Raith expect compensation as Bates signs for Hamburg

The 21-year-old defender has signed a pre-contract agreement with the German giants and is set to complete his big move during the close season.

Bates started his career at Raith in 2013 and made loans moves to East Stirling and Brechin either side of making his first team breakthrough under Grant Murray in January 2015.

The centre-back made 15 first team appearances for Rovers before moving to Ibrox on a development loan in August 2016 after impressing the Rangers management team during a visit to Stark’s Park.

The move was made permanent in January 2017 in a much-maligned swap deal that saw Jordan Thomson, Ryan Hardie and Scott Roberts move to Raith on loan, but no funds exchanged.

A sell-on clause was negotiated with Rangers but as Bates is moving to Germany under freedom of contract, there will be no transfer fee so this will not be triggered.

However, on account of his three-and-a-half years at Stark’s Park, the Kirkcaldy club is still expecting to receive a payment through FIFA’s Training Compensation scheme.

The amount received will depend on Hamburg’s league status next season, with the club teetering on the brink of being relegated from the Bundesliga for the first time in their history.

Raith chairman Alan Young explained: “We do have an entitlement and there will be funds coming to Raith Rovers, but not until he signs a proper contract with Hamburg.

“Just because it’s a pre-contract doesn’t mean it’s definitely going to happen.

“Hamburg are in a fairly precarious position in the league, and I’m told that for compensation purposes they are defined currently as a category four club.

“If they get relegated that would change to a category two club and that has an affect on the amount of compensation that gets paid, so at the moment we’re rooting for Hamburg.

“The funds would actually go to Rangers initally, and then our share would come to us.

“It’s a reasonable amount of money and I think it’s clear that a deal like this would never have happened if David Bates was still here.

“It’s only the fact he’s been playing at Rangers and getting exposure that people have seen what he’s capable of.

“It was one of the things we thought about as far as the transfer to Rangers was concerned, and it does look as if it is coming to fruition.

“We didn’t think it would be done this way. We thought he might be sold by Rangers and we’d get a sell-on percentage, but we’re still covered as far as that’s concerned, and we get a reasonable amount of money coming in, which will certainly help the club.

“But there’a lot of ifs around there. Let’s firstly root for Hamburg staying in the Bundesliga and let’s see what comes of it.

“It will be after the opening of transfer window when hopefully a proper contract will be signed and at that stage we’ll be chasing after the money.”

Mr Young refused to divulge the amount Raith expect to receive, although the Press understands that it could potentially reach six figures if Hamburg avoid the drop.

However, the club are currently eight points adrift from even a relegation play-off with just four games left.