Free players with contracts: the prisoner behind the difficult decision to break with the club

The case Bosman changed the contractual terms of football. Based on the Belgian striker’s request, the clubs lost their right to compensation at the end of the relationship. Players could trade as free agents on their own. It was the first battle the leaders have lost and there was a transfer boom in the mid-1990s.

In this situation the famous 20% law was also applied which allowed teams to pay that percentage of salary for two years until the player’s contract ended. abolished. And around these hours, right at the start of the professional league, There are not a few clubs that are going through situations of conflict with their players. Produced by the regulation of the Zurich-based multinational baseball corporation, six months before the expiration of the written agreement, there are moments of put under tension.

The hottest situations are experienced in San Lorenzo and Huracán with Federico Gattoni AND Luca Merolla. And now the foam has subsided, but also had its tension in Boca with the controversial departure of Augustine Rossi. With the fresh background of Augustine Almond, who has been separated since January last year and will leave in July with the pass in his possession for Rayo Vallecano. River lived it with Fabrizio Angileri AND Benjamin Rollheiser. In Racing the same situation is yet to be seen matías rojas. Also, Argentinos Juniors with Matko Miljevic, which ended up in the MLS. And it happens to Banfield, who has hung up John Manuel Cruz AND Gregory Tancowho are currently training with the Reserve.

low complaints

Why do these situations repeat themselves, more and more frequent in local football? Who is guilty? Do leaders fall asleep? Do players take advantage of it? Reps and family fill the head?

The men who run the clubs know this today they have few tools against current legislation. After all, the trend is worldwide. According to the report made by the KPMG company last year, there has been a historic increase in the top five leagues of 22% in free agent signings.

Obviously in here Argentinawe have other problems that don’t afflict the first world or neighboring countries: shares, galloping inflation, different exchange rates, a situation that invites players to look for other destinations.

Leaders consulted by clarion they prefer anonymity. However, everyone agrees that “the player has the power”.

He scrolls one: “Today he is your player as long as the contract lasts, it is an unfavorable situation for clubs, when they want to be transferred, you have to sell them. And there are two enemies: the environment, the family and the foreign representative”.

What do they mean by “external representative”? It’s about that agent who has only one player and wants to save with him. Juan Cruz Oller, one of the businessmen at the forefront, describes it: “There are more and more of them and the deals they make are fabulous, they end up investing pesos to then cash in euros”.

Other leaders don’t look for scapegoats in representatives. One of those questioned about the problem, who works as a football coach in an inland institution, underlines: “There is no single culprit, there is a system that leads clubs to become increasingly defenseless”. And he differentiates: “A young man is not like a player you bought.”

Like a new car that already has some mileage, clubs try to amortize the costs of the footballer they bought the pass for at the time. A witness case is that of Augustine Rossi. Boca acquired the archer’s briefcase for 750,000 dollars that Estudiantes received and five years later, after failing to reach a common point, it was loaned to Al-Nassr of Saudi Arabia to $1,500,000. After several negotiations, the Football Council preferred to win something instead of remaining deaf after the goalkeeper’s decision to sign a pre-contract with Flamengo. The experience of Almendra, already reflected, and the situation of Christian Peacock, to cite another emblematic case in Brandsen 805, prompted Juan Román Riquelme to take this decision. It was useless to send him to mow the lawns at Casa Amarilla.

What elements do clubs have to combat this type of situation? “You have to convince the player not to shit on you”says another seasoned manager. Some try to upgrade the contract a year or two before it expires. The Mitjevic case in Argentinos marks a defeat for the player. He walked free, when he could have kept 15% of a potential $5 million payout. But there are few who look at the whole picture. The money – green, of course – is there and the clubs don’t have much room to seduce.

Merolla requested the transfer and did not play for Huracán last night. He could end up in Latvia, first, and then in Cyprus: he would go on loan to Riga to end up at Paphos from July. This despite Boca’s interest. In other times it would be unthinkable for a player to lean towards a fourth-rate championship. But what he seeks is the benefit of change. And here, you know, it’s hard to get dollars.