SHEFFIELD United will not profit from Phil Jagielka's England breakthrough, the Championship club have confirmed.
The former United centre-half, who joined Everton in a £4m deal last summer, has been included in Fabio Capello's 31-man squad for the forthcoming friendlies against the USA and Trinidad and Tobago after an impressive debut season at Goodison Park.
Inserting a clause covering international call-ups has become common practice at Bramall Lane but Terry Robinson, who as football board chairman helped negotiate the terms of Jagielka's departure, explained that on this occasion a previous commitment to the player had prevented United from claiming further payment.
"We will not be receiving anything else from Everton," said Robinson. "It was stated in Phil's contract that he could leave us for that figure and when we were relegated that kicked in. It was written into his deal at the time that he could leave for that amount and we went down.
"Everton were not prepared to budge from that arrangement That was the commitment we made to Phil at the time and it helped persuade him to stay with us for longer."
United's undertaking helped convince Jagielka to remain in South Yorkshire when he signed a new deal in 2006 and the 25-year-old cemented his reputation with a series of commanding displays throughout their top-flight campaign in 2006/07.
Although United will not benefit financially from his progress since then, they can expect to gain considerable kudos from the fact their youth programme at Shirecliffe has produced a talent capable of gracing the highest stage.
United believe that Chengdu Blades - the China A-League side they bought in 2006 - have been unaffected by the devastating earthquake which hit Sichuan province yesterday.
What do you think? Post your comments below. READ MOREOUCH!! - Sheffield Tae Kown Do expert pole-axes opponent to take gold: CLICK HERE TO SEE KNOCKOUT VIDEO FOOTAGECapacity for more: Wednesday and South Yorkshire rivals looking to lure more fans to half-empty groundsBlades make Chengdu earthquake pledgeTime to change play-offs: READ JAMES SHIELD'S VIEWS ON FOOTBALL'S 'LOTTERY' Football headlines.More Blades.More Owls.More Spireites.More Rovers.More Reds.More Millers.More Ice Hockey.More rugby.More boxing.Sports columnists.All sport categories. The full article contains 400 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
