Real Madrid seem to have lost it, Barcelona have never had it, while Arsenal are probably its best exponents outside Italy. The art of selling a leading player to one of your rivals, of getting a “galactico” fee for a star who might be on the wane, is a tricky one to master.
Real Madrid used to be good at it. After a ruinous transfer from Arsenal, they got Paris St German to pay 32 million euros to take Nicolas Anelka off their hands. They also made vast sums by selling Makelele to Chelsea, their half of Eto’o to Barcelona and Michael Owen to Newcastle. Some of those deals were questionable from a sporting perspective but financially the club did very nicely.
Recently their record hasn’t been as good. Roberto Carlos, Zidane, Figo and Beckham have all left without a penny in sales and Antonio Cassano will be next. Ronaldo went to AC Milan for just 7.5 million euros.
They are still a lot better than Barcelona, though. Barca are no salesmen and the departure of Javier Saviola on a free transfer makes him the latest in a line of world class players who have gone for nothing. (I’m not counting Ronaldo to Inter or Figo to Real here — on both those occasions Barca were forced to sell.)
Arsenal have been far less shy about selling their most coveted players. There was Anelka to Madrid, then Overmars and Petit to Barca (who had the money from Figo’s departure jingling in their pockets) and now Henry going in the same direction for 24 million euros.
In Serie A, players are there to be traded. Think of Milan selling Shevchenko to Chelsea, of Juve letting Zidane go to Real, or Lazio selling Vieri to Inter and Veron to Manchester United. Then there was Inter selling Hernan Crespo to Chelsea and getting him back on loan.
Arsenal seem to share that unsentimental view of the transfer market. And with Spanish media talking about a 40 million euros bid from Real for Cesc Fabregas, don’t be surprised if they are tempted.
Kevin Fylan, Berlin
* This text was edited at 1120 GMT to correct a reference to Ronaldo
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9 comments so far
A change of scenery can benefit both sides. And it’s better to sell top players and get cash for them — unlike Bayern Munich who tend to horde their talent. They buy up the best players from their Bundesliga rivals only to weaken any would-be challengers. Bayern would then rather let them rot on the bench than let them go elsewhere. A year or two Hertha Berlin were eager to get Roque Santa Cruz, who was Bayern’s 4th striker at the time. Uli Hoeness wouldn’t let him go for any price — even to his brother Dieter Hoeness in Berlin. Instead of helping Hertha, Santa Cruz spent most of the season on the bench. What a waste!
- Posted by a quiet observerThe whole thing smacks a bit of the plot of Brewster’s Millions. Managers basically have to waste a hundred-gzillion euros in a week (aka the transfer window) in order to inherit riches in the future. Obviously there are no fur coats and the over-friendly ladies involved - whatever the tabloids might claim.
- Posted by Welsh GothBarcelona managed to get nothing for Rivaldo, Kluivert, Quaresma and possibly Riquelme (not sure). In the last three or four years they’ve managed to sell precisely two players — luis garcia and mark van bommel. dozens of others have gone for free. including cesc, of course…
- Posted by RafaNewcastle certainly seemed to get a rum deal from Owen, but surely they couldn’t have forseen the injuries he picked up. Perhaps an even bigger and better deal would be if Sam Allardyce manages to find a club to meet Owen’s £9m release clause. While his talent is undeniable, does this outweigh his injury risk?
- Posted by fionaYes, I think because of the injury concerns Real got a very good deal there. Were Newcastle just too eager to sign a big name player, despite the risks (and the price)?
- Posted by kevWhy aren’t Arsenal the world’s richest club? Overmars, Petit, Anelka, Henry and now Fabregas. They could probably buy Chelsea with that money.
- Posted by LondonMan City have newly filled pockets full of filthy lucre so expect them to be queuing up at the last ditch to tempt aged players quite soon.
- Posted by Jimmy 5 headachesDon’t forget selling Real Madrid Walter Samuel to inter for about 16 million euros, admittedly far less than what they paid Roma for him one year earlier, but still a good deal. And also, Morientes, who was sold to Liverpool for about 9 million euros.
Zidane’s probably not a good example, as he was always going to retire rather than move on.
Beckham went for free, but he allegedly made the club over 400 million euros in merchandising and marketing while he was there, so financially an excellent deal.
- Posted by GonzaloHi Gonzalo. I’d forgotten about Morientes — it was a good deal and it was a sale to a direct Champions League rival. And fair point about Zidane, too. A better example (albeit a hypothetical one) might be Raul. A couple of years ago they might have got megabucks for him (Alex Ferguson was a big fan, I remember). I wonder if an Italian club might have ruthlessly put him up for sale. Anyway, just an idea.
- Posted by Kevin Fylan