Football is a wealthy man’s game. Not to play: anyone with a ball and a couple of mates will find a way of starting a match using some makeshift goals – but to actually be involved in the sport. Of course, there are so many possibilities that I could now venture down, and inevitably I will end up delving into many of them, but the real question I want to focus here is on transfer fees. Are excessive transfer fees justified, or are they just ludicrous investments using money that would be much better spent elsewhere?
Of course, transfer fees have been rising for a long time now – inflation is inevitable – but it is the amounts today, both in price and in quantity, which is actually quite baffling. Already this summer (and bear in mind that we’re not even half way through the transfer window) we have already seen around £325m spent on Radamel Falcao, Edinson Cavani, Neymar, Fernandinho, Mario Götze, James Rodriguez, Asier Illarramendi and Gonzalo Higuaín: an average of about £40m per player. All are fantastic players, yes, but it certainly suggests a trend which many have suspected: a great player today will cost in excess of £30m; a star player will cost £50m upwards. Call me old fashioned, but that seems far too expensive, especially when you consider that wages haven’t even been factored in here.
A glance at the history books shows how transfer fees have risen at such an exponential rate. Gianluigi Lentini’s record transfer of £13m in 1992 happened 102 years after the first player to command a three figure transfer (Willie Groves for £100). Yet just 14 years later, the record fee had risen by a remarkable £67m courtesy of Cristiano Ronaldo. While inflation has certainly occurred in general, surely it has not risen by such an amount as to result in this astronomical sum? What is most interesting is the way that it has risen so sharply in what is meant to be a global economic crisis.
Lentini’s transfer wasn’t simply plucked out of thin air or by working out various differences in price and year in order to create the most bias sounding statistic I could; it was in fact the current world transfer record at the time a certain Jean-Marc Bosman had a ruling passed, changing the landscape of transfers forever. While I shan’t go into detail, having previously written an article on Bosman (available here! https://www.facebook.com/notes/the-football-writer/how-bosman-changed-football-as-we-know-it/594023907280725), the Bosman ruling effectively handed more control of transfers to the players and their agents, giving them more scope to negotiate better salaries through the threat of walking out on the club.
This inevitably led to a sharp rise in the values and wages as clubs competed to provide the most lucrative and enticing financial package. As a result, since the Euro was adopted in 1999, a total of 54 players have been transferred for €35m or more; a statistic that will undoubtedly rise even before the end of this summer, with the likes of the Gareth Bale, Wayne Rooney and Luis Suarez all being linked with megabucks moves.
Bosman of course, although undoubtedly contributing greatly, isn’t the only factor behind overly inflated transfer fees. Technological improvements have led to a far greater opportunity for constant exposure of the sport within the media, meaning that broadcasting rights generate a huge influx of money into the sport (£5.5 billion has been secured for the next three seasons of the English Premier League between Sky and BT). This exposure also provides businesses with more reason to become involved with sponsorship; shirt deals, training grounds, equipment – all can produce millions for clubs to have the logo spread out across them. These greater incomes will provide more transfer funds.
We must also thank the oligarchs who have effectively become a fixture within the modern game. Of course, many clubs are owned by millionaire owners – how else could they survive? – but the billions brought in through the fortunes of Roman Abramovich, Sheikh Mansour and the Qatar Investment Authority have created a vast influx of wealth within the game. Be it the impatience of these owners to buy whatever the cost, or simply the stubbornness of smaller clubs attempting to get the best deal possible, it has led to many players transferring for over the odds prices. Even fan will undoubtedly be able to reel off several expensive ‘flops’ at their club down the years…
Of course, the ultimate goal is to win competitions as winning indulges in far greater prizes, yet while the fans and the players may love the silverware, the men in suits can gain a substantial amount of money. Prize money (2013 Champions League winners Bayern Munich received €36m in prize money for the tournament) is not the only enticement, as more fans and corporations will spend larger sums to become a part of a winning, recognisable club.
Looking at these different reasons as to why money has become such a massive factor within the modern game, can it be justified that these seemingly extortionate transfer fees are simply a means to an end and, despite big prices grabbing the headlines, clubs are not to blame? After all, Bayern’s Champions League campaign alone funds the transfer of Götze, one of the brightest talents in world football today. Adding such a talent to their squad will improve their chances of victory this season; generating more funds once again in a strengthen-win cycle. Spending £10m on a player when a club generates £100m per year is no different to spending £2m on an annual income of £20m, which may have been the case of decades past.
Of course, many of you reading this article will probably state that everything I have written is irrelevant. Simply put, you will probably be about to angrily state in the comments section that there is simply too much money in football full stop, so why analyse it? Surely no one is worth spending £40m on, and giving them £250k per week, when you look at the world away from the sport. Poverty, disasters – even simply the doctors and soldiers; 99% of you would undoubtedly say this is where money should be spent.