Arsene Wenger says ‘tapping up’ of players is a serious issue that should be tackled but admits there’s no easy solution to a problem that is rife in the modern game.
Earlier in the summer Liverpool were forced to apologise to Southampton for allegedly approaching their Virgil van Dyck without permission, while last week Monaco issued a warning to clubs who had secretly contacted in-demand Kylian Mbappe.
Having spoken to Mbappe himself, albeit with permission, Wenger was asked about the manner in which clubs have been conducting their transfer business.
“If you have top players you cannot stop it from happening,” the Frenchman told press (The Tim£s) after Arsenal’s 3-0 friendly defeat to Chelsea.
“It’s frustrating but you’ve got to fight against it. Honestly, it is a problem. But is there a realistic way to fight against it?
“We’ve fought against this for 20 years but it still happens. How can you check when an agent meets a director from another club or which player speaks to who.
“It happens every day. Monaco do it as well. I don’t know what we need to do really because no one has found the right solution.”
It’s hard to believe that Arsenal are whiter than white on a subject that has so many grey areas and murky middlemen, but respect for the wishes of other clubs is something that Wenger still firmly believes in.
“We are respectful with the clubs. We ask them what they want to do and if they don’t want to sell then we don’t insist. For some, that is where the difference is.
“When the club says no, some say: ‘OK, we respect that.’ And some continue and do not take no for an answer. That maybe is where Monaco complained.”
It’s thought that Paris Saint Germain and Manchester City have both been in contact with representatives of Alexis Sanchez since the end of the season, however, despite the unsolicited approach, Wenger insists that he will not be letting the Chile international leave the Emirates this summer.
That’s the problem with agents. They get paid a fortune to be the middle men. Clubs talk to agents to avoid being seen to be tapping up. And agents encourage it to get paid more once a transfer happens.
That’s the problem with the game, these agents are ruining the sport. There needs to be a way of chopping back their earnings. Some of the figures they are coming out with are ridiculous, I mean how on earth did Pogba’s agent walk away with £25 with just that deal. There should be a cap for these vultures.
Exactly. The more extreme the pay out, the more extreme lengths the agents will go to secure a transfer. What speaks volumes is that the regulators of the sport have showed no willingness to help resolve this serious problem. Look at Oscar’s £60 million transfer to China! Nobody can justify that fee, what did the agent get in that case? Pogba’s agent taking £25 million is just scandalous yet I don’t see any will from the media or the governing bodies to fix this. Maybe its because the governing bodies are corrupt and always put money ahead of the sport?… Read more »
Think you’ve hit the nail on the head there Chris, the whole edifice is rotten to the core. Nobody with any power or influence in the sport has any interest in changing anything while they are all benefiting, getting filthy rich in the process. Why would they care that agents are driving transfers and creaming off millions for themselves? It means journalists and newspapers can fill column inches with sensational stories selling more papers and website hits, and it increases the global coverage of the sport, increasing viewership and heaping on more and more wealth. The fans who visit the… Read more »
That Eboué’s career is practically over because he is banned until he pays 2 millions Euros or whatever to his agent shows how the system is with the agents.
£25 doesn’t seem like much; must have to do many deals a day to get by.
A different George, hahahaha does seem a rather small amount gladly people got the gist of it though.
Ultimately where there is an industry loaded with money, there are always going to be certain types of people looking to cash in. The competitive nature of the sport always means that there are going to be people willing to go against whats considered the ‘done thing,’ to make a deals happen. So I don’t see how it will ever stop. Even if all of the governing bodies do something to cap how much percentage a broker, an a agent, or a middle man earn from a transfer, they will just figure out ways to negotiate round it. The fee’s… Read more »
“We are respectful with the clubs.We ask them what they want to do and if they don’t want to sell then we don’t insist.”This can definitely run some people the wrong way,but personally I don’t think he’s talking about the cases where a high enough bid will do the job, I think he’s talking about cases where the club is as adamant as we are with Sanchez.
*rub
Nice guys always finish last, unfortunately.
4th, more often than not.
hah. true that.
Nice guys always finish last…….. in the a$$ho*e of the day awards
Here is an easy solution: maximum length of 12 month contracts and one transfer window. Eliminate the transfer fee altogether, empower the players to be able to choose the best club for them. Players not getting games are able to quickly move to another club, good players can get the best money for their services. Players are of course still able to commit to a club by continually renewing their contracts.
I don’t agree with the 12 month contract thing. I think tapping up should be punished with a 3 year transfer ban for the particular. I do, however, totally agree with abolishing transfer fees.
*particular club
Yeah there should definitely be some kind of punishment, 3 years might be a bit much but then, if it’s going to be an effective deterrent then it needs to be a little heavy handed. The problem is proving it ever happened.
If you ban transfer fees, you have effectively said contracts cannot be for more than one season or else you have said that a contract cannot be ended even when both parties (the player and his club) wish to do so. Neither is possible (the second, besides being senseless, would also be illegal).
I don’t understand: why are 12 month contracts not possible? My original post was supposd to indicate that the act of enforcing 12 month contracts with one transfer window effectively eliminates transfer fees.
Oh the easy solution! Fantasticly clever work my friend!
… now we just have to think one step further how to get most of the clubs, players, and associations to agree to overhaul the entire system… can we see any reasons why any of these groups wouldnt?
Only one way: bribe FIFA!
I get it but it would make a mess – every team would pretty much turn over their roster every year. There would be zero reason to ever play or develop a young player again since as soon as he shows any potential he’s off to a bigger club. It would literally destroy the youth system.
Would it destroy the youth system though? I wonder. All these players tied to big clubs unable to get a game, going on loan… It seems a bit broken already when clubs like Chelsea can horde all the youth talent and loan more than 30 players in a season. 12 month contracts would basically fix this overnight. I’m sure that it’d lead to less settled squads but I don’t think you’d see a different starting 11 each season. Some players still value loyalty, others like living in London (or wherever), others might get on with the staff or with other… Read more »
Not sure how you could build a team on 12 month contracts.
Pay a player what he’s worth and create the competitive environment he wants and he will stay no matter what his agent says or does. If players get tapped up, it’s usually on their instruction. It’s impossible to stop anyway. There’s things like THE INTERNET and TEXT. Nobody has to even meet to have a conversation about player X. Arsenal tap up players just like everyone else, it might not be as blatant, but what’s the difference? All you have to do is hint you’re interested in a player and it’s an open invitation to get the ball rolling.
Anyone else find it hilarious that PSG are doing to Uefalona/Neymar exactly what they do to us? Wankers.
I think the difference is the existence of a release clause. I think the Spanish League requires this, and Barca’s made Neymar’s ridiculously high–or as PSG view it, a bit steep, but we can manage it.
Why don’t they just let tapping up happen? Why don’t they just let clubs speak to players despite agreement on a fee between clubs? Would that be so bad? If players are unhappy at their club and want to explore other options, what’s wrong with them talking to other clubs? Genuine question here, I haven’t got an agenda I’m just trying to gather information. But perhaps this epidemic of ‘tapping up’ will lead to players and agents demanding shorter contracts. At the end of the day, teams change, managers change, playing styles change, and players form goes up and down.… Read more »
Players benefit from a longer contract as well. Obviously it allows a club to ask for payment when another club wants to buy the player–but it also allows the player to get paid by his club even if they sour on him, and to refuse to move to another club where he may be paid less (or does not like the manager, or where his family do not want to live, etc.).
It’s easy in principle. FIFA or someone more reputable to licence and regulate agents. Agent is employed by the player as their representative in negotiations. Agents should therefore only be paid by the players not the clubs. Any agent that takes a payment from a club has their licence suspended or revoked and any club that makes a payment to an agent is fined a proportion of their transfer spending and suspended from registering players from other clubs for one or more transfer windows. They can still bring through their academy/reserve players, maybe they are allowed to sign released and… Read more »
Money, Agents, Fifa, FA, UEFA, John Terry, Anthony Taylor and Lego carelessly left where bare feet might tread…. is the root of all evil
Wenger mentioned the issue with contracts and extensions recently. You sign someone on for a 5 year deal and practically its a four year deal since you have to start re-negotiations with one season left or earlier. But the player (and agent) will likely drag on negotiations if they are in a strong position. The agents are incentivised to move the player on (which is where they make their money) Clubs best recipe is to have BOTH on field success as a carrot plus financial ability to keep up with peers in terms of wages. This won’t be the case… Read more »