How do football transfers work? Explained

We take a look at how the complex world of footballing transfers work

The world of football is a cohesive combination of various elements that come together to deliver drama and magic on the field. While the on pitch events matter the most in football, a lot of behind the scene work takes place to make sure that favourable results are attained during the games. From a proper coaching staff, to financial assessments, the complexity of the insides of a footballing team is startling. But if one went on, and tried to dig out the most important piece of this off-the-field puzzle, he/she would probably land on the sphere of football transfers.

From record breaking deals including lavish sums; strategic and calculated moves rendered as future investments, to strange and enraging transfers that made cult heroes turn into a club’s biggest enemy, the world of football transfers have been an immensely crucial part of football since time immemorial.

While most of us have a little knowledge on the matter, and even have examples of some infamous transfers at our disposal, the reality is that every transfer is a pretty complex procedure, which includes the approval of a number of parties, an agreement between the clubs and the players involved, and a thousand other things. 

So today, we have brought onto you a much simplified version, in an attempt to make the tangled world of football transfers simpler for all to understand. We take a look at how the initial contact between the clubs are made, and what different situations can unfold during a transfer, and hope to bring onto you the entire cognizance of the matter, so that the next time your favourite club tries to bring in a new player, you can stay on top of the matter, and not stick around like a layman.

What is a transfer in football, and what is a transfer fee?

The most basic way to define a football transfer, would be to term it as a business transaction between two teams in which a player moves from one team to the other. 

A transfer can take place when a player is out of contact, and also when he is committed by the conditions of his contract at his current club. 

If a player is under contract, the club wishing to secure his or her services are usually expected to pay compensation - otherwise known as a transfer fee. 

For instance, the world record transfer fee till date, was paid by Paris Saint Germain in 2017, when they bought Neymar from Barcelona. and paid a total of €222 million to the Spanish giants, as the compensation or transfer fee.

The transfer fee takes into account a number of factors, including the perceived quality of a player, current contract length, commercial value and potential worth, among others.

In case the player’s contract with his current club expires by the time a transfer is made, no transfer fee is required to be paid.

How does a transfer unfold?

At the onset, the club interested in signing a particular player, makes an official enquiry to the club which has the target player under their contract. 

If the club is open to selling then a transfer fee will be negotiated - usually via intermediaries - which is financial compensation from the selling club.

The aforementioned factors will be considered to land at a transfer fee, which is satisfactory for both parties. 

Once the fee and various clauses, including financial indictments are discussed and agreed upon by the two clubs, the player is granted permission to discuss personal terms with the buying club. 

The player's agent is the one in charge of laying out their demands with a senior member of the buying club's board which could be the chief executive or the director of football.

Once the negotiations are over, the purchasing team agrees on a contract with the player — which specifies the salary of the player, the role they will play in the team, and also any additional bonuses based on the player's performance for the season. Some clauses may also be discussed, such as the player’s release clause.

The final steps in the completion of the transfer will include a medical examination at the player’s new club, to assess his/her fitness levels. Post this, the final paperwork is drawn, and is submitted to all the concerned parties, to draw an end to the transfer process. 

In some nations, a work permit for the player also needs to be granted, to allow the player to play in the country.

What is tapping up?

Tapping up is a prohibited practice in football, which involves interested clubs directly contacting the targeted players, without going through the club’s official channels. Though banned in football, tapping up is something that happens quite frequently, and is quite difficult for authorities to enforce.

What is a transfer request?

A transfer request is a formal document submitted either by a player or on their behalf with the aim of forcing through a move to another club.

This usually happens when they've been informed of a new team's interest via tapping up or an official enquiry is rejected by their current team.

Transfer requests usually serve as a sort of 'come-and-get-me' plea and are often designed to make public a player's dissatisfaction with their current situation.

When can transfer take place?

There are two official transfer windows during which transfers are allowed to take place each season. Each national association must decide on when these windows occur for their respective men's and women's football seasons.

They are usually defined as summer and winter transfer windows, with the dates falling during pre-season and then at the mid-way point of a season. These are what we refer to as the summer and the winter transfer window.

What is a loan deal?

A loan in football is when players temporarily leave their club to play for a different one – either in the same league, division or association or to a separate one in another country.

While transfers are permanent, loans are provisional, with the player returning to the club they were originally contracted to at the conclusion of their loan spell.

Most loans usually see young players making a move to lower level clubs, in order to gain valuable first team experience, and get some game time under their belt.

The terms of a loan deal are discussed between the team loaning out the player, and the team receiving the new player. In a few cases, the latter also pays a fee to the former, for the procurement of the player on a loan deal.