ALBION chairman Dick Knight has refuted claims by Aston Villa that Michael Standing was not properly registered.

Villa are confident they will not have to pay a penny in compensation for the young midfielder the Seagulls coached until he was 16.

The Premiership club's company secretary Steve Stride said: "We are contending that the player was not properly registered by Brighton and as such they have no claim for compensation."

But Knight, Standing's great uncle, insisted: "The reason Michael's case was adjourned in October was for the FA to clarify the position.

"They have ruled that he was correctly registered and that we should go back to the Football League appeals committee. I am now waiting for a date for that meeting.

"The key to this is that Aston Villa tried to claim in October that Michael was mis-registered."

Albion have already been involved in one bitter row with Aston Villa after Villa were ordered to pay a potential £1 million by the appeals committee for former Seagull Gareth Barry.

Ex-England schoolboy international Standing, 17, is rated as hot a prospect as Barry and Albion's bargaining stance is identical. They placed a £2.8 million price tag on both players.

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