Stoke get £305k for Pato

Stoke City have been awarded an initial fee of £305,000 for Martin Paterson, who joined Scunthorpe in the summer.

Pato, although out of contract, was too young under the Bosman rules for a free transfer and, as seems usual these days, the two clubs could not agree a fee so this had to be decided by a league tribunal.

Stoke City were hoping that Paterson’s good start to the season at their Championship rivals (he’s scored 8 goals in 18 appearances) would mean that the tribunal moved towards the Potters’ valuation of £750,000 rather than the Irons’ valuation of only £100,000. In the end and not surprisingly, since opposing clubs always seem to go to the opposite ends of the spectrum, the tribunal settled on a compromise of £305,000 which could rise to £425,000 based on appearances with a 20% sell-on fee.

United in opposition, both clubs have expressed ‘amazement’ and ‘surprise’ at the valuation, but it really seems a fair sum for a striker that never made it as a regular in the Stoke first team, having made only two first team league starts in the three seasons he had been in the senior squad. That’s not to say that he was an unknown quantity when he moved to Lincolnshire. Last season Pato was loaned out to Scunny’s near neighbours, Grimsby Town and he made an instant impact, scoring six goals in fifteen appearances and was one of their summer transfer targets.

You’d have thought that if Tony Pulis really believed Martin was worth £750,000 then he might have played him a little more in the Stoke first team last season….