Football clubs transfer deadline day fast approaching
With just one day left in the transfer window, football clubs are looking to wrap up their summer spending. Yet, the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Tottenham among some others are still looking to strengthen their squads. Chelsea are still keen on signing John Stones and Paul Pogba, while Madrid have their sights set on De Gea, and Arsenal is hopeful about Cavani.
What is a transfer?
In professional football, players are signed under contract by clubs. Transfers take place when players under contract move between two clubs, usually for monetary compensation to the selling club from the buying club. Transfers generally take place during a "transfer window". In modern football, there is a pre-season transfer window (1 July- 1 September), and a mid-season transfer window (1- 31 January).
A brief idea of how transfers work
When one club is interested in a player of another club, a written offer is made, and the selling club may accept or reject the bid. Once a bid has been accepted, the player's agent negotiates personal terms on the player's behalf with the buying club. If negotiations are successful, then requisite documents are filed with relevant authorities to register and approve the transfer.
Who keeps the transfer fees?
When a player gets transferred from one club to another for a certain sum of money, the money is transferred between the clubs only. However, a player (or his agent) can negotiate a "signing on" fee under his new contract, which is a one-time bonus, on top of the his weekly/annual salary. Other bonuses like loyalty bonus, appearance bonus etc. can be negotiated too.
Biggest signings of the 2015-2016 transfer window
The biggest deals this season so far have been De Bruyne: Wolfsburg to Manchester City: €76million; Sterling: Liverpool to Manchester City: €69.4million and Di Maria: Manchester United to PSG: €63million. The other big deals are Benteke: Aston Villa to Liverpool: €46.5million; Otamendi: Valencia to Manchester City: €45million; Firmino: Hoffenheim to Liverpool: €41million; Kandogbia: Monaco to Inter: €40million and Vidal: Juventus to Bayern Munich: €37million.
2015-2016 summer transfer window in numbers
The highest spending European league has generally been the Barclays Premier League, and by quite a big margin. As of 31 August 2015, with still one day to go in the transfer window, the approximate Barclays Premier League 2015-2016 summer transfer spending stands at a mindblowing €965,825,000.
Some other high-profile transfers
The 2015-2016 summer transfer window saw some other big names change clubs too. Among them, was World Cup winner Bastian Schweinsteiger (€20.25million), and Netherlands winger Memphis Depay (€34million) both of whom moved to Manchester United from Bayern Munich and PSV respectively. Pedro (€27million) joined Chelsea from Barcelona, as did Falcao, on loan from Monaco. Barcelona picked up Atletico star Arda Turan for €35million.
