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"Birthday gate" and why big money is no longer good enough to compete in the transfer market

Carl Recine / Action Images

Today there are two ostensibly unrelated football stories parading in the news.

The first involves new Man United manager Louis van Gaal’s reported £150 million transfer kitty “to win the league title,” according to Jamie Jackson at the Guardian.

The second details how Man City star midfielder’s Yaya Toure’s “advisor”/agent/whatever Dimitry Seluk claims the Ivorian is upset at his club for failing to acknowledge his birthday.

If that latter story seems ridiculous, that’s because it is. The Guardian notes that Seluk makes the same claim every year, which last year timed up well with Toure’s four year extension with City.  According the Mirror’s Simon Mullock, Man City feels Toure is “unsellable,” and believe Seluk has lost any and all influence with the team since the last contract extension. Whatever Toure's beef, it won't result in any movement.

Anyway: what do these two stories have in common?

There was once a time when a club giving a manager £150 million in available transfer fees would be tantamount to handing them a decent shot at the title. There wouldn’t be a question that the money would buy quality. Sure, there might be one or two duds, but with that kind of cash you’re bound to buy someone legit. Almost no one would pause to consider the difficulty of the negotiations themselves. Clubs bought players, and clubs sold them. 

The Toure story may be a trumped up bauble signaling the start of silly season, but it is also a reflection of the current seller’s market for elite footballers. Countless so-called “representatives” coming out of the woodwork claiming to represent a player’s interests, all looking out for a cut of something or other. “Imposters” imposing themselves on deals, leading to their collapse. It's a mess of subterfuge, ego, and last minute hijacks, of clubs hoarding players and sending them out on loan. 

It’s no longer as simple as making an offer and negotiating a fee. Now clubs need a director of football to work year round just to ensure their targets become signings. Agents need to be wined and dined, visions imparted and shared, concessions and perks granted.

While Man United fans should be excited that rumours of the Glazer’s LBO-inspired stinginess are apparently false (or alarmed that they’ve become one of the Mac Daddy clubs), they should also know that after last year’s Summer of Woodward, the willingness to spend does not always to translate to actual spending.

The game done changed. The money is now just the beginning. The next step is having a negotiator with the guile and expertise to follow through.

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