There is very good reason why the football transfer window is known as the ‘Silly Season’.
As each year goes by and the column inches and web pages devoted to the twice-yearly frenzy of buying, selling and loaning grow and grow – and the amounts bandied about get more and more absurd – the title rings truer and truer.
Here’s a couple of numbers:
19.1 million – not the latest sign on figures, but the number of hits on a Google search for the words “transfer window”.
£160m (Dh771.8m) – Manchester City’s spending this year on their back line, more than many nations do on their defence.
1.165 billion – the total spend for the Premier League in the 2016 window, the 2017 spend is expected to dwarf that.
The root cause of this problem is money, lots and lots of money, acquired via the recent mind-blowing TV-rights deals. The Premier League’s new deal, for example, is worth £10.4bn (Dh50.2bn).
The three most expensive defenders of all time play for Man City:
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) July 24, 2017
• Benjamin Mendy
• John Stones
• Kyle Walker
Luxury defence. 🤑 pic.twitter.com/34odkmXvGa
The clubs now have money to spend and spend they will. From the players’ side, they are always looking for something better: a stronger club, a chance to win trophies, a larger pay-packet.
The real issue is not the money, or the clubs, or the players – it is the agents looking to inflate their players’ values, and their own commission.
Their chief weapon in this – the unending sea of baseless rumour known as social media.
Think about it, for an agent, a player remaining at a club does not gain them any return. They make their money when a player is sold from one club to another.
So what if they have a player, let’s call him Star X, who is happy at their current club, Club A. They need to get Star X on the move.
So first they drop a rumour to a journalist, blogger, vlogger, podcaster, Tweeter or Instagrammer that the player is not happy and wants a move to another club, Club B.
This filters back to Club B, who now feel they might have a chance to sign Star X and make a bid.
The agent is informed of the offer, the offer they instigated with their rumour, and he lets slip another rumour – this time of a greatly inflated price.
He knows he is safe to do this as no-one is going to deny the rumour.
Mino Raiola v Jorge Mendes - which super-agent has the best XI in your opinion? https://t.co/sMHwm3USf1 pic.twitter.com/oa7B9AHGgW
— Goal (@goal) July 24, 2017
Club A is not going to deny it as they don’t want to confirm that someone is chasing their star player, as this may scare off other players they are trying to buy.
Club B also do not want to confirm or deny the offer as they don’t want other agents or clubs to know the amounts of money they are willing to pay.
So, from a nothing situation, the agent now has a player getting stars in his eyes over a massive new pay-packet, one club edgy about losing one of their stars and another club (and their fans) more and more excited about snaring a new hero.
The side bonus for the agent is other clubs, who have coveted Star X privately, now think he is open to a move and declare their interest, sparking a bidding war.
And the agent is closer to getting a massive commission, which for someone like Paul Pogba’s agent, Mino Raiola, can reportedly be €27m (Dh116.5m).
DONNARAIOLA x HATERS 1-0
— Mino Raiola (@MinoRaiola) June 25, 2017
What's next?
For the scenario above, there are many players you can insert as Star X – Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Philippe Coutinho. These are all players supposedly happy at their current club, now in the middle of heated speculation.
And the beneficiary of all this speculation – a few greedy agents.
