The Spectacular Summer Transfer Market in Europe: Record-breaking Transfers and Sky-high Prices

The summer pass market in Europe promises to be the most spectacular in history, by number of transfers and by volume of money. Declan Rice will only have to travel 17 minutes between Stratford and Holloway, two London neighborhoods. Arsenal pay West Ham 117 million pounds (plus 5 in variables) for the 24-year-old midfielder to make the move and put on his shirt. It is the most expensive pass at the moment.

Jude Bellingham, 19 years old, went from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid for 103 + 31 million. The 31 are for objectives. Example: if he wins the league, 5 million more; if they lift the Champions League, 10 more; if he scores X goals, the same; upon completing 100 matches, one more bonus. Clauses that the seller puts in order to obtain additional profit and that the buyer accepts, because if the player achieves such achievements it will be worth paying.

In a football where the defensive systems show so much evolution and in which the eleven defend, the one who manages to break a defense is a precious stone. A good example is Luis Díaz. He went from Porto to Liverpool for €47 million, excelled there and is now quoted at €75 despite having spent six months in the infirmary due to a knee injury.

The modesty imposed by the pandemic is definitely behind us, now everyone goes shopping. The vast majority of European clubs have high economic power. A lot of money is generated from the box office (Inter raised 12 million euros in its home match against Milan in the Champions League semifinals), from sponsorships, marketing, social contributions for those who are civil societies, and from prizes in competitions. UEFA pays 15.64 million just for participating in the Champions League, plus €2.8 million for each victory in addition to the rewards for advancing in the phase, plus the coefficient, plus the proportional television. Arsenal amortizes the signing of Rice only with what he receives for having entered the Champions League. And the clubs that do not belong to their members have large companies or ultra-millionaires behind them, as happens with almost all English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Turkish.

If there were more cracks available, more transfers would take place. There is a super scorer to hire, Erling Haaland, but City won’t let him go, and doubles his salary if necessary in order to retain him. For this reason, renovations have become the highest point of sports management. Mbappé’s is a witness case. He is the most coveted pearl that can be achieved, three Declan Rice together. Kylian has one year left on his contract with Paris Saint Germain, until June 30, 2024 and another year, optional in his favor. He has not said “I want to go”. He simply stated that he would not take the option for 2024-2025. This triggered an earthquake in Paris and Qatar because then PSG has two paths left: either use it for another year and then the scorer is free or go out and sell it right now and get back the €180 million they paid for it to Monaco in June 2017. Or even more, because Kiki valued herself. Madrid would gladly pay 220. And Liverpool, it is rumored, would make a heart-stopping offer of 300.

Despite winning the treble (League, Cup and Champions League) and despite paying him a huge salary, City lost their captain Ilkay Gundogan, who did not agree to renew and went to Barcelona. Because he leaves with his letter-pass.

Soccer is inflated and at a level of popularity never seen before. There are more tournaments and those that were already there are getting larger, TV broadcasts even First D matches, companies are turning to the activity and the exponential growth of women’s soccer has doubled its clientele. Just a photo of the stands is enough, there are almost as many women as men. So there are hundreds of millions of other consumers. Soccer gives visibility and prestige. Roman Abramovich was a Forbes-list tycoon, but not even his aunt knew of his existence until he bought Chelsea, which became his favorite toy. In his box he received kings, presidents, leaders, businessmen, celebrities, and in his office they sat down to pull the contract Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Carlo Ancelotti… It was also a fat business for him: he acquired it for 162 million dollars and sold it for 5,312.

Price inflation is due to various factors. The wealth of the clubs or their owners, the phenomenon of television and sponsorships, marketing and also the fact that there are many new markets eager for cracks. The last ones, Saudi Arabia and the North American MLS. Cristiano Ronaldo was the pioneer in reaching the Saudi kingdom, earning 200 million euros a year, now they follow him in droves because the emoluments they offer are stratospheric. Karim Benzema (36 years old in December) signed for three seasons with Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia. Between salary and commercial agreements, he will receive 196 million euros a year, 588 million euros in total. How could a footballer, artist or professional whatever reject such a proposal…?

What is needed are stars. That’s why the United States league was thrown from a skyscraper by Lionel Messi. Being the best player in history, despite his 36 years, he had to come up with financial engineering. Messi will formally receive a salary of 50 million euros per year, but he will be a partner of Adidas in the sale of shirts, he will take a percentage of the television of the matches and will be able to agree to buy an American club at the end of his career. The question is how much would cost today, at 22, the same Messi, Maradona or Pelé… (O)

2023-07-02 00:01:09
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