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Losing a top player on a free transfer was once identified as pure mismanagement: a boardroom-level failure of planning, negotiation and foresight triggering ire among fans. Arsenal are one club to face heavy criticism in this way, so much so that in October 2018, the club’s then-newly installed director of football, Raul Sanllehi, drew a line in the sand.
“I believe that a player’s contract should never go to the last year, as a policy,” he said. “But I don’t think I am inventing the wheel. Anybody could agree on that. Normally the contracts of the players are for five years. You need to have a clear idea of what you want to do with that player when he is in the third year, at the latest.”
Despite their best intentions, Aaron Ramsey still joined Juventus for nothing the following summer after rejecting multiple contract offers to stay, and it’s indicative of a trend that’s only spread throughout the game in the intervening period.
Research by KPMG suggests that in Europe’s top five leagues, there was a 6% decrease in transfers involving a fee between 2019 and 2021, to a record low of 30%. There has also been an increase from 19% to 22% in the number of free transfers during the same time-frame. It’s perhaps a modest shift at first glance, but the majority of business in lower divisions has largely comprised of such transactions as finances are generally more precarious and clubs survive on loans or signing unattached players.
The change has now come at the top end of the game, with more high-profile free agents than ever before. Last summer’s list was star-studded: Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos, Gianluigi Donnarumma, David Alaba, Sergio Aguero and Jerome Boateng were among the names moving. This summer is similar: Paul Pogba, Ousmane Dembele, Paulo Dybala, Antonio Rudiger, Alexandre Lacazette, Christian Eriksen, Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez are just some of those able to negotiate on their own terms.
It appeared Kylian Mbappe would lead the free transfer surge…
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Source : espn
