Shrewsbury boss Graham Turner has blasted controversial changes which will see League clubs lose the right to negotiate transfer fees for talented youth players.

The Elite Player Performance Plan has been accepted by Football League clubs by a majority of two to one – and will allow Premier League giants to snap up promising youngsters for a set compensation package, rather than having to go through the current tribunal system.

The plan has gone through after the Premier League threatened to withdraw over £5m of funding they give to lower League clubs each year for youth development.

“It’s a massively detrimental step,” said Turner, whose side were away at Rotherham in League Two this afternoon.

“It’s for the benefit of the few, the clubs which are already the richest in the country.”

“It will have a significant effect on the youth policy at a number of clubs and it may be the kids that suffer.

“I don’t know the exact numbers but you look at the English players in the Premier League and many of them started at the lower levels,” he added.

“We have an example here in Joe Hart (who joined Manchester City from Town).

“He was given an opportunity at a young age here that he wouldn’t have got if he had started at a bigger club.”

Another goalkeeper to have rolled off the Shrewsbury production line is Mason Springthorpe, a teenager who joined Everton last season for around £150,000 – with more to come if he breaks into the first team at Goodison Park.

“If you have got a good player then, irrespective of his age, you should have the right to negotiate a compensation package yourself, as we did with Mason Springthorpe when we sold him to Everton,” added Turner.

“That opportunity has now gone for us and it is not right.”