In protecting the debatable Arthur-Pjanic movement change agreement this summer, former Barcelona President Josep Bartomeu highlighted a well-known resource of the online football industry: Transfermarkt.
The German-based football statistics online page used through former Barcelona coach to justify Arthur’s $72 million ($89. 5 million) prize; a figure that caught the eye as it allowed the two clubs to register a profit of 50 million euros ($62. 14 million) in their accounts, helping them comply with monetary fair play (FFP) regulations.
It deserves to have caught the attention of the former president that last week an investigation through the Dutch online page Follow the Money (FTM) shows that the values of the players on the site are through volunteers.
Barcelona is far from the only one using Transfermarkt, the site is an accepted resource cited through the big clubs in its annual monetary reports, from Porto to Marseille, from Lyon to Schalke, and is referenced through the media.
But it turns out that everyone was so busy using knowledge that no one stopped to think about how Transfermarkt worked.
Turns out it’s thanks to a Wikipedia precept of “mass wisdom”; where users claim the price of a player and Transfermarkt publishers which has the maximum merit.
Not that they think these estimates are complete enough for groups to depend on.
“Clubs don’t make decisions based on our website figures,” said Christian Schwarz, foreign director of market values at FTM, “our approach is not scientific.
The FTM-tracked social worker, who manages the bundesliga statistics of the site in his free time, laughed at the feeling that his tests can be taken seriously through professional clubs.
“I’m just a social painter,” he said, “I do these Transfermarkt paintings for fun, and the football industry is a millionaire. The contrast doesn’t make sense.
All of this raises the question; in a game where statistics are so valued, why those massive transfers connected to clinical data?And what does it say about the growing millions spent on players every year?
Dr Rob Wilson, an investment expert at the University of Sheffield Hallam, says he sees Transfermarkt “increasingly” and this is scary.
“Using equipment like Transfermarkt worries me only because it’s an estimate based on “feeling that in evidence. “
Not that, in Dr. Wilson’s view, the market is governed by clinical principles in the first place.
Although the game is experiencing a “Moneyball” revolution in which analytical approaches update instincts, the adjustments have not yet had a significant effect on the movement market.
“The player’s assessment is based on a fairly outdated model,” says Dr Wilson.
“Given the advances in knowledge science and knowledge analysis, it is that the technique is so retrograde.
“We found that the most productive clubs employ experts to help them outline player values when looking to buy and sell, this can be seamlessly implemented to achieve a set of measures that meet industry standards. “
This is because the lack of an accepted movement measure in the industry costs clubs money, as Sheffield education explains: “Lack of science means that the market will continue to dictate values.
“The fundamental principles and call come into force, as does a club’s individual ability to invest its cash in an acquisition. “
However, the use of Transfermarkt as a source through European clubs in his accounts does not surprise Dr Wilson.
“Clubs will look for tactics to use monetary information criteria to help them ‘disguise’ their position, especially when it facilitates the way they are viewed in relation to regulations like FFP,” he tells me.
“Nothing surprises me more in finance. Clubs will seek to earn that credit over their competitors. It’s another way to do it. “
For the outdoor observer or even some of the most passionate fans, the constantly inflated moving costs would possibly seem obscene and indifferent to reality.
But as the Arthur-Pjanic agreement illustrates, there are strong incentives for clubs and players.
Football clubs in their accounts price a move during a player’s contract years; a monetary practice called “depreciation. “
For example, the acquisition of Miralem Pjanic’s Barcelona from Juventus at a price of EUR 60 million ($72. 57 million) signed a four-year contract, so the club is only required to record an annual expense of 15 million euros ($18. 64 million).
At the address, Arthur Melo, valued at 72 million euros ($89. 5 million).
The difference in value is only 12 million euros ($14. 92 million), so I would think that would be all that could be recorded, however, since football clubs can electronically book incoming move fees immediately, either group can record only about 50 million euros in profits. .
For Barcelona, which, according to ESPN, expected to generate around 70 million euros ($87 million) in player sales before the end of June to balance the club’s accounts, the agreement, reached on the 29th of the month, was very useful.
Dr. Wilson believes the depreciation procedure is an increase in moving fees.
“It inflates them,” he says.
“The promoter club knows that the buying club can offer longer contracts or extend them sooner, reducing the player’s annual charge and making them more affordable. “
Education that players are sometimes promoted through clubs.
“We see clubs extending their previous contracts than in the past,” he adds.
“This is to depreciate moving rates over a longer period of time and to better meet FPF. “
The immense strength exerted by the agents is an accepted facet of fashionable football.
Clubs now court high-level intermediaries and close relationships with those force agents are perceived as an advantage.
Wolverhampton Wanderers’ transformation from the half-table league to the Europa League quarter-finals is attributed to the influence of super agent Jorge Mendes on the club’s contract.
This characterization does no favor to Nuno Esparito Santo’s impressive control paintings, however, she has been favored by the fact that Mendes customers such as Rubén Neves exchange the Champions League for the championship.
Even Arsenal, a club where Athletic had insisted that agent meetings be located in certain spaces in its field of education, has agents sighted on its premises.
This influence affects the moving market.
Agents are encouraged to push for higher movement fees because that’s where they make the most of money.
Paul Pogba’s agent, Mino Raiola, earned 27 million euros ($33. 56 million) the Frenchman’s transfer of 105 million euros ($130. 52 million) to Manchester United.
The higher the move-in fee, the more the agent may charge.
Even when a player’s contract expires and moves for free, it is advantageous for the agent to communicate their value, as they regularly charge a higher payment for signing depending on the fact that the club did not have to pay for the transfer.
The challenge with depreciation and fees from cost-boosting agents is that a true player evaluation becomes even more difficult.
As it pours into the game, the bubble grows, according to Dr. Wilson.
“It has increased over the decade,” he continues.
“He is motivated, apparently, through the broadcast rights and then through the players/agents. Cash is rising and helps keep flowing down. “
Dr. Wilson does not see a sharp drop in moving fares on the horizon, at least in England, he believes it will take place at some point.
“We have noticed a slowdown in England as a result of a national televised agreement limiting.
“There has to be a limit on transmission payments, because consumers will have a limit on what they pay for a subscription, [but] until we see a sharp drop in payment payments, transfers will continue to dominate giant transactions.
Economics manager Arséne Wenger has complained about the “lack of value” in the moving market when he was Arsenal’s coach, God knows what he thinks of the current situation.
I am currently guilty of content in Construction News, which specializes in research, I have made many collaborations with primary media, which come with a
Currently, I am guilty of construction news content, which specializes in surveys. I have made collaborations with the main media. These come with a briefing on the hard undercover work of slaves with the BBC, a Financial Times report that exposed a sex attack scandal and a foreign investigation into staff deaths at the world’s largest airport with Architects’ Newspaper.
My paintings were pre-selected for the Orwell Journalism Award in 2020 and I was a finalist at the 2019 British Journalism Awards, appointed International Building Press Reporter of the Year 2019 and won the IBP Scoop of the Year award and the Construction/Infrastructure Writer of the Year.
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