Mails: Potential Mbappe fee not stupid money

Joe Williams

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com.

 

New transfer system suggestion
With the potential Mbappe deal going forward it seems money in football is once again a big issue. I do agree it’s getting out of hand. Therefore I’ve come up with a new transfer system to keep a lid on this somewhat and want to see what everyone else thinks.

Basically my idea is to cut out negotiable transfer fees and just have it that a team can acquire a player whenever they like by just buying out the remainder of a player’s current contract. So the player’s current club can’t reject the transfer but the buying club aren’t allowed to try and negotiate, they have to pay the contract price.

What this would do is take away tedious negotiation process. If a team wants a player the price is already set. So for example say a player is on £150,000 per week and has 48 months remaining on their contract then the price is £31.2m. Now of course this will lead to team’s offering their players lengthy contacts on huge wages but it also may make a player think twice before asking for ridiculous wages. Imagine a player signs for a Chinese team on £300,000 per wages on a 5 year contract and then a year later he wants to move again then he can only be sold for £62.4m. Whereas if he has negotiated £50,000 wages per week on a 3 year deal then a year later he can be bought for just £5.2m.

I would include a rule that a team can only buy a player after they have completed 1 year of their contract and only players 20 and above can be bought, anyone younger can only move via a loan.

I think this would lower spiralling money in football as everyone would be in the same boat and also end tedious and drawn out transfer sagas.

What do people think?
Bradley Kirrage

 

It’s economics…
Everyone is in uproar about the prices for players at the moment, and I tend to agree. But all the talk is of his footballing ability, what he can bring to teams for X million, how he is surely not worth that much.

Problem is, clubs are businesses and like all good business they like to make money. You make money in football in 3 main ways: TV money, sponsorship and merchandising.

TV money is received based generally on performance (i.e. further you go in Champions League) and popularity. So in theory, buying very good, exciting players for X money will help you achieve those goals.

Sponsorship comes from big businesses wanting to be associated with your club or the sponsorship that comes with players. They look for successful clubs, clubs with identity and most of all winners. Teams that win their competitions regularly make sense, but can you “win” a transfer window? The press associated with breaking a world record fee is immense and I can only imagine would bring massive boost to a clubs prestige and marketing.

Merchandising is a direct results of the number of global fans you have. This is the core reason why Man Utd can afford such ridiculous wages as they have a monster of a global fan base, with everyone else trying to catch up. Shirt sales are a big part of this. Who wouldn’t want a shirt for a world record transferred player to their club who also happens to be a striker who scores goals for fun. We all wanted to be the guy who scored the winning goal when we were younger, its no different for the current generation.

And so we come to the Ronaldo/Pogba/Bale/Neymar/Mbappes of the world. They have such huge fee’s because, well, they will easily bring in that money once they have signed. Ronaldo will have repaid his transfer fee 10x in merchandising and sponsorship alone, never mind the titles that came with him. Neymar is about the most marketable player in the world right now, 61% of his income (Forbes) comes from sponsorship and it will only go up if he becomes a “£190m” player. The fact they all also happen to be very good at football is a nice bonus for the purchasing team.

We may think its crazy money, but Man Utd is worth £2.5bn. Spending £95m on an asset with huge returns on investment like Pogba is just smart business. Companies worth that much would happily spend that money on a new IT system or a new business venture if the ROI was as good as a footballers, or even half as guaranteed.

Economics is boring but it ultimately explains just about everything in our lives. Football is no exception.
Rob A (think its time for B teams…) AFC

 

Mbappe deal ‘not stupid money’
If you go off just how good the kid was in his first year of professional football I think it’s fair to say he has he potential to be one of the best players in the world for at least an 8 year period in his career. Taking into account the ever rising prices of elite players, had Madrid sought to buy Mbappe when he was fully established in 4 or 5 years, what fee would they be looking at then?  They have secured a player whom is probably the best young talent in the world who has already delivered in Europe’s premier competiton.
Not a bargain. But not stupid money either.

But then again I don’t think 50 mill for Kyle Walker is a bad deal either.
Sean

 

If the Mbappe deal goes through, he will have cost more than the Millenium Stadium took to build.

F**king hell.
Alan, Córdoba.

 

Mbappe’s a month younger than me. And worth 161 million.
PP(Definitely not crying myself to sleep tonight)

 

Mo Money Mo Problems
Having read Daniel Storey’s piece about the worrying dearth of young home-grown talent playing at the top clubs, I have to agree it is a concern. It is a reflection of the pressure managers are under to deliver immediate success; a result of the money in the game and the need to hit targets for big sponsors. Of course supporters demand/expect success to varying degrees, but true supporters will still support their clubs regardless. Should the manager come out and say, “we’re blooding youngsters for the next couple of seasons because the transfer market has gone boogaloo” then supporters would grow to accept that if they see progress over time.

However, the club would be less likely to win things in the short-term and this would have a negative impact on the finances/sponsorships. Money runs the game, that’s just the way it is. But there has to be a balance, because unearthing quality from the academies will save teams millions in the long-run. Furthermore, it’s exciting to see “one of our own” make it and become a regular in the first team. It’s an element of romance in the game that money cannot take away from us. Well, until Madrid come in with a shed load of money to take it away from us.

The flipside is that as a supporter, it is exciting when our club buys these big-money players. After the Moyesiah and LVG debacles I was thrilled when Mourinho came in and we bought Pogba back and signed Mkhitaryan. Although I was equally pleased to see Rashford getting a good run of games and it will be a joy to see how he develops over the next few years.

Football is a game of trends and at the minute the trend is to spend big, given the money is there and every other club is doing so. Clubs don’t need to sell so buying clubs are having to pay more, giving more money to the selling club, and the cycle continues with the result of transfer fee hyperinflation. But there is every chance the likes of the TV money will hit a ceiling as people are not prepared to pay more for ‘content’ – see the rise of illegal streaming for an example or people unable to afford to renew their season tickets. This will lead to falling revenues/profits and the need for clubs and the transfer market to readjust or at least slow down.

The global nature of the transfer market makes predicting how this will pan out impossible. One this is certain however, supporting a team in 2017 is a bloody expensive passion and big money transfers are one of the reasons why. So maybe as supporters we need to readjust our expectations and spending habits to help rein in the madness. Easier said than done though.
Garey Vance, MUFC

 

A question for fans of all clubs…
Good article on coaches being lazy this morning and a few commenters rightly pointed out that managers are under pressure to deliver results hence they won’t risk it. My own club, following “the individual” being sacked, had the rest of a busted flush of a season to blood some youth and it frustrated me that that opportunity wasn’t taken. On the other hand, when Conte won the league last year using a core of tried and tested players very few of us complained. So to the fans – if your manager brings success, do you really care if youngsters are brought through?
Ted Maul

 

In reply to KC – Footballing fetishes
The joy of seeing 2 wing-backs combining in attacking play to score…ask any fair minded Scot and they will simply nod and say “Craig…to Gemmell…GOAL!”

Granted…That was in a European Cup Final, not some important friendly.

Aah Lisbon 67, the gift that keeps on giving.
Paul Healy, Glasgow, Celtic

 

William’s Wish Wellingtons
Just to clear up from your article and Niall’s email on the fantastically named Wellington Silva. It seems that Arsenal’s purchase and then resale of Wellington was subject to the medical at Bordeaux being successful. As he failed Wellington goes back to Fluminese and Arsenal are neither out of pocket nor do not have Wellington stuck on their books.

Seems like Arsenal might have made some money for little to no effort but it didn’t quite come off… Rather than use this as a stick to beat Arsenal with fans of all clubs the world over should just be pleased we have a chance to remember that there is a man whose actual name is Wellington.

Wellington, Wellington, Wellington!
Wellington Warren (just trying it out for myself)

 

Cantona did not downplay his celebration
Bob, there’s a book by Terry Pratchett called Small Gods and in this book there’s a character called Vorbis.

The book contains the following line

“Vorbis could humble himself in prayer in a way that made the posturings of power-mad emperors look subservient.” And I think that’s apt when discussing your email.

Cantona did not downplay his celebration. He may not have ran away screaming, but he puffed out his chest, stood there and said “ behold your Lord and saviour. Look upon my power and fear my wrath “ (or something along those lines, I don’t speak French. )

If you think he downplayed his celebration, I’d hate to see what you think is over the top.
Doug, AFC, Belfast