To What Extent Has the Price of Footballers Changed in the Past Decade Through the Eyes of the Manager?

Has the price of footballers of the same quality increased in the past decade? This essay will explore the different factors that impact managers in particular when buying players and how this has affected the prices paid for players over the last ten years.

Football started in 1863 when rugby football and association football separated and the Football Association in England was formed. Football has slowly grown as a sport since then, but in the last ten years, it has become more of a business with more focus on areas like shirt sales and sponsorship. Probably the most significant factor affecting the game has been TV money that has massively increased the ability of clubs to pay big sums for players. This change has changed the culture in football too: “The trouble for today’s footballers is they have too many distractions. We used to get our old players coming to watch training with football magazines in their hands. Now, more often than not, they are checking the share prices” Franz Beckenbauer, German footballer and manager . Fans are also expressing their concerns by demonstrating against high ticket prices, as many people cannot afford to go to matches.

How does a football club in the modern day sign a professional contracted player? A football transfer is when a football club is interested in another football club’s player leading to them buying that player. The buying club pays the player’s club a transfer fee. The fee shows how much the player is worth in the buyer’s eyes. Once they agree on a fee, the buying club then negotiates with the player to agree their wages. This is how much the player gets payed each week. Player wages can be very high and often makes up a very large part of the overall transfer deal. For example, in 2015-16 Chelsea topped the salary table with a total of £216m that is 63% of the club’s total revenue . If everything is agreed, the player then has to complete a medical conducted by the buying club’s medical staff to see if he is fit to play. After the player passes the medical and all the terms are finalised, and the club announces the signing of the player to the media. There are also other ways of signing players, for example a loan deal or a player swap. However, I am only considering permanent signings when discussing transfer prices.

The transfer window has become increasingly competitive over the years because managers are always trying to increase the strength of their squads. Transfers are becoming a news event in their own right as fans watch to see who has signed for what club.

The 2014/2015 season was the biggest transfer