WHEN Manchester United, one of the richest clubs in the world, plucked Kirsty Smith and Lizzie Arnot from Hibernian in the summer, they were not obliged to compensate the Scottish side. Nor have the clubs, including Hutchison Vale, which developed the players at an even earlier age, received any financial recognition for their efforts.

The same is true of almost 20 members of Shelley Kerr’s Scotland squad, including striker Lana Clelland, who spent three years at Rangers and a further three at Spartans prior to her move to Bari in 2014.

Motherwell chief executive Alan Burrows says it is time for this to change and has called on Fifa to introduce mandatory compensation payments for clubs which develop female footballers. His call has the backing of Scotland head coach Kerr and the head of girls’ and women’s football at the Scottish FA, Donald Gillies.

Such payments have

long been a feature of the men’s game, but the recent exodus of Scotland’s female players to professional clubs in other countries, and especially England, has

shone the spotlight on the absence of a similar model in women’s football.

Fifa are looking into a training compensation system, and appear to support such a move, but action is needed sooner rather than later, believes Burrows.

The Motherwell CEO, who also sits on the men’s SPFL board, thinks clubs would invest in their women’s teams if there was a chance of a return, however initially small, when players move on.

“This has been thrown into sharper focus for us because we have won the league and been promoted,” he said.

“To play in SWPL1 there are a number of requirements we have to meet, one of them being a player pathway.

“We want to have one which is robust and similar to our men’s academy. Our business model for the latter is reliant on the production and development of young players to play in our first team, and we ultimately sell them on to keep that cycle turning and turning.

“From an equality point of view we want to push the women’s side as hard as we can, and try to create as many good young players as possible, not just for the good of the game but for Motherwell FC. But unlike the men’s element it can’t sit within a business model because there is no financial recompense at the end of it.

“Given we have just qualified for the World Cup and there is a real appetite for women’s football at the moment, this is the time to be asking these questions and addressing them.

“To develop a young player from 10 or 11 to a first-team player the costs are fairly similar for girls and boys. Pitches cost the same, training kit costs the same, coaches cost the same.

“If we want to really develop women’s football, and get the clubs involved, let’s make it a central point of business, as well as a moral obligation, to give women the place they deserve alongside the men.”

At Hampden, Gillies concurs. He notes it is a first step that Fifa made the International Transfer Matching System (ITMS), which records player transfers between two different associations, compulsory for professional women’s clubs in January.

“From my perspective compensation should be paid irrespective of a transfer fee,” he said. “It shouldn’t be so high that it would put professional clubs off, but it should be enough that there is a benefit to the developing clubs in some useful way.

“Fifa, in my opinion, should have introduced the ITMS system for female players a few years earlier, and certainly have a responsibility now to introduce a compensation strategy or rule.

“Lizzie Arnot was eight years at Hibs and another four at Hutchie Vale. Even if the payments started at £100 per year, that would be £800 and £400. It wouldn’t be a negative for a Man United or any professional club. They should look at it as having a responsibility to grow the game as well.

“Another example is Erin Cuthbert, who was at Rangers for a long time before moving to Glasgow City. Crosshouse Boys Club were responsible for her development as well.”

Kerr, who chose just four home-based players in her last World Cup qualifying squad, said: “There should be compensation. The majority of our best players want to go into a professional environment; long gone are the days when there were limited opportunities.”

A Fifa spokesperson said: “The Women’s Football Division has begun a consultation process that is looking at an adapted training compensation system for women’s football.

“If agreed and adopted by stakeholders, it not only aims to ensure that players are free to move internationally, but will also ensure that clubs are rewarded appropriately.”