Rocky the King
Arsenal are on tour, enjoying the Australian delights, a world away from last season’s problems at home. The Arsenal propaganda machine is in overdrive hoping to paper over the cracks of division among the fan base. Yet the recent number of high quality players who appear to be close to or in the final year of their contract is baffling, the latest being Oxlade-Chamberlain who is allegedly a target for Liverpool. Renewing contracts is a very essential part of club governance. Without a very good grip on these vital legal documents, then future club investments may be affected. Arsenal had a proud history of good transfer dealings. Arsenal used to regularly break English transfer records in acquiring the best players. This was thanks to the ownership of the club by true fans.
Fast forward to the modern day transfer dealings and contract management. The Bosman ruling drove a coach and horses through club management of contracts. The European legal system took a dim view of any restraint on the freedom to seek or change employment. It allowed players in the EU to move to another club at the end of a contract without a transfer fee being paid. This occurred in 1995 a year before Wenger’s arrival at Highbury from Japan. All European clubs were now placed on notice to ensure that they had efficient and robust player contract management systems to avoid losing valuable player assets.
One of the benefits of having David Dein and Ken Friar at the club dealing with player contracts, was that post Bosman, Arsenal appeared to ahead of the game. Contracts were regularly updated. Ken Friar took over the player contract management in the interim following the exit of David Dein in 2007. It was some months on before Arsène Wenger assumed full responsibility for all player transfers and contract management. Arsène Wenger has been lauded as being a shrewd contract negotiator and getting extra value for money in player sales, recall the sale of Nicolas Anelka for £23 million having been bought for £0.5 million some 3 seasons earlier? Figures were bounded around, showing the net positive costs for Wenger’s transfer dealings in 2012. It is interesting to now hear the “silence” about Wenger’s net transfer dealing costs, I wonder if the figures on this pdf obtained from the website TransferLeague.co.uk might have something to do with this.
When a player gets released, or is allowed to leave on a free transfer, the player can benefit greatly in cash terms with his next club. This is a well-known arrangement that basically rewards the player for having saved the next club loads of cash which would otherwise have been spent on a transfer fee. This gives a pernicious incentive for players to run down their contracts to the final year so that the Bosman rule applies. Sometimes the reverse occurs when players re-sign in the final year during transfer speculation in order to support the home club. Either way there is much to be gained or lost in player contract handling. If a club loses valuable players under Bosman, then either the club process is flawed or those managing it are incompetent. Clubs are a business after all, so to knowingly lose valuable assets cannot ensure continued profitability.
Fast forward to this summer, we have the ridiculous spectacle of the club’s best players in an astonishing position of power holding the club to ransom. “Either pay my wage demands or I’ll leave on a free by refusing to sign a new contract.” One cannot understand what motivates the players who do this, but as free agents in the final year of their contracts, who can blame them if they are allowed to be able to demand the highest possible wages and agents’ fees. So is the failure to update player contracts incompetent, or due to player power? For a player to have value, they have to have performances on the field that attracts new suitors. No playing time, or sitting on the bench will lower the possible future transfer fee accordingly, herein lies the way that clubs can regain control over player contracts.
It will be at the end of August when Gooners will be able to reflect upon the activity of Arsenal in the transfer market. A club with ambition will not sell to its rivals. Alex Ferguson would never have sold a Manchester United player of real value to his rivals. Pity that Wenger didn’t follow this practice when it came to Robin van Persie. It is rumoured that Arsène Wenger has been told by Stan Kroenke that in order to have his continued support, he needs to win the Premier League or Champions League in the next two seasons. I can see no prospect of this happening if we allow our best players to leave on a Bosman, or be sold to our direct rivals.
So valuing Alexis Sanchez at £90 million is not good business if he goes to Manchester City and wins next season’s Premier League title. Sanchez’s move to Bayern Munich has been stalled by the excessive price tag. So do we pay Sanchez £400,000 a week for his signature, or let him go to Manchester City for £90 million? My argument is that this situation should never have been allowed to happen in the first place, and clearly Arsène Wenger’s handling of player contracts could be described as incompetent. Wenger’s net dealings currently stand at minus £209.67 million, which underlines still further why in this brave new world of inflated transfer fees and wages, it is vital not to allow prized assets to leave on a Bosman.
Twitter@RTKafc_insider
