FLOS FLOPS: Ballon D’or Price Tags, Bench Value

When Luis Figo made “that switch” from Barcelona to arch-rivals Real Madrid on July 24, 2000 (setting a new record fee for transfers in the summer) many had their skepticism about how Real Madrid had closed a deal of such magnitude.

Few could doubt the quality of the marquee Portuguese purchase as he boasted of a CV with over 58 goals, and seven trophies, including two La Liga titles, during his five-year stint at Barcelona. The 2000 Ballon d’Or winner and then captain of FC Barcelona was arguably the best in the world and only a few ranked in his elite class. 

But €62m for a player in 2000? Oh dear! That was unthinkable. The bid was so improbable that then President of Barcelona, Joan Gaspart laughed off the interest of Real Madrid towards his captain, as he felt no football club (that wishes to remain financially healthy) would make such an outrageous bid for a football player. 

Reminiscing in the summer of 2020 about the events that unfolded during the completion of the transfer of Luis Figo, the Spanish business mogul Joan Gaspart said in an interview with Spanish paper Marca “Signing Figo was a stroke of genius from Florentino… but it was illegal.”

The Portuguese midfielder more than justified his fee with five seasons’ worth of silverware with the Los Blancos, including two La Liga titles, a Champions League victory, and “football’s crown jewel” the Ballon d’Or.

A spree of record-breaking signings was what followed the unimaginable signing of Luis Figo and Real Madrid under the management of Florentino Perez played their part. 

Zinedine Zidane to Real Madrid for a new world record €75m in the summer of 2001, Rui Costa’s switch in the same summer from bankrupt Fiorentina to AC Milan for €49.7m, Gaizka Mendieta’s move from Hector Cuper’s Valencia to Lazio for a fee in the region of €48m in 2001, Gianluigi Buffon’s shocking move from Parma to Juventus in 2001 for €45m – a then record fee for a Goal Keeper, Juan Sebastian Veron, Lazio to Manchester United for €42.6 in 2001. It was obvious we were set for a new dawn of football transfers.

Fast forward to the summer of 2009 and beyond, the money generated by football clubs had risen exponentially. The years have also lent exorbitant TV deals, namely the Premier League TV deal and La Liga deals which come in the region of $ 1 billion and  €660 million respectively – deals which have since risen to over $4.5 billion for both leagues. Outrageous club takeovers became more common, with the Qatari Sport investment group gracing European football with their wealth, clubs with their players (thereby becoming more profit-oriented), and a host of other marketing activities which translated to clubs having enough “greenback” to spend. Ironically, what came with this massive pull of pounds into the beautiful game was a sheer dearth of talent.

This dearth wasn’t without its domino effect – club academies started pushing out their finest talent half-baked to the main stage, as they were sure to get a lot of money for these young talents. The top-class footballers then became costlier, resulting in what the Economist term “demand-pull inflation” – when aggregate demand outpaces aggregate supply in the market. 

For context: Most club sides had enough money to sign whomever they wanted and at the same time, there was a shortage of proven quality players. Ricardo Kaka, Fernando Torres, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Cristiano Ronaldo all were transferred for outrageous fees – Cristiano setting an all-time record of £80m with his move to Real Madrid in the summer of 2009.

A host of other players joined the elite list of record-breaking transfers including James Rodriguez, Gareth Bale, and Luis Suarez when they made their respective switches. But it appeared the inevitable was happening. The dread of many football administrators and stakeholders became a reality when Paul Pogba completed that £89m move to former club Manchester United in the summer of 2016, to the surprise of many.

What followed was another sequence of outrageous transfers all with little or no yield.

A £75m Romelu Lukaku move from Everton to Manchester United, where he’s scored 23 goals in all competitions in 43 appearances in his first season; and Chelsea’s £60m signing of Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid, a move which would only produce 24 goals in his 72 appearances for the West London side both in the summer of 2017.

Ousmane Dembele to Barcelona? Philipe Coutinho’s January move from Liverpool? The list is endless. What remains the cause of this circus of transfer appears a mystery yet to be unraveled. Could it be a result of the exorbitant money now available in the football climate? Could it be football clubs packaging their products to fit what many European giants dream of? 

Or should it be that players only strive for stardom and once they attain it they relent? That these players are in reality talented but are victims of a wrong system of play by their managers?

Joao Felix, Jack Grealish, Harry Maguire, Eden Hazard, Antoine Griezmann, Luka Jovic, Nicolas Pepe, Kai Harvertz, Darwin Nunez, Anthony, Jadon Sancho, – the list of dubitable transfers is lengthy. And the sad reality remains we may never know exactly what the cause of this dearth of quality accompanied by huge transfer spending is.

Mykhaylo Mudryk with his latest €100m move to Chelsea joins the list of elite transfers but it remains to be seen if the 22-year-old excels like PSG’s Kylian Mbappe or if he joins the ranks of Eden Hazard and Philipe Coutinho on the all-time flop list.

Speaking of… we made a list of our list of top football transfer flops since the football financial boom of 2009.

Here is FLOS’ list of the top 10 football transfer flops since 2009: