In the previous article I showed my distrust of these practices as they are currently carried out. But this does not mean that I am radically against it or that I fail to recognize that it could be otherwise and that they could be useful and fulfill a helping mission by facilitating a different type of financial operations in the complicated world of international transfers. Let's delve into some important aspects that will help us better understand the how and why of this matter.
The first thing to do is know the difference between federative and economic rights of a player registered in a club. The first are always the club's and the financial ones are to the extent that the club is able to keep them under control, which does not always happen. This is one of the key issues of the problem because as a club loses control of the economic part of a player's rights in favor of a third party, dependence on that third party begins due to the money invested by it in the player or in the club. And the governing bodies do not like this at all because they understand that it is contrary to the policy of financial fair-play and budget balance that they want to implement in the clubs.
They understand that it allows and facilitates excessive debt, weakens the decision-making capacity of the clubs and places in the hands of third parties a capacity for influence and decision that they cannot control and which they consider alien to the world of football. It is well reasoned, but it is very difficult not to recognize that behind this there is concern and fear for the foreseeable loss of power that this way of acting would cause. As there is also the excessive power of the Agents (top) of players who can hinder the necessary fluidity, transparency and capillarity of a difficult, opaque and rogue market such as that of footballer transfers. It is understandable that concern and fear skyrocket when those responsible for it act together and add resources and influences. That's where a big problem begins.
The first and last cause is, as almost always, money. But not the money that the investment fund puts up to earn its corresponding dividends, but the money that the selling club wants to earn by “holding on” to the footballer for as long as it can, which the footballer wants to start earning as soon as possible and which the buying club intends to save by getting along with the fund managers. The general situation of football in the corresponding market contributes a lot to all this and it is no coincidence that these funds have prospered especially in Portugal and Spain, where legislation protects, protects and facilitates an opaque, special and light operation in terms of the tax, financial and labor obligations of the clubs. Also in strictly football ones. We must recognize that something is changing and that there is more rigor and demand in this matter. This is where the issue of funds does not fit and where alarms have been raised to prohibit them or redirect them appropriately and in line with new times.
In my opinion there are two other very important factors that should be pointed out in order to fully understand the phenomenon to its proper extent. On the one hand, we must clearly define how special football is and how far its particularity should go. Yes, it must have specific aspects (ordinary or sporting jurisdiction, legal obligations, authentic and true responsibilities of managers and not easily evaded simulations) and intrinsic to the very essence of football that are implemented as soon as possible and that it is for the best. For example, if clubs can use this type of operations to finance their hiring and transfers, why shouldn't they? If small, medium and large savers invest their money in all types of actions, financial assets, pension and pension and savings plans, insurance, etc., why couldn't they do so in this type of assets if they were well defined, clear and transparent, with adequate legislation and with correct and controlled operation? Football is special, we already know, but it should not be so special as to not properly take advantage of what, being legal, benefits you and allows you to solve your problems and achieve your objectives. And this issue of funds, well managed, could contribute to this, but at the moment what there is is opacity and benefits for a few who go about their business, leaving worrying traces.
On the other hand, it is advisable not to fool oneself and fail to recognize that the issue is complex, difficult, it encompasses the different actors of that great theater that is football and it affects their ego and wallet in different ways, affecting their decision-making capacity and influence in a world full of vanities, prominence and covers. At the end of the day, it is very difficult to prevent a club's disastrous transfer policy from leading it to ruin if its presidents over the course of decades leave unscathed and if what the fans want are goals and titles without caring about anything else......or for another club to live beyond its means for many years, although this means the bankruptcy or disappearance of the entity. The lower divisions are full of cases like this, although no one wants to notice it. The policy that seems to prevail is…..”the last one to turn off the light.”.
In the end we come to other types of questions that are at the heart of all this, such as:
Why is so much money paid for a footballer in top transfers? And have you stopped to think, dear reader, that almost all the money is for and to pay the footballer on duty (as it should be, although I don't know if that much) who must respond to enormous expectations that are rarely met?... In short, if the blessed funds serve to improve all this, let them arrive in due form and as soon as possible... but really, let it be for the best.
Author: Eduardo Silva