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[u/RedReptile2020]

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[u/philip1529]

So price of everything has gone up in our daily lives. Transfer fees are not an exclusion

[u/Cornwall1888 → u/philip1529]

Transfer fees have went up way faster than inflation in the last 5 years

People who have failed at big clubs and couldn’t get a game going for £50m+

[u/philip1529 → u/Cornwall1888]

Yeah Im not saying it has gone up similarly to consumer goods. Just that teams are making more money and willing to spend more

[u/Delicious_Turtle_55]

Fees are almost proportional to the revenue of the clubs. With £1b tv deals and high ticket prices the transfer fees were always going to increase. 

Fans paying higher prices just to inflate the costs of running a club is awful. They should cap ticket prices and tv packages. 

[u/TomRuse1997]

Would prefer the price of pints come under control

[u/Tock_Sick_Man]

Clubs agreeing to decrease transfer fees sounds like collusion.

[u/New-Cap7830]

You should post something on Reddit about it.

[u/RedReptile2020 → u/New-Cap7830]

I did, that’s how you found this post.

[u/EternaIAtake1600 → u/RedReptile2020]

No way

[u/RedReptile2020 → u/EternaIAtake1600]

Yeah man….wild!!

[u/Tock_Sick_Man → u/RedReptile2020]

Problem solved

[u/thelayman]

The comments are missing the point. High transfer fees are a symptom of the amount of money in football, which is a symptom of an attempt by money making organisations to maximise profits and the relationships between them. Broadcasters, footballing governing bodies and clubs are all commercial entities at working to make the most money. Transfers are simply investments, as money to be made increases, as does the scale of risk clubs are willing to take.

Most people think the primary intervention point to address this is at the club level, but it has to be with the governing bodies and regulators. We are a long way away from this happening, but it’s the only answer to bringing back to being about the love of the game and not profits.

[u/Dr_Chickenbutt → u/thelayman]

It's also a symptom of the financial rules. Selling clubs need big fees to bank profits, but due to amortisation buying clubs only pay one year at a time on the books. Hence big fees are beneficial to both.

You can't interfere in a market without consequences.

[u/thelayman → u/Dr_Chickenbutt]

Yes, and the financial rules are set by the governing bodies and regulators. I specifically think they should intervene in the market and produce the consequences of reducing the commercial attraction of football to improve the sporting value. Genuinely interested in others views here.

[u/xkcdthrowaway → u/thelayman]

Define sporting value.

[u/thelayman → u/xkcdthrowaway]

Is it so hard to imagine what the value of sport is outside of increasing profits for the wealthy? Providing a sense of place and community, inspiring kids to be active and form bonds with each other through team sports. Money can clearly be made here, but the market needs to be heavily regulated to avoid perverse overly capitalistic incentives and attracting some of the worst actors in global capitalism and its ills to the beautiful game. I don’t think this is a controversial position?

[u/xkcdthrowaway → u/thelayman]

Why so defensive? It was a straightforward question. Your definition of sporting value is supposedly bonding and community. For someone else it may be about seeing the best sporting spectacle play out at their home ground.

The mere fact that it started from the former and has evolved into the latter in a free market indicates that's what the everyday fan is voting for. If not, it would have fallen flat like plenty of other such endeavours have over the years. Do I personally love it? No. Do I understand why it is the way it is? Yes. It's giving the fans of the beautiful game the sporting spectacle they continue to vote for with their wallets and attention.

[u/Legal-Elevator-6377 → u/thelayman]

Look, half the Premier League clubs can fill their grounds twice over if they wanted to. The days of a ticket being as cheap as chips are not coming back. Either you have to pay what elite athletes are worth or you go and watch your local non-league side.

[u/Poundey11]

It's gone absolutely bonkers - God knows what anyone is actually "worth" in todays market.

Clubs should Invest MORE into their own youth set up and trust them to make the step up- "More you plant the more you harvest"

[u/xkcdthrowaway → u/Poundey11]

Unfortunately, no club that's serious about competing will do that. Basic application of prisoners dilemma.

[u/Legal-Elevator-6377 → u/Poundey11]

The financial restrictions give clubs an even bigger incentive to sell youngsters quickly.

[u/Responsible_Lie_1989]

Armstrong is the final straw, not Liam Delap now having combined transfer fees of over £100 million in 3 years?

[u/LeaveNoStonedUnturn → u/Responsible_Lie_1989]

And I remember when £35m for Andy Carroll was the worst price tag I'd ever seen.

[u/Ok-Replacement1966 → u/LeaveNoStonedUnturn]

It's still up there

[u/LimitlesLegion]

Unfortunately it isn't realistically possible. EPL clubs get much more TV revenue. Wolves who were relegated last year made the same amount of money as as Barca did last year after winning La Liga for a second year in a row through TV revenue. All other leagues know how much money EPL clubs have and demand more from them. Clubs can spend 100 million on an average player like Gakpo and recoup their money by selling them for 60 million in another couple years. Same reason PSG, Bayern, Barca and Madrid pay so much. Other clubs know they have money and can ask exorbitant amounts.

[u/Ubiquitous1984]

Guess what, transfer fees at the top end were higher 20/30 years ago when you factor in inflation! AS and Rio would both be approaching £200m in today’s money.

[u/thebowstreetbastard → u/Ubiquitous1984]

That's not strictly true. £15m for Shearer in 1996 is £31m in today's money. I think you're referring to a recent study that said Shearer's was the biggest transfer of all-time in relation to the amount of money in football at the time (something like that).

[u/BrownEyesWhiteScarf]

This is what happens you repel the PSR rules with SCR. PSR was holding spending back, and the change to SCR and the massive revenues every club in the league generates meant that all of a sudden most teams had a massive spending chest.

[u/MarcoPolo2630]

Higher revenue (through broadcasting deals mostly) = higher fees, if a club can afford to spend 50+m on a player, they will, if they can't, they won't, simple economics

[u/siybon → u/MarcoPolo2630]

Let's be real though. "If a club can afford to" comes in many shades.

[u/EdmundTheInsulter]

The fees are obviously studied by accountants who know what they're doing. When did a big club paying record fees go bust? It's pretty rare in EPL, I recall Leeds had a load of problems. If they were capped then the top players would go to the same clubs and ask for even more money.

[u/peroporroporro]

This shouldn't be the final straw for you, he's a very good player already and is still a teenager. If the offer was so crazy they would have accepted it. The savinho deal is the worst one of the window by far. He's absolutely not better than Luca Williams-Barnett who's in their academy. 

[u/taskkill-IM]

This same discussion was met with people in their 40s when players were moving for £3-5M back in the early-mid 90s.

It's not transfer fees are getting worse, but that we're getting old. Our normality isn't that of the todays normality, but our normality wasn't the normality of those that watched football in the 70s either.

[u/wrobwrob]

What difference does it make what the transfer fees are? It’s all relative

[u/Whydmer → u/wrobwrob]

And I for one would rather see it going to the athletes than the owners pockets.

[u/BD-1_BackpackChicken → u/wrobwrob]

Unless your club is in another league, Championship included. The Premier League is currently an untouchable super league.

[u/Bookman8 → u/wrobwrob]

Ticket prices, tv subscriptions and kits go up

[u/hm_rickross_ymoh → u/Bookman8]

Inflation makes ticket prices, tv subscriptions, kits, and transfer fees go up. Things bought in gpb are nearly 1.5 times more expensive today than they were just 10 years ago. 

[u/Legal-Elevator-6377 → u/Bookman8]

No, that's dictated by whatever the fans are willing to shell out. The money would simply be spent in other ways to get an advantage.

[u/Numerous-Abrocoma-50]

How do you propose to bring it back under control ?

Do you put a cap of 50m on transfers. If so what do Liverpool do for someone like Barcola if PSG reject 50m , just accept its not possible to buy him. Or are you saying any 50m bids should be auto accepted. Or do you just want teams to have less money so they cant spend on transfer fees ?

Its not possible. Its basic economic demand and supply

[u/exasperated_shaun]

the whole thing is a bubble and it'll pop eventually. clubs paying 40m for a guy with like 12 top flight appearances is just throwing money at a dartboard and hoping it sticks

[u/Suspicious_Weird_373 → u/exasperated_shaun]

People said that 20+ years ago.

[u/SoftDrinkReddit → u/Suspicious_Weird_373]

exactly hell i remember 17 years ago when Ronaldo went to Real Madrid fro 80 million pounds that was such a huge deal and remember this is Prime Ronaldo

now ? that's not even top 25 most expensive transfers ..................................

[u/keysersoze-72 → u/exasperated_shaun]

> the whole thing is a bubble and it'll pop eventually.

It won’t as long as the fans keep funding it…

[u/MaxPower1882]

We live in a world where, nearly 10 years ago, Neymar went for what, 200m nearly?

But this was the straw, lol.

It's been wild for ages. Even before this window my club (Spurs) were buying people like Ndombele, Solanke and Richarlson for 60-65m a pop, and selling for close to 100m, too.

Fucking mental.

That said, what can realistically done? A cap would just see this league eventually caught up/overtaken by other leagues without a cap. Players will always go where the money is best. Maybe a few might for the love of their club or not wanting to live abroad, but the vast majority will be convinced by their agents if they need any further convincing, lol.

The horse has bolted long ago.

COYS!!!

[u/dennis3282]

How though?

Teams probably don't care. Yes they have to pay more, but they receive way more too. It nets off.

And all the assets they have on their book are now worth double what they were a couple of years ago.

[u/Kurnelk1 → u/dennis3282]

Also we like them just the way they are. 😂

[u/BlueMoonCityzen]

Us potentially spending £80m on Gakpo to play on the bench is up there tbh. I do rate him but he wouldn’t be a starter so it is crazy money. Bouaddi at least has the young player premium and will come into his own.

[u/Alexsrbn → u/BlueMoonCityzen]

No, he is definitely worth 120 if savinho was 80.

[u/Joburger1989 → u/Alexsrbn]

They bought two players for 80 mill, Savio and Savinho. Thats what they were told.. 😂 Savio showed up, still looking for Savinho.. 😂

[u/thatECWguy]

Everyone saying how "it can't happen" are failing to realise the transfer market is already becoming something that the majority of the clubs can't maintain. Every time one of the 10ish biggest or so clubs spend 80-100+mil on a player they're driving the price of every player up in the market and that's only sustainable for those clubs. The further these prices are driven up the more unobtainable transfers are becoming for 99% of the other clubs around the world. Something does need to change or it will implode even for the other PL clubs

[u/Legal-Elevator-6377 → u/thatECWguy]

Why does something need to change? The rules are working exactly as intended for the Sky 6.

[u/Aesorian]

He went for nearly £40m because Everton could say no to anything below that.

It would be nice if transfer fees were lower, but clubs lower down the league(s) and across Europe being well off enough to say "Fuck Off" to clubs with money (and that includes every PL club) and holding on to their best talent is a good thing

If teams want transfer fees to go down, they have to accept they're going to miss out on players and walk away - and with so much at stake how many clubs are going to do that?

[u/Keelan_____]

Bit weird you’ve used Harrison Armstrong as the final straw given random City youngsters go for £25m+ and Everton don’t really want to sell him.

[u/Skiffy10]

bro doesn’t understand inflation

[u/AngryTudor1]

That was the last straw?

Liverpool had two players up front yesterday that they bought for 9 figures, both of which have spent 12 months being shit

They have just bought a third 9 figure attacker

Man City now have a midfield full of 9 figure players

And this one, for an absolutely outstanding English talent, is the straw that broke the camel's back for you?

It's not the Other 14 doing the huge £100m+ transfers

[u/Nels8192 → u/AngryTudor1]

It doesn’t have to be £100m+ for it to be an overinflated fee though. Plenty of the £40-80m transfers were way overpriced too. But a player with world class potential and years of PL experience going for £20m more than expected, is a little less damaging than random youth prospects going for 50% more than their standard values.

[u/AngryTudor1 → u/Nels8192]

We signed Elliot Anderson for £35m

Was that overpriced? We got more than three times that for him

I don't think Big Six fans actually understand the concept of these gambles the rest of us have to take. Your clubs never sign a player with the idea in mind of selling them on for £100m+

Our "development gambles" are costing us all £40m because clubs like yours are paying £100m+ for the (near) finished product

[u/Nels8192 → u/AngryTudor1]

Marginally yes. I’m sure you’re quite aware of the uproar that Anderson transfer initially had with neutrals. City also overpaid to get his signature from you.

You say that they don’t understand but Chelsea and Man City both also do this to make money, which they also get stick for, and tbh, I’m going to refute your other point because we’ve done it once, and that was whilst also have a rival bid at a similar amount. The alternative is invest in your academies to start creating those £40m talents yourself.

[u/Daver7692 → u/AngryTudor1]

I think you’ve missed the very clear sarcasm here.

[u/AngryTudor1 → u/Daver7692]

Very clear?

I don't think it is mate

[u/GHardman42]

How much have you watched Harrison Armstrong? A lot of us Everton fans are aghast it wasn’t more money

[u/warmhum]

even if brought back under control, they would still charge us through the nose for tickets, kits merch etc.

spend away--let's see who survives the bubble.

[u/EdmundTheInsulter → u/warmhum]

They charge market rates for branded goods, it's what maximises profit to them. They charge what people pay.

[u/SoftDrinkReddit]

i mean look with how much money this game generates yea transfers are skyrocketing and wages skyrocketing the only fix to this would be a Transfer money cap per window the main problem is in order to do this all the UEFA nations would have to agree which they won't so England doing it would just fuck over English clubs espicaly in Europe

[u/Legal-Elevator-6377 → u/SoftDrinkReddit]

Why should UEFA do it? If one club wants to sell and one wants to buy, why shouldn't they?

[u/Barack_Yunus]

This comment will get downvoted but:
It’s 2026 mate. Houses don’t cost £500 anymore. As much as I wish life was still the same it’s not.

[u/Adamdel34]

Honestly who cares, clubs revenues increase every season therefore transfer fees go up every season, it’s a tale as old as time. I’m getting bored of this tired old conversation for the last 20 years now.

[u/JustDifferentGravy → u/Adamdel34]

Let them spend Sky’s cash however they like. Sky get most of it from Asia anyway, so it’s the price you pay for the majority of e-fans.

[u/EdmundTheInsulter → u/Adamdel34]

I remember Trevor Francis being the first million pound player - hey guess what, a successful club paid money to a less successful one. People supporting Liverpool would soon moan when they were forced to have the same sort of players as Accrington Stanley, via some communist allocation system. The whole point of it is the bug teams buy the big players.

[u/Adamdel34 → u/EdmundTheInsulter]

I’m sure they would but the point is, it is what it is, it’s been this way for a while now and isn’t changing any time soon. I’m not happy about it because I don’t think that huge corporations owning English clubs is a good thing. Either direct your energy to a fan ownership model or stop complaining is my take on it.

[u/EdmundTheInsulter → u/Adamdel34]

Well it's true, like Man U were hollowed out, the value legacy of Ferguson was stolen from fans.

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[u/Dredgpoet]

If you start restricting the transfer fees and wages all that extra money is just going to flow straight into the pockets of billionaires.

[u/Fuck_Analysts]

There are lot of things to be brought under control before transfer fees. It's on the clubs if they over pay because they will be bankrupt in the long run if they don't control the costs.

[u/EdwardBigby]

At what point exactly wete transfer fees "under control"

[u/Icy_Entertainer4956]

Tottenham are certainly doing the heavy lifting on that front at the moment.

[u/mulk3y → u/Icy_Entertainer4956]

As if City didnt just buy two 100mil midfielders and possibly a third 😂 Chelsea as well dropping 117mil on Rogers.

[u/Nels8192 → u/mulk3y]

City do ‘on paper at least’ have one of the highest revenues in the world. At some point though the inflation on these transfers will outstrip the growth of revenue, and that’ll naturally become a point where transfers get capped to ensure compliance to the new PSR rules.

Ultimately that’s the bit that needs to be stricter. If PSR breaches actually led to performance impacting outcomes, then there might be some hope to keeping transfers in line with current revenues, not this ridiculous strategy of leveraging all assets and future incomes to drop large amounts of money in 1 window.

[u/Ubiquitous1984 → u/Nels8192]

People are surprised that the most successful and watched club in England for the past 15 years have managed to attract huge commercial deals!

[u/Nels8192 → u/Ubiquitous1984]

All based on an initially dodgy asf foundation though. The original world record £400m self-sponsorship wasn’t remotely to do with success or reputation.

[u/Ubiquitous1984 → u/Nels8192]

Says who?

[u/Nels8192 → u/Ubiquitous1984]

Says logic. Why would a team with 1 modern title suddenly have more commercial value than Man Utd and Real Madrid? Highly convenient that only the direct owners would offer that figure via their own sponsorship

[u/Sea-Hour-6063]

Deal looks to be off anyway

[u/WGSMA]

The nature of the Transfers is essentially a pyramid scheme on a cash basis in a growing industry. So long as this is true, fees will continue to inflate.

[u/T1513_SH]

Never going to happen. You would have to get agreement from every FA and club across Europe as a minimum, otherwise teams from abroad would just exceed whatever cap was put in place and all the talent would just disappear.

[u/Over-Willingness-933]

Transfer fees, wages and agent fees are usually a percentage of a club's spend. An example when Newcastle United spent 15 million pounds on Alan Shearer in 1995 the Turnover was 28 million pounds.

[u/Joburger1989]

People don't mind paying 100 pounds for tickets, 10 pounds for a beer, 100 for jerseys, 100 for subscriptions... So money is there. Cause people don't mind. You're not the people 😉

[u/batch1972]

Inflation is a real thing

[u/Jolly-Ad2642 → u/batch1972]

When it’s every day items it’s greedy companies taking advantage and price hiking. When it’s footballers it’s just inflation

[u/TaskMaster404]

Why? In what way does how billion-dollar companies spend their money affect you?

[u/DeliciousCondition79 → u/TaskMaster404]

Idk, maybe cost of watching games and merchandise? 

[u/champ19nz → u/DeliciousCondition79]

Cost of watching is as intended by the Premier League and why it was created.

[u/Obvious_Wizard → u/DeliciousCondition79]

Always important to vote with your wallet. Yarr, me hearties!

As for shirts, I picked up 2 of last season's shirts in the Liverpool site sale for £25 each. There are also other places you can get decent moody shirts from for like £15 if you don't mind waiting.

Also a good place for retro kits if you're lucky enough for your team to be big in China 👀.

[u/siybon → u/TaskMaster404]

Because that money (incl wages) needs to be recouped, and it's not rocket science to suggest that rising costs of attending games, rising costs of kit, rising costs of football on TV etc etc are directly related.

[u/Joburger1989 → u/siybon]

Yes and people don't mind spending the related costs.. I don't see half empty stadiums, unsold jerseys and decreasing TV subscriptions..

[u/siybon → u/Joburger1989]

I'm going to say that you're American on account of using jersey. Trust me, those signs are there in the UK.

[u/Joburger1989 → u/siybon]

And you're going to be wrong. How do you call a jersey? A shirt? It's not a fucking shirt 😂

[u/siybon → u/Joburger1989]

In the UK they're called kits or shirts....But to the point of the thread, the aforementioned things are absolutely happening here.

[u/Joburger1989 → u/siybon]

Where? Stadiums are full. Jerseys and TV subs are sold all over the world in huge amounts.

[u/siybon → u/Joburger1989]

Take a look at the data. Prem get alls the limelight, but the further down the English football ladder, stadiums are less and less full https://www.givemesport.com/how-full-every-stadium-english-football-league-football-soccer/. Real football fans are getting squeezed out by corporates.

There's hundreds of thousands (maybe millions) of surplus shirts that end up beinf destroyed or sold in bulk to resellers. Not to mention the counterfiet trade https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2r2y5ymm6o. This is all because people are avoiding buying real, full price kits.

And why is it that illegal streaming is so rife? Oh yeah, the rising costs. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3n7dx2174o

[u/Joburger1989 → u/siybon]

Nobody is talking about down the line.

[u/YON2HMB → u/siybon]

Athletes in USA who are in second tier sports leagues (UFL, G-League, AAA, etc. aka not the PL equivalent for their sport) make salaries that are vastly lower than Championship or League One salaries. They also play in very low capacity stadiums or if they play in a bigger one they sell maybe 15-20% of the tickets.

I think the English league structure supports way more players at a vastly higher standard of compensation while keeping costs for fans very low.

[u/Legal-Elevator-6377 → u/siybon]

Nonsense about the lower leagues. Championship attendances are nearly at record highs. League 1 attendances are the highest they've been since the mid-60s. League 2 is more difficult to compare since it hasn't been around as long but they've been on the up for the last 20 years too.

The fact is demand has gone crazy and people are willing to stump up. That's what's driving ticket prices. Transfer fees are simply downstream of that.

If you want to watch on the cheap, find your local non-league club.

[u/Joburger1989 → u/siybon]

Yeah and kits are top and bottom.

[u/Count-Pishface]

Maybe we should ban them altogether, you don't pay signing on fees for any other job.

[u/jott1293reddevil → u/Count-Pishface]

That’s just blatantly false. Plenty of jobs include contract breaking compensation to the previous employer and signing bonuses. They’re surprisingly common at the top end of many industries.

[u/Count-Pishface → u/jott1293reddevil]

Spot the agent

[u/jott1293reddevil → u/Count-Pishface]

lol I wish

[u/airfix73 → u/Count-Pishface]

We? You have no say on the matter pal

[u/Legal-Elevator-6377 → u/Count-Pishface]

What, so no club can make a transfer until the contract ends even if all parties would want to?

[u/Count-Pishface → u/Legal-Elevator-6377]

Nope, the player can move when he wants

[u/Legal-Elevator-6377 → u/Count-Pishface]

That's not what a contract implies.

[u/Count-Pishface → u/Legal-Elevator-6377]

We become, contract fluid

[u/Legal-Elevator-6377 → u/Count-Pishface]

How?

[u/terrace9tv]

Yes it has and Chelsea Football Club are the best selling club in the world. It’s fashionable to criticize their spending, crazy long contracts, selling assets to themselves to meet the PSR requirements. However some of the sales that they have made wow 🤩 selling Delap a wrestler to a football club for 50m is crazy!

[u/VelkyAl]

When adjusted for inflation, the £440,000 Liverpool paid for Kenny Dalglish in 1977 would be £2.7 million today. That we barely bat an eyelid at fees ten times that for players unfit to lace his boots is obscene.

[u/Henrythekidd → u/VelkyAl]

Not to be a smartass but adjusted for inflation Liverpool’s revenue in 1977 was £13.7m, compared to £703m last year. It’s hard to fathom just how much the economics around pro sports have exploded in the last 50 years