Town boss Paul Jewell has confirmed that 18-year-old academy striker Caolan Lavery has turned down the professional contract until the end of the season he was offered earlier in the month, as TWTD was first to reveal last week. The Blues manager says the Northern Irish U21 international’s agent was unhappy with the wages on offer at Portman Road.
Jewell says there are no ongoing negotiations but that the contract is still there to be signed if the Canada-born frontman has a change of heart: "The offer’s on the table, if he doesn’t sign it he can leave the club, but we’ll want compensation for him.
"It’s disappointing really because the lad’s worked hard. When I told him [he had been offered his first professional contract] he was delighted. Then when they told him what they were going to pay him, his agent was less than delighted.
"I always feel, maybe I’m old-fashioned, that when it’s your first contract, unless you’re an exceptional, exceptional talent like a Rooney or someone like that, the last thing you look at is the remuneration - you’re just so happy to be a pro player.
"But that’s up to the lad, that’s up to his agent. I just said to him ‘if you get somewhere else, you get somewhere else’."
The Town boss says not offering young players too much too soon stops them believing they've already made it once they sign that first deal: "One of the reasons I do it is because even with young players if you pay them too much money it can have an adverse effect on them. They rock up the next day in a new car and they forget the reason they’ve got the car is because of what they’ve done on the football pitch.
"I’m disappointed in Caolan and disappointed for Caolan because I think it would have been a good opportunity and if he’d have stayed for six months and done well, that strengthens his hand, but maybe he sees himself as a bit more than that.”
The Blues manager says a first contract is a chance for the player to impress and increase his value to the club: "I’m surprised he hasn’t signed because it’s an opportunity.
"The money’s not brilliant at all, but, as I’ve said to these lads, it’s not about money. It’s six months to the end of the season, if you set the world alight between now and then, you’ll be making a lot more money than you’re being offered now.”
Last season, academy manager Sammy Morgan dismissed reports linking Tottenham Hotspur with the Northern Ireland U21 international, while Leicester were understood to be monitoring his progress and with other clubs also likely to have been keeping a watching brief.
Lavery has netted five goals in seven FA Premier Academy League games for the U18s this season plus a further four for the reserves.