Transfer fees: where on Earth do they come from and how do we know they are right?
One of the benefits of the groundbreaking Playrs platform is the ability to accurately evaluate any given footballer. In the footballing world, this tool will prove most useful when negotiating and evaluating transfer fees. When Liverpool agree to pay Monaco 50,000,000 Euros for the rights to Brazilian midfielder Fabinho, how do they or we (the fans) know that this number is a fair representation of Fabinho’s worth? The short answer is, no one really knows. This is a glaring problem that Playrs has set out to remedy. Lets delve into the ebbs and flows of transfer fees and discuss a few examples.
We are going to highlight a few cases where the ‘incorrect’ amount was paid for the transfer of a player from one club to another. Lets start with a comparison of Fabinho, a 24-year old defensive midfielder for Liverpool, and N’golo Kante, a 27-year old defensive midfielder for Chelsea. Liverpool paid AS Monaco, Fabinho’s former club, 50,000,000 Euros for the rights to sign the Brazilian. N’golo Kante moved from Leicester City to Chelsea for a price of 36,4000,00 Euros. Most would agree that these prices do not truly reflect the ability of each player- N’golo Kante is widely regarded as one of the best defensive midfielders in the Premier League. Simply put, Kante would come before Fabinho for most gaffers when picking a side. No more proof is needed than the fact that Kante is starting in France’s engine room in the World Cup while Fabinho was not selected for Brazil’s squad to represent them in Russia. Yet Fabinho moved for almost 15,000,000 Euros more than Kante. While paying the amount that Chelsea did for Kante is simply good business, one can be easily frustrated by the parity and volatility of the transfer market in this instance.
Lets look at another offseason move in the Premier League. Last summer, Colombian central defender Davinson Sanchez left Eredivise powerhouse Ajax for Tottenham Hotspur. The fee paid for Sanchez, who was 21-years old at the time, was just under 48,000,000 Euro. Sanchez went on to feature in 31 Premier League matches as well as make 10 Champions League appearances. Any Spurs fan will tell you that Sanchez was pure class for them this season and that the 48,000,000 spent on him was very much a steal. Sanchez is now featuring in the World Cup for the Colombian National team, who are in the mix for a bid to the knockout phase. Compare Sanchez, who by every metric appears to be outperforming his price tag, to Virgil Van Dijk of Liverpool. Van Dijk joined Liverpool from Southampton for near double Sanchez’s moving fee. To be utterly clear, Van Dijk had a very good season for Liverpool. But the point of this comparison is this: is Van Dijk worth nearly double what Davinson Sanchez is worth? Color us skeptical.
There are many factors to determining a transfer price tag: market trends, position demand, and much more. But with Playrs innovative system, there is hope for creating a uniform way in which clubs can measure the real value of a player based on their performances using the most advanced statistics available. The football transfer market is a volatile place with enough nuances to make your head spin. Fans, clubs, and players alike would like nothing more than to see the prices paid for players reflect exactly what he is capable of on the pitch.
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