the 22-year-old out on loan again in order to ensure regular minutes to aid his development.
Asked if there is still a pathway for Ward at the Gas, Martin declared: “Yeah, 100 per cent. He could have easily been here fighting out for the number one shirt but his game time would have been limited, we feel. You can never predict every game how it’s going to go but you have to make some kind of predictions and we feel that it would be better for Jed.
“Goalkeepers and strikers, goalkeepers need to play games and keep clean sheets, strikers need to play games and score goals. It doesn’t matter what level you do, if you’re a goalkeeper and you keep clean sheets or you’re a striker and you score goals, you’ll get noticed.
“Jed goes out, plays and keeps clean sheets, does well for Yeovil and helps them have a competitive season, he will come back a better player.”
