The Kid's alright - Getting the last L'OL: Tanner Tessmann at Olympic Lyonnaise

How is a foul off the ball not a yellow?

 

I agree a lot of this doesn't make sense in general as presented to the public.

Speculation, but I'm guessing the usual explanation for weird deal terms applies here though. Taxes Taxes Taxes. The agent fee may be a way for the player to get immediate money in a tax efficient way.

The agent fee may be paid to some LLC in a tax shelter with the bulk of it going to the player eventually without paying any hefty European income taxes.

I highly doubt players are dumb enough to let their agents just take 7-8 figure payments that they do not benefit from.

 

I also think that "disagreements over entourage payments" are a shorthand for "complicated negotiation items that aren't player price / wages". I've seen 2 main narratives about why Tessmann's move to Inter collapsed: the more common and laziest were "high agents fees", but we also saw reports of a disagreement about where Tessmann would play this year... the former feels like something that can easily be negotiated while the latter is kind of a deal breaker for both sides.

When Mckennie was being linked with Villa, his demand to be compensated for taking a pay-cut at Villa (the so-called "severance agreement") was initially reported as "disagreements over entourage payments".

The last thing I'll say is in defense of agents (which sucks, I mostly agree that they're a parasitic entity, especially the biggest and most influential of them) is that these deals are INSANELY complex because everyone involved is a private corporate entity. In the big American sports, much of the negotiating is already done by league, which makes an agent's job much easier...

 

That sounds an awful lot like tax evasion. I would hope our players aren’t dumb enough to be advised into breaking the law.

The only thing I can come up with is that the soccer player market is so vast, and evaluation is so hit and miss, that agent contacts have as much to do where young players end up than actual scouting. That may lead to players earlier in their career agreeing to shitty representation agreements in order to get access to a particular agents ability to market them to teams that can make or break a young player. But that is me stretching to find an explanation. I strongly suspect something else is going on.

 

https://www.calciomercato.com/news/...chiusura-per-tessmann-lagente-al-viola--12984

The intermediary that Tessmann's camp is using to negotiate in Italy was spotted entering Fiorentina's offices this afternoon.

 

I always assumed the McKennie situation was him agreeing to defer salary…and wanting to hold Juve accountable for making up for those deferments rather than trying to sell their way out of it.

 

This is also a possibility, no one has satisfactorily explained the €2m he reportedly asked Juve for. No matter what, it seems like the relationship between Weston and Juve is both complicated and strained, but the press went with "high agents fees" for a couple days because the reality is that most journalists don't know what's going on in these negotiations and are either re-framing scraps of info from journalists who do have insider access or just guessing.

 

It's call "Tax Structuring" if you stick with reputable lawyers who stay well within the limits of what's allowed it's not much of a risk. Given the amount of money involved in transfers these days I am sure it is a consideration.

 

Because the referee said it wasn't.

The referee seems to have had a, shall we say, idiosyncratic understanding of the rules of the game and their application.

I doubt we'll be seeing very much of him in the future

 

In those transfers the SOP has to be who is the journalist and what outlet(s) does he write for, what's his track record in terms of how his reports stand up 2-3 months/years later and, of course, whether the piece admits that it's an assessment based on limited information.

 

Then it's virtually a done deal.

It'll take something extraordinary - and non-medical - to derail things at this stage.

 

New to football transfers I take it

 

All of this is entirely possible, but I'd throw another factor out there where Tanner's representation concerned. His agent is the Norwegian, Oskar Olsen, whose client list is (according to Transfermakt) rather small and top-heavy with MLS and Liga MX players. European league players are quite few and almost all MLS or MX veterans.

He may not be very adept at the "dancing between the raindrops" that tax-compliant deals involve, which will slow things down and generate some irritation. He'll certainly have fewer contacts in the media. Some of the reportage is going to reflect that

 

A piece from today stating they are still trying to work out the commissions for his agents:

https://www.tuttoveneziasport.it/ca...mann-si-lavora-ancora-sulle-commissioni-20109

 

I think now that we understand that ‘working out agent payments’ really means ‘crafting a tax-evasion strategy,’ we know it’s just a matter of time.

 

So is Fiorintina really going for a Tessmann / McKennie midfield?

 

A recent comment on the Tessmann transfer from Francesco Graziani, ex-Fiorentina player who won the World Cup with Italy in 1982:

"Everyone is talking about this every day as if Fiorentina were on the verge of signing Rabiot. He doesn't get me excited. He played well at Venezia, but he doesn't set my world on fire." ​

https://www.tuttoveneziasport.it/ca...e-la-fiorentina-stesse-prendendo-rabiot-20115

 

Now that's an honest assessment.

 

I wonder if he just watched US-Morocco.

 

Potential is always more exciting than reality. With potential you can make it up as you go along whereas reality bites.

 

Rabiot? lol. I wouldn't be excited about that either.

 

The fact that an Italian legend is talking about Tanner is amazing!

Lol

 

This piece today quotes the Florentine newspaper, La Nazione, which states Fiorentina's negotiations with Tessmann have come to a halt; the reason being his agents continue to demand commissions the club sees as too high, and if they don't change their tune the entire deal could collapse. The Viola are now beginning to consider alternative midfielders, such as Edoardo Bove at Roma.

https://www.violanews.com/stampa/la-nazione-frena-brusco-stop-per-tessmann-lalternativa-e-bove/

 

That ox?!? Tessmann is just as strong and twice as smart.

 

Other outlets are reporting the same impasse, but do not say that negotiations are over, just that it's slowing things down: https://www.calciomercato.com/news/...-venezia-per-tessmann-ecco-cosa-manca-p-68481

This report also pushes against the "Inter stopped pursuit because of agents fees" story and goes with "the player didn't want to move to a team that couldn't guarantee him play time". Still, it could very well be a lil of column a and a lil of column b.

All this said, I think Tanner is learning an important lesson about representation. Tanner is reportedly still repped by PROSPORT management, who mainly manage MLS / LigaMX / USL players, NASCAR drivers, and a handful of golfers. PROSPORT has hired a well-known Italian agent to negotiate as an intermediary with the Italian clubs. The few players PROSPORT reps in Europe all moved from American leagues, and if PROSPORT isn't able to broach the language gap without adding hundreds of thousands to the cost the move, then they're not the best option for Tessmann as his profile grows...