“You have never seen so many top players getting dizzy”

The pandemic continues to wreak havoc. Players in the world of football are trying to haggle over the crisis in a market marked by lack of liquidity. The greats have already moved to sign free footballers like him Kun Aguero, Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia or David praise, but now comes the most complicated task: lightening the squad of footballers -with pre-pademic salaries- who are not for the work of packing.

During this season, the greats – except for Barça, which managed to agree on a postponement – have been forced to negotiate a salary reduction with the players. Conditions that must continue to be addressed this summer. “It will be a window marked by the cards of freedom, the exchanges and the transfers of opportunity. There will be a little more budget, but the clubs need to save very high chips. The new contracts will be with lower salaries than before “, explains the expert in the field Marc Menchén, director and founder of 2PlayBook.

“You have never seen so many top players getting dizzy, knowing that they will be released next year. The Eurocup and the Premier will animate the market and perhaps that will affect Spanish football as a rebound, where there will also be some important sales such as that of Koundé. The big problem is going to be the big ones, who are tied to these contracts. The rest of the clubs will be able to avoid it better and even some, such as Levante, can make cash with the sales of Bardhi and De Frutos “, he develops Menchén, which recalls that one of the options to be able to move in the market is a capital increase like the one that the Athletic.

Beyond that extension, there are the usual options: Salary reductions accepted by both parties, letters of freedom, assignment negotiating the salary with the two clubs, cheaper departures than expected … As happened with Luis Suárez last year, this year the greats could and in some cases will need to say goodbye to men of weight like Bale, Varane, Isco, Marcelo, Saúl, Coutinho, Pjanic, Umtiti, Braithwaite and even Griezmann or Dembélé. “It’s time to negotiate, negotiate and negotiate. And that’s it,” he advances Joan Gaspart, who was doing it for almost three decades in ‘Can Barça’.

“The clubs are going to have to give outings and, despite what some may think, they want to play. It was seen last year with Suárez. It is not true that they are nickels; they are professionals. They want to earn money, but also play. If you tell him very clearly that he is not going to play, he assumes it and does everything on his part to leave. They have to know that there is no better option for them than to sell them, assign them or give them the letter of freedom. Not all payrolls will be able to pay“, warns the azulgrana, who recognizes that this gesture of sincerity before the footballer must be made by the coach, the technical director or even, if necessary, the president and his board.

“In my time I had two flashy ones. Laudrup came practically free because Juve did not want him to continue. To Rivaldo, who had high costs, we had to give him almost for free because the coach did not have him. You know that when you let him go, the price goes down, but you have to be very honest: from Madrid and Barça nobody wants to leave and nobody leaves. Above all, the rest of the clubs know that you do not have it and it is cheaper, so you face the most complicated negotiations that can be had, “he insists.

A nuanced tactic

“I do not entirely agree with Joan, because telling the player that he is not available is not enough. Even if you tell him that he is not going to play, the footballer continues to trust himself because he knows that the season is long. various competitions and may take minutes. Telling him that he is not going to play is not an argument, but it must be said if it is true“, he points out Miguel Angel Portugal, who worked in the technical area of ​​Madrid and who sees it easier to place young people before veterans -such as Marcelo or Bale– who are in the final stretch of their careers.

“The footballer does not pay much attention to this, but is guided more by the status he considers he has and by the place of a possible exit. If you find a clear option that you like and meet your expectations, you will leave, but if it does not, you will stay. They have their ego and their pride. As much as you indicate the exit and explain to him that he will be given all the facilities in recognition of his previous work, he has to see it clearly, “explains the Burgos.

That lack of agreement between the club and the footballer when it comes to lowering the salary or looking for a way out -transfer or transfer- can lead to higher stress situations. In full tension, each part has its own tools. “Before it was less strict than now. Players were directly separated with more or less dissimulation and removed from the dynamics. Marcelo Bielsa wanted to put several Athletic players aside, but he couldn’t. Someone from the coaching staff had to tell him that you couldn’t do that. The normal thing in these cases is that they send you to go around the field, to warm up the goalkeepers … “, he explains David Lopez, ex-lion that this course has played in Eldense and is part of AFE.

“The second year Bielsa did not want me, although I did want to continue. The club got down to work to give me a way out. Several proposals appeared, but they would not let me leave because they wanted financial compensation. In the end, on the last day of the market, my contract was terminated. Luckily I found a way out at Brighton, but I could have run out of equipment“says the Rioja, who remembers that it is very difficult for them to give you the freedom letter.” Fortunately, thanks to the work that is being done in AFE, they can no longer separate you, because they are preventing you from exercising your right to have an option to play on equal terms. ”

The ‘Albelda case’ changed everything

Regarding the players who are removed, the regulations changed in part after the ‘Albelda case’. David suffered the scorn of Koeman in Mestalla. “They are painful situations, but for the future it worked. A club cannot let you down. They have the obligation to get you a license and then a good or as little bad exit as possible will be negotiated for all parties. Of course, if the club wants to always look for a way to keep you apart or discontent. They have many weapons. In my case they removed us from the call three days before them: Cañizares, Angulo and I“, explains the Valencian, who experienced some ugly episode but not all those that have been seen in football: not being able to enter the dressing room or the stadium, having the parking space taken away, harmful leaks, dozens of sessions almost alone and without the ball … Episodes that, luckily, are no longer so common, much less in big clubs.

“It is complicated, but if the player has a strong posture it can also put the club in trouble. Although they can put you in the trigger activating various formulas, such as leaving you badly in the press, so that you have to go. In my case there was also a sports problem. Bad results were given. But finally they threw Koeman out, another coach came and I had the opportunity to play some good last games, “he recalls.

In order to Ángel Rodríguez, lawyer for the AFE, This case was important but not the only or the last: “There are many sentences on the release letter. Albelda there have also been other cases. As for the footballers, as theirs is a collective sport, what the courts have been holding is that any player who is taken away from the dynamics is being seriously harmed, because he cannot exercise under the orders of the coach. He is not in the same conditions as the rest of his teammates in order to be able to play the competition and that is considered discriminatory treatment, a lack of effective occupation. It continues to be seen, although in a residual way. The player can only train separately or with a physical trainer if there is a justified cause such as injury. “The case of coaches is different from that of footballers, since they can be dismissed from their role as first team coaches and relocate them within the structure. This is what the board of directors of Bartomeu with the Setién team, with whom he did not cut his immediate relationship in a maneuver that ended in court.

Another of the changes made in recent times is that there are hardly any dismissals coming. “We make sure from AFE to speak with the footballers so that in the contracts they sign they indicate in a clause that, to terminate the contract, there must be a negotiation between both parties. If they could not kick you out and collect the days that the law marks“, says López. Of course, now the clubs can take advantage of ERTES to carry out layoffs. What several agents explain is precisely that, that this summer there will be a record of layoffs, even without the need to take advantage of ERTES.

Layoffs and other variants

“There is no hard dollar and, if the clubs cannot reach agreements, they will fire some of their players. We are going to see this in the greats because there are no letters of freedom for everyone. Players can have a clause in their contract that says that if they are fired, they must pay them everything, but then it will be a judge who decides if they are. If there is a dismissal, the club saves money because it is paid in net. The normal thing is that, in the act of conciliation, an agreement is reached. And the players are not interested in suing a club because that footprint remains for the future and can cause other entities not to sign them, “says an agent with more than 20 years of experience.

In order to get rid of footballers, clubs also have other formulas. In most cases there is a release clause when there is a demotion. Thus, a team that goes down to Second does not have to be forced to continue signing a card that is too high for its new claims. Also, when there are liquidity problems, they can be offered to remain linked to the entity at the end of the contract, in order to renegotiate the terms and save time. And there are even situations where, if the situation and the law allow it, it is sought to render them disabled to save part of the emoluments. Many of these variants will be shown again during a summer in which the art of trading will be more current than ever. As it says Gaspart, “It is not always the richest or the smartest who win, but the one who knows better how to move.”