The transfer of Jordan Henderson to Liverpool raised eyebrows in England. Whilst performing well the youngster had hardly exploded onto the scene. Also, his primary position as a centre midfielder, one of the few positions where Liverpool had actual depth raised questions of his ability to break into the first team at Anfield.
However, the biggest issue regarding Henderson’s move to Merseyside was the price. The figure agreed by media, fans and pundits alike was £20million. A lot of money for a player still in his top-flight infancy. A gargantuan amount to pay for unproven ability.
But was the fee £20million? No one knows for sure as the transfer, like every other transfer this window has been undisclosed. This little three syllable word has become part of the football lexicon in the last decade.
But what is the value of it? One argument is that a buying club don’t want fans to know just how much they have paid for their incoming player: Henderson being a case in point. However, Ian Ayre, Liverpool’s commercial director has claimed the deal is far less than the figure banded about. After all, the initial deal was £13million plus £7million rated David Ngog. Some have said the actual amount paid up front is closer to £10million with the rest being paid on performance and success incentives.
Surely Henderson, already with the weight of the high profile move on his shoulders could have done without the added pressure from the media on the basis of a price tag that was way off the mark. But Liverpool must take their share of the blame on that one. If they did pay £10million why not say so? The media would have considered this a far more realistic price tag for a young, English player. And if Henderson has indeed cost £20million then the media has already found out. So, if the reason to keep the fee undisclosed was to protect the player it has failed.
Another transfer that brought about considerable interest was the transfer of Gio Dos Santos. This was a transfer (between Barcelona and Spurs) where both sides actually disclosed the value of £4.7million. One can assume that Barcelona were happy to have received such a fee for a player that never evolved from early potential. And Spurs were happy to have paid such a small fee for a player they believed to be a great prospect.
Like any other business football clubs release a view of their accounts. These include income and expenditure on players. From these records the media are usually able to calculate how much has been paid or received for each player. So, the need for the lack of disclosure of transfer fees seems unnecessary.
Perhaps agent fees can be brought into this equation. The more transparent the transfer, the more opportunity for criticism. After all, the supporters of a club that sells their star player for £20million may discover that the amount is reduced because £5million is made up of add-ons. And then another £2million is paid to an agent, whose role in the transfer was minimal at best. By the end, after a myriad of reports of the £20million sale, fans discover that the club has actually pocketed around half that amount.
Two transfers where agent fees have become an issue are Louis Saha’s move from Fulham to Manchester United. United had already agreed a fee of £13million with Fulham. The player had gone on the record to say that he would ‘crawl over broken glass’ to move to Old Trafford. So why then, was an agent paid £2million?
Even more outrageous was the transfer of Harry Kewell from Leeds to Liverpool. The Elland Road club was in the midst of a fire sale following severe mismanagement by Peter Ridsdale and needed all the money they could get. The fee for Kewell was around £5million. However, Gary Lineker alleged that £2million of that went to Kewell’s advisor Bernie Mandic, leaving Leeds with around £3million for a player valued at treble that amount.
Kewell sued Linker for libel but the matter was settled out of court, making it an undisclosed transfer of its own…
In an age where the ‘average’ football fan feels more and more alienated from its club the undisclosed transfer has added another barrier. Fans love to know how much their club has spent or received on players. It gives them ammo to argue about with friends.
For the clubs themselves, they may feel it is protecting their interests. But for a player like Jordan Henderson, the speculation in the absence of fact regarding his fee appears to have heaped more pressure onto his young shoulders.
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agent fees are out are out of control there should be more transparent with these deals