Everton have signed 15-year-old midfielder Fraser Hornby from League Two side Northampton Town under a youth development system initiated by the Premier League.
Hornby is moving to Merseyside under the terms of the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP), which allows teams to buy young players from lower league sides for set fees, rather than through a tribunal system.
Everton will pay an initial fee of 65,500 pounds for Hornby, and they could pay a further 1.3 million pounds if he goes on to play 100 top-flight matches for them.
The EPPP was approved by Football League clubs in 2011, with the aim of establishing a hierarchy of football academies to ensure that top young players received the best possible coaching.
But Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish is among those to have criticised the scheme, suggesting in December 2011 that it allowed bigger clubs to pick off the best talent from smaller teams on the cheap, without necessarily helping their development.
Northampton's academy manager Trevor Gould told his club's website: "We have mixed feelings as Fraser makes this move.
"We always want to keep our best players but under the EPPP if a player is wanted by a Premier League club then it is just about impossible for us to resist given the processes set out as part of the EPPP.
"Fraser is going to a fantastic club with a proud record of producing young players who will continue his development.
"It is also a big pat on the back for the work we are doing here. Not only are we producing players for our own first team, we are producing players who are attracting the interest of Premier League clubs and that is a massive endorsement of our work.
"Seeing any local player have the opportunity to develop at a Premier League club is exciting and we wish Fraser every success."
Everton will have to pay 150,000 pounds for every 10 league matches that Hornby plays for them, up to a maximum of 60 matches.
They will pay 100,000 for every 10 further league appearances beyond that, up to a maximum of 100 games in total.
Hornby's older brother Lewis, 19, is a midfielder who has made 29 first-team appearances for Northampton.