PORTMORE United and the United States Major League Soccer (MSL) have reached an amicable agreement over the disputed training compensation fee for Sergio Campbell, who was recently drafted by the Columbus Crew.

Only last week, local clubs were up in arms over the refusal of the MLS to pay the FIFA-stipulated training compensation fees, but Portmore United’s manager Clive Marshall told the Jamaica Observer last evening that the issue has been sorted out.

 “I can only confirm that we have reached a fair resolution,” said Marshall, without going into details. “Local clubs never want to get in the way of any player’s progress, and particularly for Portmore, which has a proud record of getting players’ opportunities abroad,” he added.

“However, players should not be turned against their local clubs who played a role in their development. Thankfully, FIFA has implemented this mechanism to protect that. We strongly maintain that the issue of training compensation needs to be addressed more comprehensively, and hopefully local clubs can get some direction from the governing bodies,” Marshall said.

Recently, the MLS drafted three Jamaican players in Campbell (Columbus Crew), Romario Williams (Montreal Impact) and Oneil Fisher (Seattle Sounders), but Campbell was unable to put pen to paper because the MLS had proposed that Portmore United waive their training compensation fee, something that didn’t go well with the local club. Portmore United had claimed that they were entitled to US$7,500 in compensation, but it is not known for what amount the parties settled.

But the way is now clear for the defender to kick-start his professional career at the Columbus crew Campbell, 23, who represented Portmore United in his formative years, was drafted from the University of Connecticut.

Campbell is a former National Under-20 captain and was a member of Jamaica’s winning Caribbean Cup team in 2010. He is also the nephew of current Jamaican skipper Rodolph Austin. Meanwhile, agent Romel Wallen, of Pro-Goals Sports Capital, was also pleased with the settlement.

“In protecting the integrity of the process, I can only confirm that an amicable resolution has been reached between both parties. Hopefully a standardised template can be established, in order to avoid such scenarios in the future,” said Wallen.