Европын хөлбөмбөгийн клубүүд тоглогчдын гэрээг худалдан авахдаа АНУ-ын спортын лигүүдээс ялгаатай, илүү төвөгтэй бөгөөд өрсөлдөөнт зарчмыг баримталдаг.
Европын клубүүд зун болон нэгдүгээр сард нээгддэг хоёрхон удаагийн шилжилт хөдөлгөөний цонхны үеэр тоглогчдыг бүрэлдэхүүндээ нэгтгэдэг. Энэ үйл явц нь тамирчдын цалин болон гэрээний нөхцөлөөс тусдаа, клуб хоорондын тохиролцоонд суурилсан өндөр дүнтэй төлбөрөөр хийгддэг. Премьер лигийн хувьд багуудын зарцуулалт нь орлого болон тоглогчдын наймааны ашигтай шууд холбоотой байдаг “Squad Cost Ratio” дүрмээр зохицуулагддаг.
Тоглогчид өөрсдийн гэрээний хүрээнд шилжилт хөдөлгөөнд оролцох эрхтэй байдаг нь Америкийн спортын лигүүдийн тамирчдаас ялгаатай давуу тал юм. Шилжилт хөдөлгөөний цонх хаагдах сүүлийн 24 цагт клубүүд бүрэлдэхүүнээ нөхөх гэсэн яаруу шийдвэрүүдээс үүдэн зах зээлийн үнэлгээнээс өндөр үнээр тоглогч авах эрсдэлтэй тулгардаг. Килиан Мбаппегийн ПСЖ-ээс Реал Мадрид руу үнэгүй шилжсэн жишээ нь клубүүд гэрээний хугацааг хэрхэн анхаарах ёстойг харуулсан томоохон сургамж болсон юм.
Премьер лигийн хоёрдугаар тойргийн хүрээнд Манчестер Сити Кристал Пэласыг 4-1, Манчестер Юнайтед Ипсвич Тауныг 5-2-ын харьцаатай тус тус буулган авлаа. Мөн Челси Брайтон энд Хоув Альбионыг 4-3-аар хожсон бол Ливерпүүл болон Ноттингем Форест 2-2-оор тэнцсэн үр дүнг үзүүлсэн байна. Ирэх долоо хоногт гуравдугаар тойргийн тоглолтууд үргэлжлэн явагдах бөгөөд Арсенал болон Челсигийн тоглолт олон нийтийн анхаарлын төвд байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Did you enjoy this summer’s World Cup? Are you curious about the soccer world beyond that tournament? Welcome to The Athletic’s Soccer Weekender. All fans are welcome, as we’ll be tackling the big topics from every weekend of action, and the funniest moments, weird histories, meaningful stories you may have missed and more. Today: We unpack how transfers can become a soap opera, one of the biggest transfer “misses” in recent memory and highlight the best of our Messi and Haaland reads.
“I have a dumb question,” reads the Slack message from a sharp NBA reporter who will remain unnamed to protect all who ask dumb brave questions.
“It won’t be dumb, my man. Hit me,” replies a soccer columnist.
“The transfer fee for Bradley Barcola to Liverpool is 100 million,” the NBA guy writes. “That just goes to the club, right? We’re not even talking his salary? I’ve been too embarrassed to ask.”
Embarrassed or not, he is, in essence, correct! (No dumb questions, etc.)
Every year, European soccer clubs spend hundreds of millions of dollars in a last-minute frenzy. Why? Because we’re very near to transfer deadline day.
This pocket of time in Europe makes U.S. sports trades look sleepy. Practically rustic.
And yes, when you see a “£[BIG NUMBER] MILLION” headline in European soccer transfer news? It’s all just a fee for doing business. The players negotiate their wages with their new club totally separately from that — and they might get a cut depending on their contract at the team they’re moving from or to, while agents often take a percentage. But the majority of that number is just team to team.
In U.S. sports, trade headlines are about how much money a player just cashed in on. Trades mean that teams are making a swap: For players, money, draft picks, etc. And these trades can happen during most of the season and preseason up until the trade deadline. Sometimes a blockbuster trade does happen on deadline day, sparking hysterical meltdowns on X.com, but typically most of the big ones have already been inked.
Cody Gakpo could be one of the bigger movers on deadline day (George Wood/Getty Images)
The big day for leagues like the NFL and NBA is draft day, when the worst teams in the league get to select the best incoming talent. (Because in a meritocracy like America, it just makes sense to award the teams that failed… wait…)
Unlike U.S. sports, overseas football/soccer teams can only buy players during two official “transfer windows,” one in the summer, and a frantic fix-it window in January.
And transfers are Built Different. Forget everything you know about American trades; here are the transfer window basics you might be wondering…
The Premier League has no salary cap (technically)
What of parity? What of justice? Well, if you’re not a supporter of a ‘Big Six’ club — the six most financially powerful teams — you might say nobody gives a toss about fair play!
There is an official answer: Squad Cost Ratio (SCR).
Under the SCR rules, introduced this season, a club’s total on-pitch spending — which includes player wages, amortized transfer fees and agent/intermediary costs, etc. — is tied directly to that individual club’s generated revenue and player trading profits.
The set rate is 85 percent, but for clubs that play in Europe (meaning they were good enough to qualify for a European tournament), that percentage reduces to 70. This, though, is because of a slightly different rule from another governing body, not a way of leveling the playing field.
It’s more complicated than that, but them’s the general rules.
Soccer also has no draft picks
Instead, young talent develops in club academies.
The teams that perform the worst don’t get rewarded with a good draft pick; they get dumped into a lower league.
Straight player-for-player swaps are super rare
Instead, Club A pays Club B a transfer fee just to release the player, essentially buying out the rest of the player’s contract.
The player negotiates a new contract with their new club, with a new contract length, a new salary, new additional clauses and plenty more.
In practice, this gives soccer players a lot more agency than U.S. athletes, who can get traded without their say
(Sorry, James Harden.) Some players may agitate for moves (like Ollie Watkins just did successfully from Aston Villa to a Saudi team) or even refuse to leave a club, even after the clubs have agreed to a transfer. The player has veto power.
Transfer agreements will often include clauses which say Club A will have to pay more if the player wins the Champions League, World Cup, Ballon d’Or, World’s Strongest Man, etc.
In the words of The Athletic’s Phil Hay: “It’s stupidly complex. But interestingly, the cost of wages is what kills a club. That’s what they have to control most of all.”
Deadline day can lead to massive overpays, too, as desperation to fill a gap can lead clubs to spend more than a player is worth on paper.
Clubs are doing deals with teams across global leagues
It’s not just inside one league; players are being passed across the world. That’s a lot of paperwork.
Premier League teams in England are making transfer deals with La Liga in Spain, Ligue 1 in France, Serie A in Italy or beyond. Arsenal signed a player from the Belgian league this summer, for example, and he’s already doing well.
Timing is everything
A player’s price tag depends on how much time is left on their contract (oh, and that small thing of whether they’re any good). If they have four years left, they are more expensive, but if they only have six months left, their value plummets because they could run down their contract and leave as a free agent for zero transfer fee.
That’s a nightmare scenario for a club.
Here’s a soap-operatic example for you: Kylian Mbappe played for the elite French club Paris Saint-Germain for seven seasons, but it was an open secret he wanted to play for Real Madrid, his childhood favorite club.
Why soccer transfers are so different from trades in U.S. sports
Hannah Vanbiber and Reuben Pinder
PSG and Mbappe stayed together … until 2024. In 2022, Mbappe was announced as signing a contract until 2025, but it was technically a two-year contract with a one-year extension clause. Mbappe refused the extension in summer 2024 and went to Real Madrid for “free,” meaning PSG got nothing.
Ice cold.
On the flip side, one reason Mbappe may have stayed with PSG so long was in hope of winning the Champions League, something that still eludes him. Irony? He went to Real Madrid the year after the Spanish team won the Champions League, and then the NEXT year his old club PSG won it without him. (And then won it again.)
That’s an example of how a club that doesn’t keep its eye on the ball might lose a superstar without getting anything for them.
Kylian Mbappe left PSG for Madrid for free (Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP via Getty Images)
So, if this is such an important moment, why wait until the final 24 hours?
It’s a good question. There are answers:
- It’s a standoff! Clubs are holding out for the best possible deal as the clock runs down.
- But then there’s the panic domino: As soon as one club pays up, it triggers a chain reaction across Europe. Teams scramble to find replacements before the clock hits zero.
Pure, unadulterated capitalist chaos.
Which system do you prefer? American trades or European transfers? Let us know in the comments.
By the way, The Athletic will be live throughout transfer deadline day — stick with us if you want to know everything that goes on.
Around the league
Week 2 scores
[Quick key for newbies: The first team listed is the home team]
- Crystal Palace 1-4 Manchester City
- Liverpool 2-2 Nottingham Forest
- Bournemouth 1-1 Everton
- Coventry City 0-1 Hull City
- Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Newcastle United
- Chelsea 4-3 Brighton & Hove Albion
- Leeds United 1-1 Brentford
- Sunderland 1-0 Fulham
- Manchester United 5-2 Ipswich Town
Arsenal travels to Aston Villa in the final game of the Premier League weekend. That is on Monday at 8 p.m. BST/ 3 p.m. ET on the USA Network.
Week 3 fixtures (games) — and where to watch them in the U.S.
Friday, September 4
- Ipswich Town vs. Liverpool, 8 p.m. BST / 3 p.m. ET
Saturday, September 5
- Newcastle United vs. Bournemouth, 12:30 p.m. BST / 7:30 a.m. ET
- Brentford vs. Sunderland, 3 p.m. BST / 10 a.m. ET
- Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Leeds United, 3 p.m. BST / 10 a.m. ET
- Fulham vs. Crystal Palace, 3 p.m. BST / 10 a.m. ET
- Manchester City vs. Coventry City, 3 p.m. BST / 10 a.m. ET
- Nottingham Forest vs. Tottenham Hotspur, 3 p.m. BST / 10 a.m. ET
- Hull City vs. Aston Villa, 5:30 p.m. BST / 12:30 p.m. ET
Sunday, September 6
- Everton vs. Manchester United, 2 p.m. BST / 9 a.m. ET
- Arsenal vs. Chelsea, 4:30 p.m. BST / 11:30 a.m. ET
All Premier League games are broadcast in the U.S. on Peacock/NBCSN/NBC or the USA Network, with specifics confirmed later this week.
