West Ham, Liverpool, Man City and Tottenham In Race for Jokéro

Details are emerging of an agreement between West Ham, Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester City in relation to the potential signing of Brazilian wonderkid, Jokéro. Negotiations have been on going for more than 9 months, with agreements apparently in place for charitable payments to the impoverished street kids of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro as part of the deal.

A spokesman for Ethics In Sport stated: "The four clubs reached an agreement not to get into a bidding war for the player. We felt that it was in everybody's interests to agree a valuation for the player, then to match that with an equal sum for the charity providing for the street children forced into prostitution and crime in the big cities of Brazil."

This departure from "win at all cost" was kept carefully under wraps whilst negotiations with the respective football associations, government agencies, the player's family and the charity were ongoing. In return for the charitable payment, it was agreed that the four clubs would have a "free run" at signing the player.

"It is basically a case of who can offer the best for the boy in terms of first team opportunities, personal development, etcetera. It is hoped that this deal might be a model for the future, with the wealthy Premiership clubs doing their bit to relieve world poverty when recruiting players from Third World or Developing World countries by matching the transfer or signing on fee with a charitable payment," the spokesman added.

The 16 year old Jokéro is a prodigy and is widely tipped to be the new Pele, so the combined fee to Gremio and the charity of £8m is regarded by experts as something of a bargain. "Obviously there is an element of gambling involved when you sign a kid of this age but, no matter how he performs, the money can never be claimed back from the charity. Some fans might feel resentment if their club miss out on this signing but we would hope that they can see the bigger picture. Despite what Mr Shankley said, football is not more important than life and death. It is a shame that Real Madrid did not take that into account when paying those huge sums for Ronaldo and Kaka."