CAFC Soccer Denmark

When Alan Pardew swooped to sign Denmark U21 international Martin Christensen from Herfolge Boldklub in March 2007, the Danish First Division club joined Charlton's network of global partners as well.

The Addicks paid an initial £250,000 for the highly-rated 19-year-old right winger, who signed a four-year contract.

And as part of the deal, which could potentially rise to £350,000, the Premiership club also entered into a three-year collaboration agreement.

"When we signed Martin we had two options,” explained Addicks chief executive Peter Varney.

"We could have simply paid a straight fee, but they wanted to tap into our expertise in terms of the formal academy structures we have in this country so they could learn and improve their own academy.

"At the same time we recognised they have some exciting young talent coming through, with our scouts having been to the country and seen a lot of their young players playing for Denmark youth sides at international level, and we were keen to form a relationship with Herfolge so those players could come to us as a first port of call.

"We therefore came up with the idea of reducing the fee for Christensen, but contributing an annual sum into their academy in order that we had first call on their youth players.”

He added: "In addition, they saw the top levels of the English game as the perfect opportunity for their players, so it worked out for both sides.”

Herfolge, who won the Danish Superliga title in 2000, have established a fine reputation for youth products.