In the world of club football, players are traded. They are bought and sold through a process called transfer. In football, a transfer is a word which is most talked about during the period of June 1st to August 31st which is called as Summer transfer window and from 1ST January to 31st January which is called winter transfer window. During this period, players are bought, sold or sent on a loan to different clubs. The transfer market has been humongous over the last few years where millions of money have been spent on players just for their signature for the club.
How are players brought to this market?
When footballers sign for a club he will automatically be part of the transfer market. There are might be a lot of reasons for them to be the part of the transfer market. Players might be out of contract, players might be not happy with the manager, manager might have fell apart from the player or etc etc. Majority players who have been doing well in the top divisions of their respective leagues might have caught the eyes of the big giant clubs across Europe( where majority of the football has been played currently) might want them to be part of their club and contribute in winning the trophies.
How Are Players Scouted?
largely players are brought through scouting. Scouting is where club hires a person for especially doing a job of scouting players who can be part of the requirement of the team. Scouting is the hardest job I feel when compared to other jobs in the footballing world. They have to spend all their lives standing in the rain or scorching heat sun, traveling around the globe, predicting the future as of how the player can be over the few periods of years. I feel they do the hardest job. But, there is some sort of love and passion for the game that makes them do this day in day out. When scouts have figured out the player which they want to sign, they have the consultation of the analyst.
Who are these Analyst?
An analyst is the ones who will be attached to the clubs for stats and numbers. Analytics is interpreting those stats to predict future performance. You can measure everything. The hard bit is working out what’s important. One good thing is that football is quite simple. Everything must relate somehow to goals, whether that is enhancing our chances of scoring or preventing them. It must also work within a framework of how the manager wants the team to play. Scouting and analysts have bought players such as N’Golo Kanté, Dimitri Payet and Riyad Mahrez with the combined price of £16 million while Manchester United spent some £140 million for a combined price of Pogba, Fellaini, Herrera. So, the role of the Analyst is to predict the future in combination with the scouts to get the players to the club.
Who are the Agents?
Players agents who introduce players to clubs with a view to negotiate an employment contract or to introduce to two clubs to one another in order make the transfer of the employment of their players. An agent is not a company, he is an individual who can represent both players and clubs in certain interactions regarding turnover on the transfer market to receive remuneration.
What are the fees of the agent?
There is no fixed amount or the percentage but on an average Agents are paid 10% of the player’s basic gross income with regards to representing a player, and 10% of the transfer fee in the event of a club and this may vary depending on the client and situation of the transfer possibility.Premier League teams spent a record £1.38bn on transfers in the 2016-17 season – a 43% increase on transfer spending from the 2014-15 season.
So how does the actual transfer happen in football?
Suppose Player A from club A and Club B is looking to sign Player A then, club B has to contact the player A’s agent and then contact the player A’s club in order to discuss the transfer possibility. Then, player A’s agent will tell his client about the offer which he received from the club B. If the player agrees, then the agent will discuss with club A to make the transfer work.
How does Club A agree to the transfer?
There are criteria’s that has been set when players sign for the club. i) Is the player under the contract? ii) IS the player out of contract? iii)Do the club B want the player on Loan?. These 3 conditions are checked and verified. If the player is under the contract, then Club B has to be pay or meet the release clause of the player. If the player is out of contract then he is free to join any other club since he is no longer part of the club. If Club B wants the player on loan then the club has to meet the wages of the player. There are few other conditions as well like, Club can sell the player with the buy-back clause. Which means that the parenting team can buy back the player after a few years according to the contract.
So, if player A is under the contract and Club B is trying to sign him then Club B has to pay the release clause set by the Club A. When this is met then the agent will contact his client and get the signature on the transfer papers. By doing this, the agent will get his commission according to his agreement with his client and from the club. Who gets this money? The club who is selling it will get the money. Also, players will have wages been set after the discussion in addition to the transfer of money.
In some cases, there is a third transaction that must be negotiated: A deal between the player and the club he is leaving for a portion of the transfer fee. Yes, that’s right. Sometimes a player wants to get his hands on a portion of the transfer fee between the clubs. Samuel Eto’o, a Barcelona player rumored to be heading to Manchester City, reportedly wants half of the transfer fee Barcelona would get from Man City. This type of deal doesn’t occur in many transfers.
There’s also more to the money than just a transfer fee (which itself is frequently broken into a series of payments over a few years). Players receive signing-on bonuses from the club they’re joining and sometimes “loyalty bonuses” from the club they’re leaving (which is why formal transfer requests are relatively rare from high profile players; ask to leave, and you don’t get money for being loyal). Then there are plenty of other clauses that can be inserted by various parties, including selling-on fees, where the selling club get a cut of any future transfer, and buyback clauses, which allow the selling club first option on a return, often for a set fee.
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