Abolish transfer fees and player contracts; Jhon Duran shows both are ludicrous

Today is the last day of the transfer window, which has never seemed to ‘slam shut’ so much as come to rest on the latch.
Transfers are deceptive and the fees paid are often more political than practical, like Neymar’s £222m transfer to the nation state of Paris. But most transfers are loans. Fees barely exist beyond the first two tiers, which is how it should be. Boxes of kippers are still currency.
The contract-based system is, by any standard or legal working practices, absolutely surreal, being largely pointless as a guarantee of anything. Contracts are, in effect, worthless other than as statements of agreed working practices and wages which could exist without them.
In October, just four months ago, Jhon Duran signed a contract until 2030 and almost immediately fancied some desert oppression money. That ‘tying him to the club for five years’ cliche is just words unless they add ‘if both sides agree’. Villa fancy making a big profit on him and don’t want a player who’d rather be elsewhere. So his contract was worth nothing. It may as well not have existed. It was no guarantee he’d be around for its duration and offered no guarantee he’d be picked.
Much is made of Chelsea’s seven-year contracts, but they do not mean anybody stays for seven years if the club and player decide otherwise.
Of course, a transfer is a much-needed earner for clubs lower down the pyramid where the player began, if they get a sell-on fee. But that could still be agreed. A memo of understanding sets out wages, what we pay for, what you will pay for, bonuses, sell-on fees. That’s it. Set a rolling amount of weeks these conditions apply for and everyone knows where they stand. It could be almost standardised.
MORE ON TRANSFERS FROM F365:
👉 January Transfer Deadline Day 2025: Follow it LIVE with F365…
👉 Best, worst and ‘who the hell?’ of every January transfer deadline day
👉 The 20 biggest transfers in the world in the 2025 January transfer window
You may object on the grounds that it makes players less secure but I’d argue the reverse. You’re free, as long as you work a notice period, to go anywhere you want, at any time. If you’re crap and no club wants you, are you seriously arguing they need a long contract to be secure in this profession you’re no good at? Forcing a club to pay you money. That’s crazy.
Eventually, I would like to see contracts as they currently are and transfer fees abolished. It would stop clubs pushing themselves to buy and pay players they can’t really afford. It sounds radical but all it does is place the player in a position of power, as any worker has the right to expect. The decisions are taken away from stupids in the boardroom who fritter money away like only someone can who is usually not spending their own cash. Wasting fortunes.
Look at the third-rate sluggers Manchester United have signed. Whoever identifies, pays a fee for and draws up contracts for these schmucks is hopeless. £80million for Anthony! How much better would it be to know that if you make a mistake, you’re not committed to him for five years of paying him ridiculous money to sit on the bench because no-one else can afford his mental wages?
Every worker can move to a new employer if they work a notice, why shouldn’t footballers? Why can’t they be self-employed? Many are their own company already. They’d likely get paid more, as clubs would use wages, terms and conditions to attract players. And if it turns out they’re a comedy clown outfit like Manchester United, they can get out quite quickly. It imposes a need to be disciplined as a club or lose players. It means they have to be flexible with players. It means clubs are judged by their staff on an ongoing basis.
If this was clear from the start, players wouldn’t just suckle from the club’s milky paps. They’d be aware that it’s easy for the club to let them go, so they’d better perform if they want to stay.
You might argue that it will increase instability, but that horse has bolted. For example for about five years in the 70’s, Middlesbrough didn’t sign anyone. Football was less promiscuous, but now, as soon as any of our players has a good season, he’s sold. I guarantee we won’t have Emmanuel Latte Lath next season. So instability is already here. Money has destabilised the game. This just introduces more honesty. It doesn’t mean all players will gravitate to the highest wage-payers any more than it does now.
The situation at the moment is broken. Allan Saint Maximin was a loved on Tyneside and was sold to Al Ahli for £23m, played 30 times and is now on loan to Fenerbache. I bet he wishes he was still in Newcastle, but they needed the money, one way or another. In my world, they wouldn’t. And if he wanted out, I bet Fenerbahce wouldn’t have been his first choice, but he was a failed player in the awful Saudi League and had to go where he could; when he was a desirable player at Newcastle his options would have been good. His career has hit the buffers, all because of transfer fees.
Transfer inflation is out of control and leads to erroneous judgement. Phrases like “he’s an 80 million pound player” or “he was a steal for 10 million” abound, like there is a degree of football that equates to an amount of money. £222million elevated Neymar to a status no one could live up to; he’s earned unfathomable money but hasn’t fulfilled his promise. The money weighed heavily on him and it was more like a Hollywood Babylon tale of greed, undeserved wealth and hangers-on. It could still happen, obviously, but at least there’s no mad transfer fee.
Surely we need to calm the money down. Transfer culture has become an obsession above the actual football. This is primarily a sport, not international fiscal politics. It also helps democratise football because less wealthy clubs don’t have to worry about the size of the fee and players can be persuaded in footballing ways to join the club, manager and team.
Clubs owning a player’s registration is outmoded. Imagine if you worked for Tesco and they owned your right to work for another retail outlet. That is totally ridiculous. The whole procedure belongs to another era. If signing a new five-year contract four months before being sold doesn’t illustrate the stupidity of the situation, nothing will.
And that’s before we even talk about agents fees for transfers which sucks money out of the game unnecessarily, often for doing little or nothing. Transfer fees is just one more way for leeches to sup their blood money and I’ve no idea what is achieved by them except the impoverishment of everyone who isn’t an agent.
MORE ON TRANSFERS FROM F365:
👉 January Transfer Deadline Day 2025: Follow it LIVE with F365…
👉 Best, worst and ‘who the hell?’ of every January transfer deadline day
👉 The 20 biggest transfers in the world in the 2025 January transfer window