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The summer transfer window has become a
frenzy of excitement and impatience, a three-
month stretch where titles and survival can be
decided before a ball is kicked.

But the business of transfer dealings remains
out of reach for fans, a guessing game where
transparency is close to nothing.
So, how does it work?

From the scouting to the signing, we take you
through the anatomy of a transfer, told by
those on the inside...


The scouting
A manager's success can hinge on his scouts,
and the process is not taken lightly. While the
time between an approach for a player and
him signing can be days, everything that goes
before can take months, even years.

"Scouts are out there in all weathers, at all
times,” says Michael Calvin, author of The
Nowhere Men , the story of football’s talent
spotters. "The ones at 1am driving down the
M1 with a pork pie in one hand and the wheel
in the other. They get 40p a mile, that’s all."

Speaking on The Footballers' Football Show in
2013, Calvin revealed how David Moyes would
want 50 lengthy reports on top targets written
between 10 and 12 scouts while at Everton.

"Moyes has what he calls his 'MOT checklist'
which is up to about 12 criteria for each
position in an optimum situation," Calvin said.

"He has around about 5,000 reports on about
1,000 players."

A game of Football Manager this is not.
Footballing ability comes first but is
sometimes only half the reason a player is
approached, and scouts have been known to
bin a recommendation purely on poor body
language in a warm-up or when celebrating a
goal.

MK Dons boss Karl Robinson told Sky Bet’s Art
of Scouting series: "There's no good scout who
has only watched 10 games and knows what
they're doing, I can promise you that.

"I trust them myself to do the large parts of it,
and I just go to the end and hopefully tick the
boxes."

A Premier League club will have around 10 to
15 scouts in total, but a chief scout's bond
with the manager will be as strong as any at
the club during transfer activity, a clear shared
vision of what they are looking for, the same
common goal.

Thousands of miles, thousands of games,
thousands not fitting the bill. Is there an
easier way?

Most clubs use statistical databases parallel to
a pool of scouts; Prozone, WyScout, Scout7,
DataScout, even a souped-up version of
Football Manager, but will computers ever fully
replace pen, paper and a scout pass?

West Brom scout Mel Johnson told the Art of
Scouting series: "You must go to games, you
must have gut instinct, you cannot have that
watching a game on a laptop, it is impossible."

Even camera views can influence perception,
as Sky Sports’ Gary Neville explained to
Graham Hunter in his Big Interview : "A lot of
people watch the game, but don't see the
game.

"When we do Monday Night Football, we use
the boot room camera, the bird's-eye view of
the pitch. That's how a manager would look at
the game."


The enquiry
Scouts utilised, player targeted. What next?
More digging. "We phone the manager and
ask, we get a background on him, we phone an
agent and find out what his personality is like,"
says Dons' boss Robinson.

The agent and the player will be aware of a
club's interest long before an offer goes in;
rarely in modern football does a bid surprise
player and public in equal measure.

World in Motion agent James Lippett says:
"The buying club will always want to know
they have a chance of doing the deal,
otherwise they will look stupid.

"The conversation with the agent usually goes:
1) What is the player going to cost? 2) How
long is left on their contract? 3) What does the
player want to earn? 4) What does he currently
earn? and 5) What is their family and personal
situation?"

Old-time visions of a club secretary receiving a
letter-headed document from a fax machine
with a money offer are wide of the mark, says
Lippett.

"There will normally be three or four bids done
very simply by e-mail," he adds. "The opening
bid will be rejected in 99.9 per cent of cases.
The second gets closer, and then one or two
final bids. It's like a game of poker."


The player talks
Bid in, bid accepted: player Y nears club X.
Except he is nowhere near.

Modern ‘personal terms’ are much more than
salary, and even the slightest disagreement
can throw a deal off.

While managers do the football talk, chiefs,
owners and directors of football often do the
money talk; the basics include wages, signing
on fees, and bonuses such as wins, goals and
clean sheets, but beyond that players and
agents can demand anything and everything.

As of April, anyone can become an agent. Just
pass with £500, go through an FA security
check and you are registered. There are
thought to be over 1,300 in the UK to account
for around 4,000 professional players, but
many new agents have no clients.

Newcomers hope for a slice of football's
financial growth, but a diluted market means
only the top 10 per cent earn big money, with
the rest fighting for leftovers.

But for those facilitating regular, big deals, the
role is rounded.

"What car is the player going to get?" says
Lippett. "If a player moves from overseas,
there could be a relocation allowance. But
occasionally players will ask for help and
advice for schooling and all sorts too."

A footballer's career is transient, and players
and agents will understandably attempt to get
the most out of clubs while being the aide for
both club and client.

Barry Fry, director of football at Peterborough
United, has another view.

"Agents' initial demands are outrageous," he
says. "Some of the agents have never even
seen their client kick a ball, which is a
disgrace.

"They're not interested in their development,
only in what they can get themselves [agents
tend to take five per cent commission, though
earlier this year new FIFA regulations
recommended a three per cent cap].

"We say to players: 'You're not going to
become a millionaire when you come to
Peterborough, but you will when you leave us.'
I think plenty of Premier League managers
have said similar to players they are trying to
sign."

That much-criticised opt for a giant leap over
baby steps works for some players and not
others. Arsenal's nurturing of then-teenage
pair Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-
Chamberlain has been successful, yet plenty
have warned John Stones he is better off at
Everton.

The reality is often this: players back
themselves to reach the top quickly, a trait
that makes them 'young talent' in the first
place.

According to Lippett, demands and ambition
differ hugely depending on their success to
date, and understandably so.

"If a player is successful and very wealthy
already, the personal side is paramount," he
says. "If the player hasn't had a break
financially, or hasn't been successful, the
finance can be the most important thing. The
ambition and logistics can be secondary.
"Lots of players live in one city and travel
hours to another city for training. A lot of
footballers do lead quite solitary and lonely
lives, you can find yourself moving overnight.

That's the type of thing people don't really
see."

The clauses and confirmation
Personal terms done, but there are still
stumbling blocks. The release clause is now
more a part of the footballing vocabulary than
ever, but what is its purpose?

Take Pedro's reported former release clause
of £135m at Barcelona, now £22m, or Fabian
Delph's £8m getaway upon signing a new
contract at Aston Villa. They are in place to
protect the player, club, or both.

Beyond that, contract clauses can be weird
and wonderful. Upon signing for Sunderland,
Buzz Aldrin enthusiast and Swedish midfielder
Stefan Schwarz was banned from going into
space for safety reasons after one of his
advisers got a place on a commercial flight to
the outer atmosphere in 1999, while Harry
Redknapp reportedly advised Crystal Palace to
put a 'weight restriction clause' on Neil
Ruddock in 2000.

Not straightforward, and neither is the
medical. With more money comes a more
rigorous process, but the aim is to identify a
hidden injury or weakness that could turn a
club's millions into a dormant squad player.
But players can fail a medical and get their
move. Dominic Matteo signed for Leeds from
Liverpool in 2000 for nearly £5m despite failing
a medical, while Stuart Pearce told Sky
Sports about a refreshing case involving one of
his former players.

"We gave him a medical and the doctor said
his ankles and knees were suspect, his groins
weren't very good, blood tests not good, slight
heart murmur.

"I said: 'Is there anything good you can say?'
The doctor said: 'He's got a lovely set of
teeth.'

"But he joined us and promised: 'If I'm not
available, I won't get paid that week.' He
backed himself and was rarely unfit. If all
players did that, they'd be a lot fitter."
Medical done, and all that is left is to send the
paperwork relating to the transfer to the
competitions and FA before deadlines. Press
release, social media and club shirt at the
ready, and the player is signed.

Premier League clubs signed on average eight
players during last summer's window.
Repeating the above process eight times – the
stalling, complications and rejections to boot –
leaves little time for a mental recharge.

The riches are plentiful, the pressures even
more so, and the managers and clubs who get
recruitment right more often than not deserve
huge credit. Playing the transfer market is not
a game of pin the tail on the donkey.

lalasticalala Ishilove

MizMyColi:


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