Re: 2010/2011 English Premier League
evo said:
After 35 years following the EPL I still can't work out the transfer system.
Why, for example, has Chelsea let Joe Cole go for nothing? It seems ludicrous to me that we get no compensation. But yet you see it all the time.
On the flip side we have paid Liverpool 5.5m squid to sign Benayoun
Geez a Chelsea fan complaining about transfer compensation, gimme a break. They’ve been the biggest poachers for five years. Carvalho is also off to Madrid but at least you're getting some dough for him.
Harry said:
yeah can't understand this free agency thing. it was the bossman ruling many years ago i think that started it all. restriction of trade. in effect a club can spend 30 mill on a player and he can walk out for nothing in 2 years time. and the club can't do anything about it. the Gunners lost flamini a few years back and i think gallas walked out the same way this year. clubs can get into the ear of a player and offer him a massive salary if he agrees to not re-sign and walk from his current club at the end of the year. the club can use a portion of the money they saved on the transfer fee to fund the players salary.
It is pretty straight forward stuff, Cole and Flamini came out of contract and signed somewhere else. They're well within their rights to do that. Obviously clubs pay massive transfers to other clubs because they want their prized capital, if they subsequently let that capital go out of contract/control and depart for free that’s poor management. Cole left because he wasn’t getting regular starts at Chelsea, Flamini went for cash. C'est la vie.
The real problem IMO is players like Ronaldo, Mascherano and Fabregas who sign updated long-term contracts every 12-18 months to maximum their wage value and within another 12-18 months go public about wanting a move. As much as I admire Cesc I hope Arsenal hold him to his contract and don’t let him leave. What till his last 18 months then let him leave or make Barca pay through the nose. If I was Liverpool I would make Mascherano rot in the reserves. Time to make a stand.
Everyone knows the current transfer payments and salaries are unsustainable in the long term. Even Barca had cash flow problems and couldn’t pay their players two months ago. When exceptionally huge clubs like Barca with 90k+ stadium, huge sponsorship and the best TV deal in Europe are having problems what chance the rest? Liverpool, Man U etc are now riddled with debt and will require subsidisation (along with Chelsea and Man City) by gazillionaires to bail em out. It still hasn’t stopped Barca spending another £50m+ on Villa and Correia and trying to spend another £30m on Fab! That’s a potential £80 million on 3 players by a club that couldn't meet its wage bill two months ago. Although this total cost was offset by the Yaya transfer to City for £28m and an attempt to offload Ibrahimovic to fund Cesc.
As this stage I am happy for Arsenal to remain a ‘feeder’ club as you put it. The music will stop soon enough and would prefer to see Arsenal with a sound seat when it happens. IMO until the FA apply some minimum local player requirements like the Bundesliga or UEFA impose some sort of transfer/player salary restrictions it will continue to spin out of control and bankrupt clubs.
Adebayor is on £150K a week and will be lucky to play – he is already calling for a move to Milan and has been at City a year. Toure is now on a basic wage at City of £185,000 a week, up to £221,000 when 50% tax bracket is introduced. That’s $384k AUD a week, a week! It’s such crazy money it is not surprising the players have little or no loyalty.
Currently it’s down to the clubs to reign it in. Pleasingly Arsenal have maintained balance through this exorbitant Abromovich/City period. Liverpool and Man U now seem to be forced into negligible spending this year by circumstance. Somehow Tottenham seem to do it pretty well although Harry will no doubt *smile* that up and even Big Brom has pulled back the spend with Chelsea. Be interesting to see how long the circus lasts.