By Tony Attwood
As the Guardian has recently pointed out, Real Madrid are known not just for spending large amounts of money but also for getting players to sign for them for free, and then rewarding the players by paying them astronomical salaries until the club has had enough and leaves them to sit on the sidelines for a while and seek a transfer elsewhere.
Indeed the historic list of free transfers executed by letting it be known in the media that Real Madrid will sign them, if only they will let their contract run down, is quite impressive, as the newspaper sets out, including as it does, David Alaba, Kylian Mbappé, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Tony Rüdiger and Steve McManaman
And now it seems they want to do the same old “letting it be known” trick again, (knowing of course that direct contact would be “tapping up” which is not allowed). And this time the target is Myles Lewis-Skelly. Real Mad are suggesting that if he just plays through the next six months, then he can celebrate the new year by talking to Real Mad.
Now of course we have been down this road before as Barcelona moved in for Thierry Henry in 2006. Arsenal seemingly had a contract agreement to extend Thierry’s time with Arsenal, but Barcelona offered much more money to Thierry, and so off he went.
Gloating was the order of the day for Barcelona, except that they found they had doubled Thierry’s salary only to find that his goal-scoring rate wasn’t quite what it used to be. With Arsenal throughout his eight-year career, he averaged two goals in every three games. At Barcelona, it was closer to two goals in every seven games. Quite a drop.
So although the media still gloat about Arsenal’s stupidity in letting Thierry slip away, the reality was that he was showing signs of decline, which is why he was subsequently let go to New York Bulls, where his goal-scoring rate slipped a little bit further than the level Barcelona had reduced it to.
Now there is no sign that Arsenal are actually going to lose Lewis-Skelly this summer, and it is undoubtedly true that players over the years have learned that going to Barcelona or indeed Real Madrid can be more of a nightmare than they ever imagined, as their crowds can show very little patience. But still, the media are talking up a potential move although it is interesting to note that having sown seeds of doubt, the Guardian article quickly changes gear and starts talking about Kyle Walker going to Everton, which really isn’t quite the same thing as Lewis-Skelly heading south. Although another report does say that Walker might go to Fulham instead, which isn’t quite the same, although their new restaurant is (I am told by those with more cash than me) quite something.
Meanwhile, it appears that the real reason for the Club World Cup nonsense has nothing to do with tiny crowds and lopsided games, but is actually just a big jamboree for club owners to talk to players’ agents about possible transfers, without the players’ current clubs finding out about it and protesting to the regulators. Which when you come to think of it is quite a clever trick and maybe even worth the cost.
Indeed even the media which has spent a few days saying how pointless the whole CWC is, have now started talking about the deal-making instead. Or as Neymar’s dad is reported by L’Équipe to have said, “This week, we’re going to Miami to talk to clubs.” Thus the old notion of making contact via the club is by-passed. I’m not quite sure the broadcast media has latched onto this as the real reason for the competition, but I expect they will eventually.
But certainly what is moving things forward is the legal case in which the European Court ruled that Lassana Diarra, whom you might recall, was illegally restricted from leaving Lokomotiv Moscow by the current transfer regulations.
Indeed unless someone can come up with some clever jiggery-pokery it is looking as if the current transfer fee era could be coming to an end. The new ruling looks most likely to be that players who want to end a contract can do so by buying out the rest of their time. Clubs could still charge transfer fees, but a club demanding an insanely large fee could then be challenged in court for restricting free trade, and of course players would be far less likely ever to sign for a club that engaged in that sort of response to a request to buy out the contract.
It is being said that clubs don’t like this proposed change, but then they never wanted the abolition of the maximum wage or freedom of movement either. Certainly, the players’ union FifPro is ready to challenge the current situation as being against the standards laid down in EU law. Change it seems, is about to happen.
