Page 3 - Soccer360 Issue 107

WHATEVER
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accounting periods running from July 1 to June 30 there’s a hard deadline to make sure you’re compliant. On June 28, Chelsea sold academy product Ian Maatsen to Villa for a reported £37.5m. The following day Omari Kellyman moved the other way for £19m. Both signed six-year deals, though thanks to a change in Premier League rules their fees can only be amortised over five. However, the deal would allow Villa to book a profit of £11.5m and Chelsea £33.7m.
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HAPPENED TO
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The all new V
WHEROES?
AFTER THE SUMMER
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hile a splashy and to Fulham. Conor Gallagher, who grew up exciting signing 10 minutes from Chelsea’s training ground will always get fans and joined the club aged eight was told in fired up, there’s no uncertain terms to accept a transfer or something even be frozen out, eventually moving to Atletico more special about Madrid. The midfielder captained the side the local kid done last season, while Smith Rowe has made good. over 100 appearances for the Gunners and is Think of Daniele still just 24. So...what gives?
De Rossi and Francesco Totti at Roma, To explain this phenomenon, we need
their connection to their hometown and
known as amortisation. What this means is
neither would qualify as being a ‘hometown
fans in the stands in a way no big money purchase could ever hope to match. Think back also to Alan Shearer, who in 1996 turned down Manchester United and Real Madrid in favour of his beloved Newcastle United. His goals couldn’t bring a single trophy to the Magpies, yet his statue will stand outside St James’ Park forevermore. Of course, if you’re playing at the very
top level it’s never going to be realistic
to pack your squad with local boys and
1967 European Cup winning side which
famously featured a squad born within
30 miles of their Parkhead home. But in
general, at the elite level, the hometown
depreciates over the life of the contract - if
way big clubs are coming to view their
youth team products - the chances of Sustainability Rules (PSR), FFP or whatever
compelled to sell players from the academy
that many world class players coming from such a small geographical area,
or one academy, are just too slim. Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona were an exception, as were the Class of ’92 and Celtic’s
it may be. To take the previous example, if Club X signed that hypothetical £10m
because of the rules. It’s all of the Premier
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player at the same time as selling one of their academy players for £10m they’d book a £7.5m profit across those two deals - the £10m fee minus the £2.5m for their new signing’s first year.
Basically Smith-Rowe, Gallagher, or any other youth team product is a quick-fix for compliance, meaning they’ll always be first on the chopping block when time comes to sell players. This summer, two clubs thought to be in peril of falling short of UEFA’s FFP laws and the Premier League’s own version were Aston Villa and Chelsea. With clubs’
because in Italy, we have Totti with Roma, 20 years with the same club - one club man. We love that in football, the fans want to see that. But with the rules now it is different than the past.” All this suggests that the current version of the rules, despite their good intentions, need a little revising.
SOCCER360 1
hero is a rare thing. With that in mind,
we turn to one of the unintended consequences of various Financial Fair
43 Eastern Ave
Play (FFP) rules. This summer saw Emile
SmTiothroRnowtoe, OanNArsMena5l Afan1faHvo1urite who
joined their academy aged 10 shipped off
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TRANSFER WINDOW IN EUROPE, GABY MCKAY WONDERS
IF FINANCIAL FAIR PLAY RULES ARE TAKING SOMETHING SPECIAL AWAY FROM THE GAME.
Xavi and Andres Iniesta at Barcelona, Manchester United’s ‘Class of ‘92’ or Lukas Podolski in various spells at FC Koln - these are some of the most revered players in the history of their clubs,
boyhood clubs linking them with the that their notional value as a financial asset
to look at the way football clubs book transfers on their accounts. When a player is signed they become, in effect, an asset
All of the above is perfectly legal, and
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and the transfer fee is broken down over
if Maatsen and Kellyman can boast one
the length of their contract in a process
Premier League start between them. While
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Club X signs a player for £10m on a four-
academy players - not as talents to nurture
year deal, their book value will decrease by £2.5m over the length of that deal.
However, when selling a player the transfer fee is booked immediately and anything above their book value is pure profit. For a youth product there was no initial transfer outlay involved in signing them, so whatever
for the future, but as ready ways of making a quick bit of cash. No-one’s comparing Smith Rowe to Totti or Gallagher to Iniesta, but it’s another development taking clubs away from their local communities.
he said. “All the clubs at this moment are
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Even Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca finds the situation less than ideal. “This is not n
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helsea’s problem, these are the rules,”
indeed standard accounting practice, even
hero’, the horse trading is indicative of the
League clubs’ problems. “It’s a shame
FIRST WORD - KICK OFF
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ABOVE (MAIN):
Smith Rowe made more than 100 appearances for Arsenal
BELOW:
Local boy Francesco Totti was adored by the Roma fans
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