A first response to the news that Liverpool had signed Robbie Keane from Tottenham was what a good signing for the Reds. Regular viewers of the Fox Soccer Report will know that Keane is a long time favourite of mine. He is an exciting player that can create goals and score goals - many of them the memorable variety. What’s more he is a player that makes those around him better.

Teaming Keane with Torres in a Liverpool 4-4-2 seems logical but he does have the flexibility to play just behind the main striker on his own or in an attacking bank of three in a 4-2-3-1. (The contention that bringing Keane to Anfield somehow forces Gerrard to play wide right had me shaking my head - very different players playing normally in very different positions.)

Reaction number two was that Liverpool had agreed to pay Spurs a great deal of money to land Keane. The reported amount varies according to the source but it seems almost certain that it was north of $35M. Add on Keane’s wages and the total outlay will double over the next four years.
That is serious money even though transfer fees paid by English clubs are a product of the cash that oozes through the Premiership rather than a true reflection of the quality of players – call it the Premiership Premium.

Any assessment of a transfer is going to be purely subjective and perhaps the best we can do is to compare to other moves under the same market conditions. So when you read that Fulham is ready to pay close to $23M for Andy Johnson then Keane’s valuation may not be that far out of line.
Johnson (17 goals in 52 Premiership starts for Everton) is six months younger than Keane with three seasons of Premiership experience. Keane is going into his 11th Premiership season and has 105 Premiership goals (13 as a substitute) in 274 appearances (58 as a substitute).

In seven of the seasons the Irishman has hit double figures in England’s top flight. Consider also that Everton paid around $17M and are looking to pocket a 33% for a striker who has generally been a disappointment in his stint at Goodison.

However, there was something else that crossed my mind and ultimately it had me questioning an element that has for years, been factored in to how we judge transfers – the age of the player.

The thought was that Liverpool paid a lot of money for a player that is 28-years-old. Paying a transfer fee not that dissimilar last summer for 23-year-old Fernando Torres made sense - Liverpool could expect to get eight or nine years out of Torres. In the case of Keane however, four years and maybe just a little bit more.

And sure enough in the papers and on websites there were a number of pundits making the same point – at Keane’s age the sell-on fee -  should he move - would be next to nothing. For decades that has been the received wisdom – the age of the player impacts the transfer fee because you are buying an asset that becomes available for resale should the club so desire. The younger the player the higher the premium because the resale value will be higher than for a player the wrong side of 27 or 28.

But is this still true or are we failing to take into consideration that the football world is operating under very different rules than it was decades ago. Newcastle player George Eastham put a stake through the heart of the “retain and transfer system” in the early sixties although it took another 15 years before more liberal freedom-of-contract provisions kicked in.

Even then it took until the 1995 Bosman ruling to truly allow players to sell their skills to the highest bidder and to benefit exclusively once a contract had been fulfilled. Since then the “Webster ruling” has expanded player’s rights further by allowing players under contract to give notice and to buy out the remainder of the contract after serving a fixed period based upon age.

The bottom line is that if a 24-year-old signs a four year contract and a 28-year-old does the same thing then both players are free and clear at the conclusion of their deals. Serve out the contracted period and the club has no transfer coming to them whatsoever. Both are even free to buy-out their contracts before the end of the contracted period.

What it adds up to is that if any of the top clubs are factoring in a premium based on a perceived sell-on value they are kidding themselves. Eventually the clubs, the players and the agents are going to realize that the Transfer Emperor is stark naked and that players are operating costs not assets.

The fact that no one to date has aggressively exploited the leeway granted by rulings and changes to regulations over the last decade and a half is more an indication of how inherently conservative the football industry actually is.   



“Retain and Transfer”
A system finally found to be illegal in 1963 after George Eastham and the PFA took the owners to court. Under “retain and transfer” a club could retain a player’s registration as long as the club offered to maintain his wages at the previously contracted level. A player who disputed the wages on offer or who wanted a transfer had no option than to sign on as unemployed or pursue another career. The courts finally found the system to be a restraint of trade.

“Freedom of Contract”
In the late seventies players were finally allowed to leave a club at the end of their contract. But as long as the present club offered wages the same as the previous contract them the club was entitled to a transfer fee. If the clubs could not agree then a tribunal stepped in and set a transfer fee based on the market.

“Bosman ruling”
A Belgian player, Jean-Marc Bosman, was transferred listed at the conclusion of his contract and an excessive fee was asked by the club. Bosman took his case to the European Court of Justice and the court ruled in Bosman’s favour. The ruling granted players complete freedom of movement at the conclusion of their contract with the no transfer fee payable to the former club.

“Webster ruling”
Andy Webster of Hearts became the first player to use a then little known provision in FIFA transfer regulations that allowed players to give notice of termination after serving a set period of time with their contracted club. The notice comes with a damages provision payable by the player and can be exercised by a player under-28 after serving three years of a contract and for players 28 and over the time served is reduced to two years.

This is the place to post your questions or thoughts and I will do my best to respond later in the week. Here are a few subjects that you mind want to comment on.

The Tevez and Mascherano transfer continues to be a source of discussion and controversy. It seems that the “big” clubs were offered the Argentine pair but baulked at the contract conditions. It is also interesting that of the “big” clubs who were offered the players, the only team commenting on the situation is Manchester United.

As mysterious as the transfer of Tevez and Mascherano to West Ham United is, why would United supposedly be willing to pay $35M for Owen Hargreaves (a player available on a Bosman transfer for part of last season) and pass on Mascherano who is already three times the player Hargreaves is – and four years younger.

Here is an article by Alex Bellos on Kia Joorabchian who is now attracting publicity like Paris Hilton attracts photographers.

With talk of a West Ham takeover David Bond looks at the how the latest move to buy a Premiership team is raising the level of concern of many. It seems small potatoes given the goings on over the last few days but tucked away in today’s headlines is something that will have far wider repercussions. Andy Webster has successfully invoked a previously unused clause in FIFA’s transfer regulations that allows a player to move to another club by giving adequate notice at the end of the third year of a longer contract by giving his notice within 15 days of the last match of the season. FIFA adopted the new regulation 17 in 2005 to stay onside of the EU’s concerns. By the way he has joined Wigan from Hearts.

Fernando Torres has reportedly signed a one year contract extension that will keep him at Atletico Madrid until 2009. More importantly for Atletico it means that they have reestablished some value in the player and can sell him next summer for a substantial fee.

Former Inter Milan and Italian great Giacinto Facchetti has died at the age of 64 after a short but serious illness. Facchetti was at the time of his death the President of Inter.  Facchetti was the “contradiction” of the great Inter team of the mid-sixties. While Coach Helenio Herrera may have perfected – not as extensively reported invented – the catenaccio system Facchetti became the poster-boy for overlapping full backs. During his career at Inter he averaged around a goal every six game. He also captained Italy 70 times in 94 appearances. Coming up in the next few days we have Jamaica playing Canada in Montreal today in a CONCACAF friendly, Euro 2008 qualifying continues with Italy traveling to Paris to play France in Group B.