Football Transfers: If Premiership footballers are slaves, they're probabably the best-paid slaves in the world

Football Food For Thought / Tareq Quiroz / 14 November 2008 / Leave a Comment

From Man Utd's refusal to let Cristiano Ronaldo leave to Robinho's controversial's transfer to Man City, TQ looks at who gets the final say in football transfers and whether millionaire footballers are right to complain about where they end up playing.

There is no let up in the football schedule these days and we are starting to see some tired performances from even the top sides. For many the season is already getting tough on the legs and yet we aren't even a third of the way through the domestic league games in England. As a footy fanatic you cannot deny that you are getting a feast of great entertainment. But some will say, at what cost?

I am sure that there is no doubt that we will start to see players retiring that bit earlier than in other years. Money will obviously be a factor as players are more able to retire with a decent pot of cash behind them. We must also consider the wear and tear on the body that will be a factor in years to come. As far as I can see, that equates to top players being paid a lot of money to put their bodies on the lines. Nothing wrong with that although others will disagree.

Players and other authority figures in the game have suggested that players are treated as slaves. That is a rather exaggerated phrase to express how players are treated in today's world of football. In the summer FIFA President Sepp Blatter felt the need to speak up on behalf of poor Cristiano Ronaldo during the on/off move from Manchester United to Real Madrid.

Calling a player a commodity is somehow supposed to be seen as an insult but that is exactly what they are. The clubs pay them for their services and have them under a contract that means effectively they own those services for that period of time. Man Utd played hard ball and they kept their player. Ronaldo is a highly valued commodity and a much needed cog in Man Utd's bid to win trophies. With Utd already out to odds of [4.3] to win the Premier League they are clearly going to need players like Ronaldo to be there and to perform every week.

Blatter criticised a trend to move towards modern slavery in football during the summer. A strange statement from such a figure head. This view was counteracted by UEFA's Communications Director William Gaillard, who pointed out that "It would be useful to remind people that slaves in all of the slavery systems never earned a wage". These players are earning a lot of money and whilst they maybe under contract to their clubs, it must also be remembered that they have more power now than they have ever had.

A certain Jean-Marc Bosman has seen to that. The introduction of the free transfer at the end of a players' contract has seen many a player see out a contract just to get a move they want with a bumper pay offer. Clubs are then forced into selling players before the contract is in the final year and often at a cut price. So let's not pretend that these players are just pawns in the big transfer merry-go-round.

This week we have seen plenty of talk surrounding a move away from St James' Park for Michael Owen. The England striker joined Newcastle in 2005 for a fee of almost £16M. He is now in the final year of his contract and the club has to face up the fact that they may well be best off selling Owen in January transfer window for whatever they can get, most probably around £5M. A huge loss on a player who has been injured a lot and the club never really got the value of the initial fee from him. Now they are forced to sell for peanuts.

This is all assuming that the player himself doesn't sign a contract extension and commit to the club. So, once again this is in the players' hands and it is the club that is having its hand forced. Owen has been strongly linked with Aston Villa this week and a move to them in January might be best for all parties. It would certainly assist Villa's push for success in the UEFA Cup, where they are currently trading at [18.5] to win it.

No doubt the argument as to whether it is the players or the clubs that are the worst treated will rumble on and on. Let's face it, players sometimes move to clubs they don't want to. In recent years that could apply to Jaap Stam's move to Lazio and more recently, in totally different circumstances, it would be fair to say that Man City was not top of Robinho's list when he sulked about demanding a move away from Real Madrid.

Not that that will worry City as they challenge for a Top Six spot in the Premier League, where they are available at [3.1] to do just that. Despite the constant griping of many players and clubs I don't see how any of them can complain about the modern world of football. After all, it's just about making the rules work in your favour.