Modern footballer 1 – 0 Club

Vikrant Hatwalne

21st July 2012 | 11:14 AM

A lot has been said about loyalty of players towards their club. A lot has been pondered upon about the power of the agents in a player’s decision over staying at a particular club. From Wes Brown almost leaving Man Utd. in 2004 and 2008 to the Van Persie saga in 2012, player agents have been involved all the time.

Roles agent play behind the scene

Ferguson had stated that the power of transfers has shifted from the club into the players’ hands. These were the comments made by Ferguson during Wes Brown’s uncertainty of remaining at Manchester United. Twice.

February 22nd, 2008: “Players of today live in their agents’ pockets,” said Ferguson. “It’s a situation which depresses me at times, it really depresses me. Wes has been with us since he was 12, but I don’t think that matters these days. Players’ agents live their lives for them and if you are happy to go along with that, you get the situation you have got just now. But Wes knows this and the other players have told him. We wouldn’t have made the offer if we hadn’t had faith in him. It’s in his hands. It’s amazing really given that he has had such a good season and has had such a good run of games while Gary has been injured.”

It’s good to know when the club wants a player to stay and the player agrees. The hoolahoo begins when the player wants to go elsewhere. Other clubs come in for the player, he becomes a regular on the Sports Daily, agents swing player’s minds, grandmothers-grandfathers come into the picture and finally it’s upto the player what he wants. Today the club, unlike earlier times, hardly has any power over keeping the player at the club. As Ferguson said during the Tevez transfer saga, “To begin with, when I first started out in management 37 years ago there were no agents. Imagine that! There was no freedom of contract either, so players were totally tied to their clubs. A change in that sense was inevitable, though I think that now the scales have tipped completely in the other direction and I’m not sure it’s good for the game.”

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