The Bosman ruling - where players are free to move when their contracts expire - is approaching its 25-year anniversary and here football agent Scott Smith, of Raps Management, explains how they happen.
Q: When do agents and players start thinking about a Bosman?
It probably comes into play in year three of a five-year deal, you start thinking about how things are moving forward. If everyone is happy it is a case of signing a new contract. At that point other clubs know how long you’ve got on a deal and the existing club will be doing everything they can to get you on a new one or accept they could lose the player on a free transfer in two years.
Q: How are you meeting clubs post-Covid?
A: There are a lot more calls but there are socially distanced meetings as well. We’re capable of sitting down with people while wearing masks and being two metres apart. When we meet our players we speak outdoors, two metres apart with masks and gloves. It sounds like we are going into surgery but we are taking every precaution. When we’ve met chairmen it has been in boardrooms but with one end of each table rather than next to each other. We’ve found there is a willingness to work at the moment. There are differences in Europe. In Italy you do the deal and at midnight you go out for dinner. That tends to be across Europe where deals tend to run later into the night.
Q: Is there a worry about placing players this summer in the current financial climate?
A: Yes, slightly, a bit more. There is always going to be a level where players are going to be required. The advice from our side is that if you have something on the table, take and keep your career moving in the right direction and then let’s reassess in a year’s time. Our job is to make sure our players are looked after and the last thing I would advise them is to not sign a deal and then in six months’ time be out of contract without a club. It is slowly going back to normal.
Q: Who could benefit from less spending this summer?
A: We work with young players and find a lot of clubs are showing good faith in their contracts as they want to nurture homegrown talent as there might not be the money this summer to buy a £30million or £40m player. It could be the best thing to happen for English football. If we think this is a golden generation of young players with Trent [Alexander-Arnold], Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, and the next generation could be even better because there is a lot of homegrown nurtured talent that will be given opportunities. You’re going to see clubs with great management structures bringing talent through like Leicester have been fantastic at. You look at their left side with Harvey Barnes and Ben Chilwell.
Q: What clauses do you ask for?
A: There are individual bonuses. Clubs have a structure around the team, negotiated by the captain or representative with the chairman. Every club is different but they usually have a structure in place anyway. Sitting down with the player, the core part of the negotiation has to be the salary as that will protect their family and will be their livelihood beyond their career if they are retiring at 35. There is a lot of money in football but there are 50 years after they stop playing. You look at signing-on fees and bonus structure, but the salary is the core. The clauses are as flexible as everyone is willing to be. A player always wants the best deal for themselves and if there is movement it will be down the club side, rather than the player saying, ‘I’m not signing unless you do x, y or z’.
Q: Do clubs call on January 1, the day they are allowed to talk about a pre-contract with a player whose contract is expiring?
A: In the deals we’ve been involved in, you want to know before January 1 what is going on. You don’t want to go in without a sense of what’s happening for your player’s sake. If you look at the Alexis Sanchez and Henrikh Mkhitaryan swap, one player had a running down and the clubs came to an agreement that was best for all parties.
Q: Did it surprise you that players refused to extend during Project Restart?
A: I was pleased to see that a lot of players didn’t hesitate to sign new deals for an extra six weeks, a lot of players showed loyalty, which will hopefully give a better reputation than has preceded them. What would happen to these players if they signed a six-week contract and did their ACL? Some players didn’t show loyalty because maybe they weren’t shown loyalty themselves beforehand, if they were told they were leaving and then asked to sign a short-term deal to help the club. I can understand why some didn’t.
Q: How do negotiations differ from a permanent deal?
A: Financially there is more freedom because there is no transfer fee. That is not to say there is no £20m fee so that money goes to the player and the agent. There is more freedom because there is more flexibility on the budget. Saving on the transfer fee, they can afford to offer a higher amount. In the agency world you are working on behalf of the buying club, selling club or player - so that part of the negotiation stays the same really.
Q: Are there more incentives in a free?
A: The reality is those things are made more possible in a free transfer. Having said that there are no guarantees on what you are offered, but if you have a superstar coming to the end of their contract, you can afford to pay a bigger signing-on fee and technically be in profit.
Q: How does it play out when two or more clubs are competing for a player?
A: If you’re working with the buying club, you’ll be told pretty much first. If you are not, and you’re involved with the player and hearing from the selling club, you’ll often get a call from the selling club saying they have an offer that they are going to accept or negotiate. You definitely know before it comes out on Sky Sports News, unless you are doing something wrong.
Q: How long do they take?
A: Some deals will be a phone call on Tuesday and it will be done by Thursday. Some deals will be a call in January 2018 and they are still not done in January 2019. It is a process and in some scenarios the agreements are very quick but then you have other examples where players have not been able to find the right move for him. If you’re face to face with someone it is much easier than phoning.
I’m sure he has a club but to save negative PR in the close season it’s being kept under wraps for a day it can filter out when there’s bigger news in the football world this summer
Comments
I hope he ends up playing for a shit team on no more money than he would have got at Charlton
it would appear clubs now have tighter pockets and players who have been dicks to previous employers might not be sought get after
1 goal would have been enough Lyle. 1 goal
karma is a bitch
How do football transfers work when players are out of contract? An agent reveals all
The coronavirus pandemic has had a big impact on the transfer market but the fact remains that for free agents, the salary is all important
The Bosman ruling - where players are free to move when their contracts expire - is approaching its 25-year anniversary and here football agent Scott Smith, of Raps Management, explains how they happen.
Q: When do agents and players start thinking about a Bosman?
It probably comes into play in year three of a five-year deal, you start thinking about how things are moving forward. If everyone is happy it is a case of signing a new contract. At that point other clubs know how long you’ve got on a deal and the existing club will be doing everything they can to get you on a new one or accept they could lose the player on a free transfer in two years.
Q: How are you meeting clubs post-Covid?
Q: Is there a worry about placing players this summer in the current financial climate?
A: Yes, slightly, a bit more. There is always going to be a level where players are going to be required. The advice from our side is that if you have something on the table, take and keep your career moving in the right direction and then let’s reassess in a year’s time. Our job is to make sure our players are looked after and the last thing I would advise them is to not sign a deal and then in six months’ time be out of contract without a club. It is slowly going back to normal.
Q: Who could benefit from less spending this summer?
A: We work with young players and find a lot of clubs are showing good faith in their contracts as they want to nurture homegrown talent as there might not be the money this summer to buy a £30million or £40m player. It could be the best thing to happen for English football. If we think this is a golden generation of young players with Trent [Alexander-Arnold], Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, and the next generation could be even better because there is a lot of homegrown nurtured talent that will be given opportunities. You’re going to see clubs with great management structures bringing talent through like Leicester have been fantastic at. You look at their left side with Harvey Barnes and Ben Chilwell.
A: There are individual bonuses. Clubs have a structure around the team, negotiated by the captain or representative with the chairman. Every club is different but they usually have a structure in place anyway. Sitting down with the player, the core part of the negotiation has to be the salary as that will protect their family and will be their livelihood beyond their career if they are retiring at 35. There is a lot of money in football but there are 50 years after they stop playing. You look at signing-on fees and bonus structure, but the salary is the core. The clauses are as flexible as everyone is willing to be. A player always wants the best deal for themselves and if there is movement it will be down the club side, rather than the player saying, ‘I’m not signing unless you do x, y or z’.
Q: Do clubs call on January 1, the day they are allowed to talk about a pre-contract with a player whose contract is expiring?
A: In the deals we’ve been involved in, you want to know before January 1 what is going on. You don’t want to go in without a sense of what’s happening for your player’s sake. If you look at the Alexis Sanchez and Henrikh Mkhitaryan swap, one player had a running down and the clubs came to an agreement that was best for all parties.
Q: Did it surprise you that players refused to extend during Project Restart?
A: I was pleased to see that a lot of players didn’t hesitate to sign new deals for an extra six weeks, a lot of players showed loyalty, which will hopefully give a better reputation than has preceded them. What would happen to these players if they signed a six-week contract and did their ACL? Some players didn’t show loyalty because maybe they weren’t shown loyalty themselves beforehand, if they were told they were leaving and then asked to sign a short-term deal to help the club. I can understand why some didn’t.
Q: How do negotiations differ from a permanent deal?
A: Financially there is more freedom because there is no transfer fee. That is not to say there is no £20m fee so that money goes to the player and the agent. There is more freedom because there is more flexibility on the budget. Saving on the transfer fee, they can afford to offer a higher amount. In the agency world you are working on behalf of the buying club, selling club or player - so that part of the negotiation stays the same really.
Q: Are there more incentives in a free?
A: The reality is those things are made more possible in a free transfer. Having said that there are no guarantees on what you are offered, but if you have a superstar coming to the end of their contract, you can afford to pay a bigger signing-on fee and technically be in profit.
Q: How does it play out when two or more clubs are competing for a player?
A: If you’re working with the buying club, you’ll be told pretty much first. If you are not, and you’re involved with the player and hearing from the selling club, you’ll often get a call from the selling club saying they have an offer that they are going to accept or negotiate. You definitely know before it comes out on Sky Sports News, unless you are doing something wrong.
Q: How long do they take?
A: Some deals will be a phone call on Tuesday and it will be done by Thursday. Some deals will be a call in January 2018 and they are still not done in January 2019. It is a process and in some scenarios the agreements are very quick but then you have other examples where players have not been able to find the right move for him. If you’re face to face with someone it is much easier than phoning.
https://www.castrust.org/2020/06/lyle-taylor-last-impressions-count/
Forest it is then