Hard times

The wheels have come off the soccer gravy train

Recently, I spoke to the agent of a well-known footballer whose contract expires at the end of the season. The player in question is in his mid-twenties, starts for one of the biggest teams in Europe and is an international who appeared in the last World Cup.

"It's amazing," the agent told me. "Two years ago, with a guy in his situation, we would have had three or four big clubs willing to give him a three- or four-year deal with a raise of up to 50 percent. With offers like that on the table, his club would easily have met our demands if he wanted to extend his contract."

"Instead, there has been nothing but silence, especially since he's on a good salary already. One club was willing to give him a four-year deal, but with a 50 percent pay cut. Can you imagine? We're talking about a player who is having another good season and has a full eight or nine years left in the tank! The [current] club is offering a one year extension, with a 30 percent pay cut and, at this stage, I think we're going to take it..."

The cash crunch in the game has blown away conventional wisdom. It used to be that players looked forward to going out-of-contract, especially those at the peak of their powers, because it meant a big payday was imminent.

Now, players (and their agents) face contract expiries with trepidation, knowing they may have to settle for half of what they're getting now.

Take Rivaldo, who went out of contract last summer. Here was a guy who had just won the World Cup with Brazil and was arguably one of the top five players in the world. At 30 years of age, he easily had another three good years in him.

Mailbag

If you'd like to submit a question to Gabriele Marcotti, please enter it below.

Your name: Your E-mail Address: Your Hometown: Enter Your Question:

And yet there was no queue of teams banging on his door. In fact, he was forced to take the only legitimate offer he received: from AC Milan, which signed him to a two-year, US$10.5 million deal, roughly what he made earlier.

Even then, the rossoneri made it clear that they grabbed him largely because he was out there. They saw him as a luxury, an added bonus.

"A guy like Rivaldo needs a big club," said Milan vicechairman Adriano Galliani. "I can't believe nobody else made him an offer. We hadn't planned on signing him, but, when he was available, we couldn't say no. He was free, after all."

He may have been free, but, in the current climate, few were going to stump up serious cash. Had this been two years ago, in addition to the Milans of this world, there would have been a gaggle of second-tier teams looking to go the next level ready to offer him US$30 or US$40 million over three or four years.

As it happened, Milan's experience with Rivaldo will probably discourage clubs from signing out-of-contract superstars when they don't quite fit into the team's system.

Rivaldo has been an after-thought for much of the season. Coach Carlo Ancelotti's squad was complete and he has had to disassemble it to fit in Rivaldo. With the likes of Andriy Shevchenko, Pippo Inzaghi, Manuel Rui Costa, Jon Dahl Tomasson and Clarence Seedorf already on hand, Rivaldo was the equivalent of chowing on a porterhouse steak immediately after a seven-course meal: unnecessary and, potentially, dangerous.

He has started less than half of Milan's Serie A matches this season and, even when he has played well, he has looked like alien to the side, a guy doing his own thing rather than a key member of a cohesive unit.

A whole bunch of quality players went into the season knowing that, come June, they would be out-of-contract. In fact, you could make an all-Bosman team out of them. How does this sound?

Rustu Recber (Fenerbache); Cafu (Roma), Frank De Boer (Barcelona), Carsten Ramelow (Bayer Leverkusen), Arthur Numan (Rangers); Evanilson (Borussia Dortmund), Esteban Cambiasso (Real Madrid), Giorgios Karagounis (Panathinaikos), Patrick Berger (Liverpool); Gerald Asamoah (Schalke 04), Gabriel Batistuta (Inter).

Odds are, all of the above will probably sign for less -- in some cases a lot less -- than they are on now, despite the fact that they are free transfers.

The gravy train is clearly over. At the same time, while there are some great bargains out there, Milan's problems with Rivaldo shows that there is no such thing as a sure thing... even when it's free.

GOOD WEEK/BAD WEEK

GOOD WEEK: FC Porto, which humiliated Lazio 4-1 in the UEFA Cup semifinals and is the runaway leader in the Portuguese league. The likes of Deco and Helder Postiga have made Porto into one of the most exciting young teams in Europe.

BAD WEEK: Bayern Munich, who admitted accepting secret payments in a marketing deal with Kirch Media Group and has been harshly criticized by the German Football League. The payments were made outside of the Bundesliga's central marketing contract, violating the clubs' agreement with the league.

GOOD WEEK: Carlos Valderrama, who is hanging up his boots at the age of 41. The man who shared the "El Pibe" moniker with none other than Diego Maradona enjoyed a glittering career which saw him star in three World Cups. The only regret is that he never played for a high-profile club in Europe, Argentina or Brazil, which means far too many people never got to see him on a regular basis.

BAD WEEK: Real Madrid, which got pummeled 4-2 by Real Sociedad, just a few days after putting on a dazzling display against Manchester United in the Champions League. So much for those who were convinced that Del Bosque's men had already wrapped up the Liga title. They can still grab the Spanish and European crowns of course, but there's still a long road ahead.

 

Related information

Stories

Previous Gabriele Marcotti Columns

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video