The Transfer (Black) Market

Blog Written by John Baldino (@ThaGreatBaldino):

In 1984 the world of football had stopped, football fans from all across the world witnessed the world record fee for a football player broken. Diego Maradona, the world-class goal scoring machine had transferred from powerhouse F.C. Barcelona to Napoli for a fee of almost €6 million. At the time this fee was sought out to be an towering amount and unheard of in the past. The past transfer records were immensely lower, millions lower in fact. This transfer in specific had opened up a door for the future of football that not many people would have predicted.

In today's game we see astronomical prices for players being sent out and received by clubs all across the world. Players such as Alexandre Lacazette of Olympique Lyon, John Stones and Leroy Sané of Man City, Paul Pogba of Man United, and many more have all been bought and priced at tens of millions of euros, all supposedly worth about 10 times more than what Diego Maradona was worth during his prime. Now, everyone can agree that Diego Maradona is one of, if not the best, football players of all time along with a few others. Maradona did things for club and country no one does today yet these players are worth more than his talent. Yes, the influx of money into the game from multiple deals, sales, and everything in between has an effect, but when is enough, enough? I don’t intend in any shape or form that these players don’t have any talent, all of these players are fantastic and would love them to be apart of my team, but I think the pricing of these players is a little off and many agree.

Another players such as Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Neymar, James Rodriguez, and dozens more throughout recent years have also gone for insane amounts of money. Many can ‘argue’ that these players deserve that type of fee due to their play, but did they really? The game is all about money and teams will pour the money on these players simply because they have it and they will do anything in order to win a trophy. As bidding wars begin more and more money is thrown back and forth simply for a single man, when this money could be used for scouting and youth systems for homegrown players. If money will be continued to be poured into football like this homegrown legends such as Francesco Totti will be a thing of the past, and the transfer market will continue to rule the game. So when will clubs and their owners realize it doesn't take all the money in the world to win a title?