Manolo
30 Jan 2009, 12:16 PM
This forum contains some pretty knowledgeable participants so I wanted to pose a question that is topic of a somewhat heated debate in another forum. The situation is a real-life one but I will try to keep it as anonymous as possible to avoid subjectivity. Basically the scenario is as follows:
A top player from a league that exports relatively few players to top tier teams is being scouted heavily. An estimated price tag is set and communicated in the soccer media as the purported bid received by the team that is most interested in the player. During the course of preliminary contacts between the buying and selling teams, the player is injured and will have to sit out several months, effectively ending negotiations for the current season.
Immediately after, due to the club's needs they acquire the services of another player from the same league, who plays the same position as the first player. He is a very good player, but the first player is generally acknowledged as better.
What happens next remains to be seen. The acquired player may be a bust or a star, or somewhere in between. In the meantime, as the first player recuperates, the same team renews their interest in the player. The question is - given that the league in question exports relatively few players, will the performance of the player who was acquired affect the price of the first player, should negotiations begin again? In other words, if the second player becomes a huge success, does that now increase the original price of the first player, who was generally acknowledged to be a better player? Or does the second player's performance have no effect at all on the value placed on the first player?
In general, on the question of footballer values, when you are talking about non-Beckham, non-Kaka, non-Ronaldo type players, who generate millions from promotions and T-shirt sales, but instead players from less-well known leagues whose financial impact to the team will be determined by their performance on the field, it seems that comparisons to similar players (same position, same league, similar statistics) is really the only way to place a price tag on them. How else can a player be valued?
A top player from a league that exports relatively few players to top tier teams is being scouted heavily. An estimated price tag is set and communicated in the soccer media as the purported bid received by the team that is most interested in the player. During the course of preliminary contacts between the buying and selling teams, the player is injured and will have to sit out several months, effectively ending negotiations for the current season.
Immediately after, due to the club's needs they acquire the services of another player from the same league, who plays the same position as the first player. He is a very good player, but the first player is generally acknowledged as better.
What happens next remains to be seen. The acquired player may be a bust or a star, or somewhere in between. In the meantime, as the first player recuperates, the same team renews their interest in the player. The question is - given that the league in question exports relatively few players, will the performance of the player who was acquired affect the price of the first player, should negotiations begin again? In other words, if the second player becomes a huge success, does that now increase the original price of the first player, who was generally acknowledged to be a better player? Or does the second player's performance have no effect at all on the value placed on the first player?
In general, on the question of footballer values, when you are talking about non-Beckham, non-Kaka, non-Ronaldo type players, who generate millions from promotions and T-shirt sales, but instead players from less-well known leagues whose financial impact to the team will be determined by their performance on the field, it seems that comparisons to similar players (same position, same league, similar statistics) is really the only way to place a price tag on them. How else can a player be valued?