Coventry City manager Tony Mowbray has told SISU boss Joy Seppala not to sell James Maddison.
As we understand it, the City boss met Joy Seppala in London on December 2nd and told her only to sell the Coventry born starlet, who is rated by the SISU boss as an "asset", if a club offers silly money and then wants to loan him back for a couple of seasons.
Today, Mowbray said to the Coventry Telegraph following media speculation about interest from Arsenal and Liverpool: “Here we have a 19-year-old who they might think they can nick off a club who, to the outside world, doesn’t have much money, doesn’t own a stadium, has to loan in players, hasn’t got much of a squad.
“Well, I’d have to say I think the owner is pretty resolved about the situation – I’ve told her what an asset she has got.
“James has played 14 games... in League One! Maybe that’s why teams think they can nick a talented young boy.
“My advice has always been to James to let his career develop where he’s going to play every week and where he’s appreciated; let his talent flourish.
“What’s the rush at 18/19 if he’s talented enough? Even at 20 in two years time he might have played 100-odd games for us so, for me, he has to let his talent flourish.
“The only scenario I could see for James Maddison is for someone to pay us the right amount of money and we get him back for two years on loan and invest the money.
"And yet, in an ideal world, he just stays here and plays football for the team. He wears the Sky Blues’ shirt, scores some goals and creates some stuff for the team and grows.
“If you sell James Maddison now for X amount of pounds, in two years time he might be worth ten times that amount. So it would be more frugal for me to keep him and let him play, let him enjoy his football and understand that some big clubs are only trying to nick him.”
More on this - http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/football/football-news/coventry-city-boss-tony-mowbray-10643600