Dr. Mohamed Fadlalla
El mercato, “the market” in English, “le marche” in French or السوق (Al-Souq) in Arabic is now a word that refers to the market in which the players are being transferred,
whether in the summer market during the summer transfer period or in the winter market during the winter transfer period.
The word market takes us to the place or space in which a product gets promoted and our product here is the players. The product is the trade subjected to the law of supply and demand which reflects a larger concept and a deeper meaning referred to as the “economy of football”.
I am always surprised during the transfer periods when I hear a lot of illogical and unrealistic words, especially those about the rise of players’ prices.
This of course is not logical in light of the economics and financial transactions of football.
The idea of making comparisons between what a football player earns and what is earned from any other job is an illogical comparison because the equality of measure and the economic and social impact between football and other jobs is certainly different since football is linked to competitive rates, broadcast rights, commercials and mass views, all of which depend on the football player, which is the main focus of the overall components of the football product in general.
However, this is not enough for the Egyptian football authorities and they should set the standards and determinants of the financial system that regulates this market and determine its financial aspects and its economic components within the Financial Fair Play Regulations.
Generally this is the market whose solid base is “supply and demand”.
The other issue is the idea that this market is an independent economy which is an important financial regulator in the financial market movement in the state. The processes of transition and the financial market movement are certain to represent large financial flows between clubs affected and influenced by them.
The idea of players’ transfers should not be seen through a restricted view that depends solely on the market value of the player’s transfer, which can often be of high financial value, and may not be understandable for many people.
So we should deal with this with a more comprehensive vision that these transitions are the language spoken by the world, and that these transfers are followed by commercial advertisements and expenses between the clubs, the constructional development and spending on the rest of sports sectors which help improving the economic strength.
Therefore dealing with the players’ transfer prices should be viewed from the perspective of full knowledge of the football economy and in a professional way and not just depend on our emotions.
