Bayern CEO: English clubs are 'kidnapping' young players

English clubs are essentially "kidnapping" underage players from overseas, according to Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who has "moral reservations" about signing anyone under 18 years old from abroad.

"We don't want to bring some 10- or 11-year-old to Munich like the English do," Rummenigge said, according to The Telegraph. "You could almost speak of kidnapping with them, and I would have moral reservations about that."

Chelsea has been accused multiple times of bringing in teenagers against FIFA rules. A court lifted a transfer ban against the west London outfit in 2010 after world football's governing body charged it with luring Gael Kakuta from FC Lens.

Earlier this year, Chelsea faced the threat of another embargo over the signing of Bertrand Traore.

Traore is now playing at Ajax on a season-long loan - a familiar story for many of the club's youngsters.

FIFA rules stipulate that transfers may only happen if the player is over the age of 18. Only in three other scenarios can an underage signing occur: if the player's parents move to the country for non-football reasons, if the transfer involves a player aged between 16 and 18 and takes place in the EU, or if the players lives no farther than 100 kilometres from the club in question.

Rummenigge is mindful of the concerns around youth football, and with a new Bayern academy opening next summer in the north of the city, he's hoping to attract local talent only.

"Our priority will certainly be Germany and Bavaria. Our future talented players will much rather come from Rosenheim than Rio," said the two-time Ballon d'Or winner.

Among Bayern's current crop of local success stories are Thomas Muller and Mats Hummels.