In what position does the player play? Quite simply, strikers cost more than anyone else, a simple fact of life. Every world record transfer fee of the last 10 years has been for a forward/attack-minded player – Zidane is the nearest to an exception. The seven highest ever fees show a similar pattern.
What nationality is the player? Yes there is a premium on English players in English leagues. I imagine there is for French players in France too. In a world where success is demanded instantly and a club is never more than 3 games away from a crisis or a manager 3 games away from the sack, their worth in being able to adapt and settle instantly should be apparent, and their experience in the league in question should not be underestimated either. Familiarity breeds high prices.
How long does he have left on his contract? The Bosman ruling changed everything, not just in snapping up free transfers, but in shaping transfer fees too. Any player can be purchased much more cheaply if he is near the end of his contract than if he has years left to run. And this is the crux of why Ozil cost less than Milner, in addition to some of the factors previously mentioned. Ozil was nearing the end of his contract – he had told his club he wasn’t going to sign a new contract, so the club had two options – keep an unhappy player and lose him for nothing at the end of his contract or sell him on the cheap (relatively speaking). Real Madrid signed Khedira under similar circumstances. And this is of course why Steven Pienaar is available for £3m.
Are there a number of clubs after him? Always useful for the selling club to instigate a bidding war.
Age? No need to explain this one. Bent has a good seven or eight years left in him, fitness permitting, maybe more.
The factors listed above are just some of the reasons. There will be more that I haven’t mentioned – injury history, attitude, lifestyle – the player might have a release clause – as I said, every deal is unique. But the facts are that Darren Bent is the 3rd top scoring player of the last 18 months in the Premier League. He has scored consistently for years, and not in one of your “Top 4” teams. In the last 5 years he has scored one less goal than Rooney or Drogba. Those statistics suggest to me that he also is not too injury-prone. He is English, under contract, and Sunderland were not looking to offload. Yes, it probably is still too high a fee when looking at that set-in-stone market value, but the fact is that we won’t know how good value the fee represents until he has stopped playing for Villa – if he is the difference between staying up and getting relegated (not that I think they will anyway), then he will have been worth every penny.
In the end, only time will tell.
This article was first published on FootballFanCast.com
