I could remember in 1990 World cup, Roberto Baggio was the most expensive player in the world to that championship. He is a £7m player.

What is £7m these days?

David Beckham left United to Real Madrid for £24.5m
Louis Figo get to Madid for a whooping £38.7m
Shev goes to stamford Bridge for £30m
Zidane left Juve with a budden of over $66.
Alex fergusson fork out £30m for Ferdinand.


What amazes me is the price tags of these English players, most of them are average players but their price is overblown.

Members:

1) What is Football turning into?
2) Does the price tag affect those players at all?

And

Akolawole:

I could remember in 1990 World cup, Roberto Baggio was the most expensive player in the world to that championship. He is a £7m player.

What is £7m these days?

David Beckham left United to Real Madrid for £24.5m
Louis Figo get to Madid for a whooping £38.7m
Shev goes to stamford Bridge for £30m
Zidane left Juve with a budden of over $66.
Alex fergusson fork out £30m for Ferdinand.


What amazes me is the price tags of these English players, most of them are average players but their price is overblown.

Members:

1) What is Football turning into?
2) Does the price tag affect those players at all?

Akolawole:

I could remember in 1990 World cup, Roberto Baggio was the most expensive player in the world to that championship. He is a £7m player.

What is £7m these days?

David Beckham left United to Real Madrid for £24.5m
Louis Figo get to Madid for a whooping £38.7m
Shev goes to stamford Bridge for £30m
Zidane left Juve with a budden of over $66.
Alex fergusson fork out £30m for Ferdinand.


What amazes me is the price tags of these English players, most of them are average players but their price is overblown.

Members:

1) What is Football turning into?
2) Does the price tag affect those players at all?

Football is changing

In the past, pple played any sport whatsoever purely for the love of it. In fact, I think remember reading that back in the day, it wasnt uncommon for a player of any sport to revert to his regular job after a match.

Someone somewhere discovered the money potential and as capitalism dictates, the higher the demand, the higher the price. Either you sign a player and reap the benefits from TV rights to Tshirts to Higher attendance or someone else will.

England seems to fork out the most for the same reason the NBA or NFL does same in the states - economic freedom. Remove the fear of being investigated for the source of your wealth and the money will surely flow. Do you think Abramovich would be flashing around big bucks in Russia? I think not.

As always, my 2 cents.

Good observation about the cost of English players. Go through BBC sport have your say, there was an argument there a while ago on why most of British top teams had virtually no English players, at the end it was discovered that most foreign coaches would prefer to buy foreign players who are better and cheaper than the English player.

Can you imagine Claude Makele and William Gallas being paid 40,000 pounds a week and flops like Frank Lampard are paid 120,000 pounds a week?

we all know English hooligans ever get to where they want.
wait and see Rooney leave.
It will cost some ones life to release him
Ferguson is making mouth about RVN when he dumped him
He should release him at whatever fee

Football has change totally

Football is a big business.
I expect more mega-millions in the next decade if FIFA does not clamp down and put a cap on the wages a player can net.
These footballers are more or less hollywood stars these days.
The royal treatments meted out to players is amazing and the way people flock around 'em to get autographs is ridiculous.

I am personally not in favor of a cap, being the capitalistic man that I am. Besides, the money these guys are making is peanuts compared to what their fellow athlete mates are making in the NBA/NFL.

@my2cents,

R u serious?
Who is the highest paid NBA/NFL player in the US and how much does he earns?

jackal:

Right now, I don't know, but I think its Shaquille O'Neal at $27million. The one I am sure of was wen Michael Jordan was making $40,000 *per game*. So assuming 4 games a week, that would come up to around $200,000 a week. Even in pounds, it is still more than the 120,000 pounds (abi na euros) that the galacticos were earning per week. I could be wrong, but I think I am right on the money here.

Just in case, letz not confuse footballers salary with the transfer fees. Zidane may hv been the most expensive player in the world, but most of the 52million bucks shelled out for him was in transfer fees. Check this out: Ronaldinho's transfer fee has been set at 150million bucks (euro, pound, dollar, i cant remember)

its the times

@ my2cents,

If Jordan gets $40,000 per game and he plays 4 games in a week then he gets $160,000 a week.
$160,000 a week is about £90,000 a week which is a far cry to what Rio Ferdinand(£120,000) gets every week.
Do u know Shevchenko will be paid £140,000 per week when the season starts in August?
Are u telling me Kobe Bryant/Shaq makes $270,000(£140,000 equiv.) a week on wages? Hell Nah.
No individual sports man makes as much as this figures in the whole USA so forget it.
Footballers wages have gone past your so-called NBA stars in recent times.

Don't get me wrong.
Tiger Woods, Shaquile O'Neal and Kobe Bryant are richer than the likes of Beckham and Ronaldinho but things might change very soon.
The rate at which this wages are growing is quite alarming with the way Billionaires all over the world are getting interested in Football.
There was a time Roman Abrahamovic wanted Ronaldo(Real Madrid) so desperately and he was ready to pay him £250,000(about $500,000) every week.
Isn't that crazy?

It sure is

imagine what i would do with 250,000 Iya Shali

men, i would paint the universe RED & WHITE! gooner 4 lyfe

jackal:

I troway salute for your mathematical calculations . Next time, I will do more research b4 shooting my big crap hole. That nothwithstanding, I will stand by more former argument. check out this post from 2004 from forbes magazine online:

http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2004/0705/093tab.html

1) How many soccer players are on there compared to NFL/NBA/American athletes in general?

2) Going back to NBA, where does the highest paid soccer player stand compared to an NBA player?

Sure, these figures are from 2004. I am still pretty sure though that these figures would stand firm today. As a matter of fact, I just watched a show yesterday on the 100 top celebs, worldwide. Shaq topped Beckham, the *only* soccer player on that list, based on 2005 figures. In the case of this TV show, $$ figures included endorsements and "press clippings" whatever that means. Even without those, I am sure Shaq still beat Beckham.

Letz not get one thing wrong: I am a thoroughbred soccer zealot. That notwithstanding, I will still stand by what I have said above. After analyzing the figures, if you feel I am still wrong, let me know and I will stand corrected

I have already answered your questions.
The forbes list is based on the yeary income in wages, endorsements, commerical ads etc. between June 2005-June 2006.
Ronaldinho is currently 53($26m net income) on the list. Beckham is 43rd on the list($27m), and Kobe is 25th with $31m.
50 cent is 8th in the world with a net income of $41m. These figures fluctuate like London weather so we can't really hold on to 'em.

These NBA/NFL players are still on top of 'em football players because of their marketability and endorsements with various sport gears for ages.
Imagine Shevchenko was 22 years old and he continues to earn 140k pounds every week for the next 8 years. How long will it take him to overtake Shaquille and Kobe Bryants in the NBA?

U also have to look at it from the angle that Shaq and co have been around with these mouth-watering wages for so long.
Ronaldinho for instance was a nobody as at 7 years ago when he represented Brazil at Nigeria 1999 and Shaquille and Kobe have been earning mad cheddarz since then.

Ronaldinho is now above David Beckham as the most marketable player in the world but Beckham is loads richer than Dinho.
Footballers are fast catching up with the NBA/NFL players.
Check this scenario------------------
If Ronaldinho suddenly throws in a transfer request @ Barca, his buy-out clause will stand at $150 million.
Are u saying Roman Abrahamovic cannot go on this kind of spending spree and land Dinho?
How high on the Celeb list will Dinho go if this kind of scenario develops?
He will rise 20 steps above em Shaq and Kobe, innit?
Do the math.

Ronnie probably will, but until that happens, I guess we will just have to sit and wait. And actually, the wait may be over. I just found this link on CNNSi:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/specials/fortunate50/index.20.html

You may just have been vindicated. As always, I don't claim to know anything and will stand corrected if indeed u r correct

Check out the link and letz talk more about this

I don't know about your link.
Forbes is the best link u can get these facts.
This is ma source.
http://www.forbes.com/2006/06/12/06celebrities_money-power-celebrities-list_land.html

These are the big earners of 2005/06.
Tiger Woods leads the rank as the best paid athlete but Football players are coming up.
Dinho wasn't even on the list in 2004 but now he earns more than Williams' sisters and even P. Diddy.

Football and other sports have turned into business it's the sad facts. Money is the root of all evil. That's what happened to Juventus. For good or for bad business has come into football.Hate it or Love it. I hate Chelsea money gays Peace

i think it's affected by the attention and dedication of fans n lovers of these sports in question!

fans will pay any amount to watch football mayches, b-ball? - pple are obsessed

how do u explain money mags buyin over a club? - he's ready to do anytin, pay any amount to make his team be d best - check out jay-z ownin NJ Nets, Roman and chelsea,

i just think alot of tins have changed and d worled world is changin with it, - sports not excluded!

the world economy also tell - i mean, baggio's 7million pounds is not today's 7 million pounds1

dblock:

Football and other sports have turned into business it's the sad facts. Money is the root of all evil. That's what happened to Juventus. For good or for bad business has come into football.Hate it or Love it. I hate Chelsea money gays Peace

correction, the love of money is the root of evil,

u hate chelsea becasuse your team don't have enough money as they do, if the team u support had a lot of money like chelsea, u would not want anyone to hate your team for the money they have,

the NBA spends more money than football does, so wats ur point

lordi i disagree

chelsea pays much more than the players are worth (in my opinion), just because they have an 'endless' money supply in abramovich. they are creating inequities in the game which is not tied to football factors - performance/popularity. most of these american franchises (if not all) are run like biznesses, not just some rich benefactor doling out money (thats why the glazer's wd borrow to buy man u instead of putting their personal dough). by driving up prices inreasonably they are hurting the game. other clubs make income and trade based on that, thats why i don't like chelski's influence

@debosky

i agree with you that roman's millions have brought a change to the face of football which is a detriment to other clubs

i personnally feel chelsea are just bullying their way thru, but honestly there should be a cap on things, i mean,

is shevkencho worth the 44m,

is shawn wright phillips worth the money they bought him

is essien worth the salt?

but there's nothing we can do but to allow the russian run the show,

it can only go on for so long, if the FA or UEFA don't step in, it will all crash badly hurting the entire football system

a salary cap should be in place, even if its reviewed every 5 years or something

except someone hires an assasin to murder roman abrahamovich

_{chelsea fans would skin me alive if it happens}

methinks if they don't win the CL next yr maureen may be out of a job, and that might signal the downward spiral of d club,

besides chelski aren't the only causes, i think real actually set off this 'cash rules' thing, with luis figo and zizou. those two worked and they won la liga one yr and the CL the next, but since becks, everything has been going downhill. hope the same thing doesnt happen to chelski ( or maybe i do?)

i can't wait for the season to start

its august 19 man, just less than 3 weeks away

My point is clear and straight forward. what Arsenal(my team) achieved in decades, chelsea undeservingly achieved because of a rich tycoon from russia. there isn't an even playing field like what it used to be back in the days. I fthat wasn't bad ebough glazer comes in. Why can't business people just understand that soccer is a sport and not a nice way to make cash. The proper way to make cash out of football is by promoting your name through sponsorship. Every one knows that Chelsea are only mighty Chelsea cos of cash. But cash or no cash Arsenal we'll make em pay next season.

@dblock,
U wish.
Arsenal to make Chelsea pay?
Gabon to make Italy pay sounds better.
Why hate when u can appreciate what Roman revolution has brought to the English League.
This trend has been going on for years so let Chelsea be.

Throughout the 70's and 80s Liverpool can be adjudged as the only team in England.
Liverpool FC had money and they were buying the best players in the world.
When there's money there will be instant result and guaranteed success.
Players like Ian Rush, Kenny Dalglish, Alan Hansen and Graeme Souness were acquired to a tune of 1 million pounds in the 70s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In just 9 seasons(1974-1983) under coach Bob Paisely, Liverpool won 21 trophies including 3 European Cups,1 UEFA Cup, 6 League titles and 3 consecutive league cups.

Then came Man Utd in the 90s and early 2000s
Sir Alex Ferguson was able to steer Man Utd to win European Cup winners cup in 1990/91 thus floating the club into London Stock Exchange with a valuation of 18 million pounds.
He was able to buy Cantona for 1.2 million pounds, Gary Pallister for 2.3 million pounds(British Record) and Paul Ince for a million pounds.
Ferguson blended these stars with his club's youth team that included David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs etc to produce the most dominant team the Premiership has ever seen yet.
More record transfers were to follow. Ferdinand and Seba Veron were to cost about 60 million pounds between 2001-2003. Ruud Van Nistelrooy was to cost 19 million pounds and the list goes on and on.
The team went on to win 8  Premiership titles in just 11 seasons including the Champions league in 1999.
Who says money does not talk?

It's Chelski's time. Let 'em shine.
Abrahamovic or Mourinho does not control the price-tag on these players.
As soon as Chelsea shows interests in a certain player the price will sky-rocket to about 500%
Shaun Wright Phillips market value shouldn't have been more than 5 million pounds but Mourinho ended up paying 24 million.
Chelsea FC cannot control this ridiculous price tag and when Chelsea needs a player they must get the player at whatever cost.
At the end of the day, Its the fans that bear the brunt especially in ticket prices, Chelsea TV subscriptions and merchandise.
Stamford Bridge is the most expensive ground in England today with exorbitant ticket prices levied on die-hard fans.
It is the only ground in England where disabled fans pay to watch live games.
Man Utd and Arsenal disabled fans don't pay nuthin to watch Premieship matches.
In fairness, i cannot blame Roman for this advanced money-laundering scheme he has deployed cos he has no control over the situation.
Let Chelsea continue to enjoy the infinite source of funds they have got.
Afterall, who wldn't wish the same for the club he supports.
Ride on Chelski.

@jackal.

u r forgetting something, during that time, clubs were buying players according to their worth,

now adays, teams like chelsea with their mega bucks overprice players, now, if u ask any hungry player(e.g. mikel obi), which club would like to play for? they all stupidly say chelsea,

thats how it is, its just like the nigerian government, its so corrupt and very easy to embezzle, right now, in the north

if u ask a ten year old child what he wants to be in future, they all say they want 2 become the governor or LGA chairman or something,

this sucks

@ Lordimpaq,

What makes u think Chelsea over-price players?
Its not Chelsea that call the shots on prices but the team that wants to sell the player.
Chelsea reeks of billions and everyone is aware of this new development.
Every club thinks they can make fortunes outta Roman's army.

chelsea can easily manipulate things because they've got excess cash and they are willing to get things done by all means cos they've got wat it takes (ca$h) to make a deal happen,

if u have a lot of money, u can go at any length to pay even thrice or even ten times as much because you want that thing, that's chelsea, only in this case, those things are human beings,

shevchenko is not worth that price, dats way too much,

do u think SWP is worth the 23m they bought him,, wat was the results, unproductivity, that cost him an england place in the world cup,

do u know dat if SWP was still in Man City he would have been in the England world cup squad, but no, he wanted chelsea and chelsea wanted him, who would resist a 23m pound offer, man city would readily accept, and they did.

yeah chelsea reeks of billions and everyone is aware that is what makes them jack up the prices of some players, because they know moneybags (ch£l$ki) would pay at any cost.

chelsea even went as far as placing a 70million dollar bid on kaka once and ronaldinho too, thats crazy,