Question about "Transfers"?

I know this is a stupid question to ask..especially since I have followed Liverpool and English Football for 25 years now, but I have never clearly understood it.

How do Transfers and Transfer Fee’s work in European Football?   How do they equate in terms of player salaries and length of time a player actually plays for the team? When a player joins a club, do they “Own” the rights to that player for a specific length of time?

I’m so used to the US sports model, with contracts, free-agents, drafts, and trades.

It actually works quite easy.

For example the Glen Johnson transfer to Liverpool.

First, Liverpool will put in a bid for Johnson to Portsmouth. From that bid, Portsmouth can decide on whether to accept/reject/negotiate the deal. If Portsmouth intend to negotiate, it means Portsmouth will suggest a new bid to Liverpool in which Liverpool would decide whether to accept or reject. If Liverpool accept their new demands, it means that the deal is accepted by Portsmouth.

For example - We make a 10 million bid for Glen. Portsmouth do not want that, instead they want an improved offer of 17 million, which will then be submitted to Liverpool. If Liverpool agree on it, then the deal is accepted.
-----------------------------------------
Again, in this case, take for example the Johnson's transfer to LFC.

Once a fee is agreed between the clubs, in this case 17 million, then the club will decide on what personal terms to offer the player. This includes the signing-on fee, the bonuses and the weekly wage, length of contract. Over time, the salary may increase with the length of contract. Once the terms is verbally agreed between the club and the player, the player will then fly in to have a medical before signing on the dotted line, thus he will then be declared as a 'official transfer'.
------------------------------------------
Now, lets look at what happens when Chelsea came into the picture.

Once Chelsea came into the picture and submitted a offer to Pompey for Glen, it was accepted. This means that 2 clubs (LFC and Chelsea) will be offering the personal terms to Johnson. Thus, Johnson will look at the personal terms proposed by both clubs, and then make a decision which to reject and which to accept. In this case, he accepted Liverpool's terms and that's why he came to us.
---------------------------------------

The club can also call upon an agent, who will then work on the club's behalf to find a buyer for a particular player that the club doesn't want to have in the ranks. If the player wants to leave the club, the player's agent can then contact interested clubs, and the agent will be working between the selling club and buying club to strike a deal. However, if the selling club does not want to release the player, then the chances of the player leaving decreases.

All the relavant documents between the player, selling club and buying club have also to be sent in to the FA for the transfer to be registered and approved.

Awesome..Thank-you.  Your explanation helped a lot. I followed this team for 25 years and you would think I would know that but I never understood the details. 

2 questions though.

1. Can any team, at anytime make a bid for any player?  So, for example, HYPOTHETICALLY, could Man. U make a Bid for Gerrard today?

2.  What happens if a team accepts a bid for a player and the player says, "no way I dont want to go play for them" and wont accept the terms?   Could the team transfer him anyway, w/out the players ok?   Or vice-versa, What if the player wants to accept the Bid and move but the Team said no. Can that player just leave the club and sign anyway?

1. Yes. They can make a bid for anyone at any time but the departure can be done only within the transfer window. Therefore if Man Utd would make a bid for our Stevie G now and (god forbid!!!) both Liverpool and Gerrard accept it then Stevie could move to Man Utd only at the next transfer window (January 2010) but until then he would be playing for us. Hope my explanation is understandable.

2. No! Both sides must accept a bid for that to be completed.

1. Yes. They can make a bid for anyone at any time but the departure can be done only within the transfer window. Therefore if Man Utd would make a bid for our Stevie G now and (god forbid!!!) both Liverpool and Gerrard accept it then Stevie could move to Man Utd only at the next transfer window (January 2010) but until then he would be playing for us. Hope my explanation is understandable.

2. No! Both sides must accept a bid for that to be completed.

Completely Understandable.  Thanks to both of the posts....It helped me out!!!!

Thanks for the wonderful insight MM, just a quick question though...say Portsmouth accepted our £17m bid for Johnson, does it mean that the entire money goes to the club i.e Portsmouth in this case? Or does the figure includes signing fee, agent fee, tax (payable by which club, buyer or the seller?), the loyalty bonus payable to the departing player by the selling club (amount payable to Johnson by Portsmouth)? I ask this because we know from Alonso saga that if a player hands in a transfer request, the club does not owe him any severance package/loyalty bonus. Similarly, if a player leaves on a Bosman, the club gets nothing but the player must be getting a good deal as many clubs have allowed their loyal dedicated and respected players to leave on a Bosman (Sami for us, Cudcini for Cheslea).

I would also like to know, if the transfer fee includes the player salary for the duration of their contract at the buying club? For instance when we finally bought Mascherano in a deal worth £18.6m, it included his wages.. though of course being a thrid party deal, it may have been a bit different.

Thanks for the wonderful insight MM, just a quick question though...say Portsmouth accepted our £17m bid for Johnson, does it mean that the entire money goes to the club I.e Portsmouth in this case? Or does the figure includes signing fee, agent fee, tax (payable by which club, buyer or the seller?), the loyalty bonus payable to the departing player by the selling club (amount payable to Johnson by Portsmouth)? I ask this because we know from Alonso saga that if a player hands in a transfer request, the club does not owe him any severance package/loyalty bonus. Similarly, if a player leaves on a Bosman, the club gets nothing but the player must be getting a good deal as many clubs have allowed their loyal dedicated and respected players to leave on a Bosman (Sami for us, Cudcini for Cheslea).

I would also like to know, if the transfer fee includes the player salary for the duration of their contract at the buying club? For instance when we finally bought Mascherano in a deal worth £18.6m, it included his wages.. though of course being a thrid party deal, it may have been a bit different.

Alright, first we pay Pompey 17 million. ALL of the 17 million goes into Pompey's pockets and nothing else.

The second we draw up a contract for the player. In this contract there is signing-on fee, agent fee, loyalty bonus, appearances, salaries etc. This is what the club will pay the player over time and it IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE 17 MILLION THAT IS PAID TO POMPEY. It is only paid to the player.

Thus as you can see, there are two payments to be made by the buying club. First, to the selling club which in Pompey's case is 17 million. Next, the payments and salaries to the players. They are two different deals to be done.

Transfer fee does not include the player salary. The player's salary is in the contract terms.

Hope this helps

2.  What happens if a team accepts a bid for a player and the player says, "no way I dont want to go play for them" and wont accept the terms?   Could the team transfer him anyway, w/out the players ok?

Think Jermaine Pennant - we wanted him to go to Stoke and he didn't want to go.  He stayed, saw out the last year of his contract (including 6 months on loan at Pompey) then left for free.

Or vice-versa, What if the player wants to accept the Bid and move but the Team said no. Can that player just leave the club and sign anyway?

Think Xabi Alonso - he wanted to go, we didn't want to sell.  He spoke to the manager (and probably got his agent to speak to Tap-up Madrid) and said he wanted to leave.  We dug in our heels and said that he would only leave if the fee was right for us.  Madrid paid more than they wanted, but we lost a player we wanted to keep.


Unfortunately, the second example is more prevalent.  Player power means that once they declare their intention to leave, there's not much their current club can do.  Think Owen.  In his case it was even worse because he had run down his contract to the last year and we knew he could go for free at the end of the season, so we had to take what we could for him.

You also see a lot of rumours put around by agents trying to engineer a move/pay rise for their players.  That's why transfer windows are silly season.

Thanks for the clarification, just two quick points..

1. Yes, true Pompey get the entire £17m, but do Pompey have to pay Johnson some sort of a severance package or a loyalty bonus for agreeing to the transfer? So does it come from the £17m? Of course this may be a separate transactions, but depending on the compensation, players wages, the length of his contract etc. the amount payable by the selling club to the departing player may affect the transfer fee..so I wonder if the severance package is between the selling club and the player only or the buying club too gets involved..?

2. Mascherano deal of £18.6m included his four year wages, so does it mean that the actual amount payable to MSI was much lesser?

1. Yes, true Pompey get the entire £17m, but do Pompey have to pay Johnson some sort of a severance package or a loyalty bonus for agreeing to the transfer? So does it come from the £17m?

No. The player left even before his contract was running out. The player is only entitled to a loyalty bonus if he fulfils the length of his contract, but Johnson was entitled to severance package. In this case, Pompey and Johnson will sort this out on their own, LFC is not involved because it is written in Pompey's contract terms with Johnson.

2. Mascherano deal of £18.6m included his four year wages, so does it mean that the actual amount payable to MSI was much lesser?

I don't know if the Masch deal included the wages, but since you said it, then yes, less money goes to MSI.