We Ain't Got No History - Chelsea FC Transfer Rumors: Liverpool's Raheem SterlingChampions of Europe!https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/52884/21_SBN_002_We_Aint_Got_No_History_Favicon_32x32..png2015-06-24T17:00:00+01:00http://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/rss/stream/81083742015-06-24T17:00:00+01:002015-06-24T17:00:00+01:00That's a lot of sterling for Sterling!
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<p>Unsurprisingly, just a couple days after <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/">Chelsea</a> captain <span>John Terry</span> had <a href="http://www.espnfc.us/story/2501723/john-terry-raheem-sterling-has-been-treated-unfairly">spoken out in support</a> of <span>Raheem Sterling</span> -- Terry does know a thing or two about winning and about being fantastic, yet unfairly treated -- the Blues are back in with supposed interest for <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/">Liverpool's</a> want-away. So far, we've mostly been used as the big bad boogeyman to try to scare more money out of <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://bitterandblue.sbnation.com/">Manchester City</a>. And that worked for Liverpool when City upped their bid from £25m to £40m. But now we're in with "real" interest and willingness.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Chelsea are not willing to bid above £40m for Raheem Sterling, according to Sky sources.</p>
<p>Manchester City have tabled two bids for Sterling, the second believed to be around £40m for the Liverpool and England forward. Sky Sports News HQ understands Chelsea are also interested in signing the 20-year-old but are not prepared to meet Liverpool's £50m valuation of the player.</p>
<p style="text-align: right;">-source: <a href="http://www1.skysports.com/transfer/news/11668/9893838/chelsea-pursuit-of-raheem-sterling-will-not-go-above-16340m">Sky</a></p>
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<p>Since our maximum bid matches City's supposed bid, maybe those two have moved on to more detailed negotiations and we're now being used as leverage in those talks. Or maybe our interest and willingness to spend the cash on the 20-year-old is real. There are certainly worse ways to blow £40m, though there are probably better ones, too, ones that don't carry a homegrown tax in addition to the Chelsea tax.</p>
https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2015/6/24/8838731/chelsea-liverpool-sterlings-and-sterlings-and-sterlings-and-more-sterlingsDavid Pasztor2015-06-15T15:21:32+01:002015-06-15T15:21:32+01:00Sky Sports links Chelsea to Sterling
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<p>According to Sky Sports News, <a href="https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Chelsea</a> have a new transfer target. The club are reportedly keeping an eye on <span>Raheem Sterling</span> of Liverpool. here's what the English news outlet had to say:</p>
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<p>Chelsea have become the latest club to enter the race for Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling, according to Sky sources.</p>
<p>We understand the Premier League champions are monitoring the situation at Anfield but are not prepared to meet <a href="https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Liverpool's</a> £50million valuation.</p>
<p><a href="https://bitterandblue.sbnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Manchester City</a> are yet to submit a revised bid for Sterling after their initial £25m offer, plus add-ons, was rejected last week.</p>
<p>We understand there have been no bids for Sterling from any other club.</p>
<p>Neither Liverpool, Manchester City or Chelsea have commented on the latest developments.</p>
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<p>I'm a fan of Sterling, and am pretty happy to hear that the club is keeping up on the situation. That said, I wouldn't want to shell out that sort of money for the player, as he's no Fernando Torres.</p>
<p>With Chelsea now 'in the race' for an young, English star, I'd expect to be reading quite a bit about Chelsea in the next several days. Silly season. Yay.</p>
https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2015/6/15/8782249/chelsea-fc-transfer-news-raheem-sterling-liverpool-for-chelsea-manchester-cityStephen Schmidt2015-05-21T14:11:51+01:002015-05-21T14:11:51+01:00Sterling agent suggests potential Chelsea move
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<p>Luis Suarez once forced his way out of Anfield by becoming such a headache off of the pitch that <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/">Liverpool</a> were willing to let their best player leave, without having an adequate replacement lined up. Raheem Sterling's agent, Aidy Ward, seems to have taken notes from that situation, and is doing his best to earn his client a move away from the Reds.</p>
<p>Sterling's contractual situation has been the big story around England of late, with little of not happening on the pitch in recent weeks. <span>Jamie Carragher</span> made his displeasure with Ward's work known on Monday evening, and according to Benedict Moore-Bridger of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/raheem-sterlings-agent-aidy-ward-confirms-star-wants-to-leave-liverpool-900000aweek-would-not-keep-him-at-anfield-10266233.html">The London Evening Standard</a>, Ward fired back on Wednesday:</p>
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<p>"Carragher is a knob. Everybody knows it. Any of the criticism from current pundits or ex-Liverpool players - none of them things matter to me. It is not relevant."</p>
<p>"I don’t care about the PR of the club and the club situation. I don’t care. He is definitely not signing. He’s not signing for £700, £800, £900 thousand a week. He is not signing."</p>
<p>"My job is to make sure I do the best with them (my clients). If people say I am bad at my job, or they are badly advised it does not matter."</p>
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<p>Now would be the time to note that Ward has since <a href="http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/12040/9858703/raheem-sterling-agent-denies-evening-standard-story/" target="_blank">denied</a> making those comments, though it's worth noting that The Evening Standard has never been known for making up comments like the ones printed in Thursday's paper in order to sell more copies. My gut tells me that Ward actually made the comments in question, but realized after the fact that they may do his client more harm than good.</p>
<p>Regardless, The Evening Standard also had this nugget in the article, which <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/">Chelsea</a> fans should be excited about:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Ward said Sterling would not move to Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich, and suggested Chelsea or <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://bitterandblue.sbnation.com/">Manchester City</a> were the most likely destinations.</p>
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<p>Real or not, I can't imagine this story will make Sterling any more popular with the Anfield faithful, who already <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/raheem-sterling-booed-liverpool-fans-5726159" target="_blank">booed the player</a> when he was honored by the club earlier this week. That alone should make his Liverpool exit a little more likely, should one of Chelsea or Manchester City make an acceptable bid.</p>
https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/chelsea-fc-transfer-rumours-news/2015/5/21/8633663/reheem-sterling-agent-quotes-chelsea-liverpool-transfer-rumorStephen Schmidt2015-05-19T16:07:54+01:002015-05-19T16:07:54+01:00Sterling wants to leave Liverpool, win trophies
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<p><span>Raheem Sterling</span> has been stalling on a new contract at Anfield, and on Monday, news leaked that he's definitely looking to move on this summer. <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/raheem-sterling-determination-leave-liverpool-5720232" target="_blank">The spin</a> then got rolling with some explanation of the desire to move, making sure that fans know that it's not all about the money.</p>
<p>That spin didn't phase <span>Jamie Carragher</span>, who was quite critical of his former teammate and his representatives:</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KvDEI9yJEvc" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Personally, I could not care less about Sterling's reasoning for wanting a move. I've always been in favor of players being given as much control over their future as possible, and if Sterling doesn't want to be at <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/">Liverpool</a> anymore, than I'd hope he eventually gets his way. The idea Carragher is endorsing that he shouldn't "take on" his current employer is ridiculous...if the player wants to leave, he shouldn't be feeling pressure from the media to sign a new contract with his current employer. The fact that Sterling is only 20 shouldn't play into his thinking one way or the other either, as the ex-Red seems to be suggesting. No doubt, if Jaime wasn't happy at Sky, he'd be doing much the same, despite the fact that's he's still new to punditry.</p>
<p>That said, Sterling is currently under contract with Liverpool, and if he's really unhappy enough with the situation, there are avenues he can take to buy out the last year of his deal. If it doesn't come to that, I'll find it very difficult to become too fussed if Liverpool decide to force him to honor that deal, and then watch him walk away for a nominal fee. That's their right, after all, even if it would be silly.</p>
<p>Regardless, if I'm on the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/">Chelsea</a> board, I'm putting in a call about Sterling's availability soon*. He's a good enough player to push Willian for minutes on the right, and his newfound ability to operate centrally in a pinch could be useful for Jose Mourinho. He's also homegrown (and currently U21), which would be a big boost for the Blues. It would likely take an awfully big bid to convince FSG to sell, but we seem to have a decent working relationship with Liverpool at the moment, even if the two sets of fans don't much care for the other club.</p>
<p><i>*I found the note Carragher made about Sterling wanting a return to London quite interesting</i></p>
<p>While Sterling isn't the same sort of world class player right now that someone like Gareth Bale or <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/paul-pogba-transfer-rumours-news">Paul Pogba</a> is, he'd certainly be right up near the top of my shopping list with that pair. This summer should be fun.</p>
https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/chelsea-fc-transfer-rumours-news/2015/5/19/8624885/Chelsea-fc-transfer-rumors-liverpool-raheem-sterling-jamie-carragher-money-money-money-trophiesStephen Schmidt2015-04-10T21:17:03+01:002015-04-10T21:17:03+01:00Sterling won't sign a new contract this season
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<p>By now everyone knows that <span>Raheem Sterling</span> and <a href="https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Liverpool</a> are in a bit of a standoff, and that the 20-year old will likely be one of the top stories to watch during the <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/transfer-rumors" class="sbn-auto-link">summer transfer window</a>. On Friday, ESPN put out a report suggesting that things could get ugly. Here's how they opened <a target="_blank" href="http://www.espnfc.com/story/2391460/raheem-sterling-wont-sign-new-liverpool-dealwaiting-for-offers-source">their article</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Raheem Sterling will not sign a new contract at Liverpool this season as he waits to see what offers come his way this summer, a well-placed source has told ESPN FC.</p>
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<p>Now, here's how they ended it:</p>
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<p>Sources have told ESPN FC that Liverpool won't sell Sterling this summer even if he doesn't sign a new contract but, with the player entering the final two years of his contract at Anfield, a huge bid from Europe's elite would test their resolve.</p>
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<p>This wouldn't appear to be anything new for Fenway Sports Group to deal with, as top players have been wanting away from Anfield since they took over the club in 2010. That ownership has managed top dollar for both Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez, so if Sterling is sold this summer, it most certainly will not be cheap.</p>
<p>As far as <a href="https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Chelsea</a> are concerned, Sterling would be a very interesting target. His age, talent, and home-grown designation make him an extremely enticing addition, while his ability to play both on the wing and in a central role would be something any manager could use. The Blues management also seem to have a relatively decent relationship with Liverpool at the moment, with quite a few deals being done between the two sides in recent seasons. If Jose Mourinho rates Streling highly and wants to push hard for a move, I'd imagine the two sides would be able to work something out if Liverpool actually listen to offers.</p>
<p>That said, there's no reason to think this situation will be resolved anytime soon, so get ready for a fun summer involving the evil Mr. Money Grabber.</p>
https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2015/4/10/8383873/raheem-sterling-wont-sign-a-new-contract-liverpool-wont-sell-chelsea-fc-transfer-rumorStephen Schmidt2015-04-04T15:18:42+01:002015-04-04T15:18:42+01:00Mourinho thinks Liverpool should sell Sterling
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<p>For the third season running, <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/">Liverpool's</a> best player is somewhat unhappy with life at Anfield, and would probaby like to find a new club to call home during the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/transfer-rumors">summer transfer window</a>. This time, it's 20-year old <span>Raheem Sterling</span> who seemingly wants to walk alone, and Chelsea's Jose Mouinho thinks Liverpool should just sell him and be done with it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>'I don't like players that don't want to play for me and my club. My opinion is every player has a price. It doesn't matter which player. If you ask me, for example, do I want <span>Eden Hazard</span> to leave <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/">Chelsea</a>? No. If he wants to leave and doesn't want to work with me, doesn't want to play for Chelsea, does he have a price? I think he has. But I also understand the philosophy of managers and clubs who want to keep the players at any price. My philosophy is not better than that, it's just mine.'</p>
<p style="text-align: right;">-<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3024955/Jose-Mourinho-insists-sell-wantaway-Liverpool-star-Raheem-Sterling-midfielder-Chelsea-player.html" target="_blank">The Daily Mail</a></p>
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<p>It's easy to laugh this off as Mourinho trolling a rival, but looking at what the Blues' manager has done since returning to Stamford Bridge, it's easy to take him at face value as well. Sterling is very good, but he's hardly irreplaceable, so Mourinho probably would sell him if he got an offer he couldn't refuse.</p>
<p>Regardless, if Liverpool do decide to sell, and it wouldn't surprise me at all, it will be interesting to see if Mourinho ends up attempting to buy him.</p>
https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/chelsea-fc-transfer-rumours-news/2015/4/4/8344257/chelsea-fc-jose-mourinho-would-sell-raheem-sterling-liverpool-fcStephen Schmidt2015-04-02T23:34:28+01:002015-04-02T23:34:28+01:00Chelsea enter race to really annoy Liverpool
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<p>If you've been paying attention to goings on beyond Chelsea Football Club -- and let's face it, there hasn't been enough happening at Cobham to hold our attention during the international break -- you'll know that the talk around English football is Raheem Sterling's contract dispute with Liverpool. The young forward, probably the Reds' most impressive player this season, wants rather a lot more money than the club are willing to give him and ... well, things are getting nasty.</p>
<p>Earlier this week, Sterling had an interview with the press, the first salvo in what looks to be a drawn-out and (from the outside) profoundly hilarious PR war. Liverpool replied by publicly claiming that the 20-year-old had gone rogue. The next step was probably a set of transfer briefings from Sterling's people, and <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3023748/Chelsea-join-Arsenal-Manchester-City-race-Raheem-Sterling-Brendan-Rodgers-insists-Liverpool-star-going-summer.html" target="_blank">LO AND BEHOLD</a> the Daily Mail has us making 'discreet inquiries' about the youngster.</p>
<p>This is one of those situations where I think the club would certainly have some interest but are mostly being used as a smokescreen in a contract fight. Liverpool have apparently slapped a £50 million price tag on their young star, which would seem to put him out of reach, but I suspect that that's not going to stop us being used as a big bad bargaining chip, and since this is going to be a very long narrative, prepare to hear rather a lot about it.</p>
<p>All that said, if Sterling really does want to make his way south to a more successful club, annoying Liverpool isn't the worst transfer policy in the world. Ok, apart from that one time.</p>
https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/chelsea-fc-transfer-rumours-news/2015/4/2/8337813/raheem-sterling-transfer-rumours-chelsea-fcGraham MacAree2015-04-01T20:42:21+01:002015-04-01T20:42:21+01:00Signing new deal not always right move for players
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<p>Eden Hazard recently signed a new five and a half year deal with Chelsea back in February, tying him to the club through the 2019/20 season. The deal, worth £200,000 per week, is a small raise over the £185,000 per week contract he signed after Chelsea bought him from Lille for £32m in July 2012.</p>
<p>What if Hazard never signed an extension, and instead played out his contract and became available on a free transfer in the summer of 2017, at the age of 26? Or, what if he signed a shorter deal back in 2012?</p>
<p>Even assuming he only made modest improvements to his already-stellar game, he might have been able to command £400k per week on the open market, free of the encumberance of a transfer fee. That's right, four hundred thousand sterling pounds per week, or double what he's currently earning with Chelsea.</p>
<p>Sound a bit ridiculous? Bear with me.</p>
<p>If Chelsea decided to sell Hazard this summer, he would fetch, at bare minimum, £50 million. The purchasing club would then have to pay Hazard, at a minimum, £200k per week. Assuming a five year contract, the club's total commitment to Hazard would be £20.4m per year (£10.4m in wages plus £10m in <a style="background-color: #ffffff;" target="_blank" href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-hidden-cost-of-a-soccer-star-1420490527">player amortisation</a>).</p>
<p> </p>
<div class="pullquote">Transfer fees, by their nature, depress player wages</div>
<p>Again, assuming very modest increases to his game and with skyrocketing revenues in football leading to increased spending, £25 million per year is a very conservative estimate of Hazard's 2017 market value.</p>
<p>So, if a club is willing to spend £25m per year on Hazard, they would surely jump at the chance to pay "just" £20.8m per year, right? Well, that £20.8m equals £400k per week.</p>
<p>Here's another example.</p>
<p>In order to bring Diego Costa to Chelsea, the club had to pay Atletico Madrid £32m in addition to handing him a five-year deal worth £185k per week. As such, the club's annual commitment to Costa is just over £16m (£9.62m in wages plus £6.4m in amortisation).</p>
<p>Had Costa been out of contract at Atletico Madrid, it stands to reason that if Chelsea was willing to commit £16m per year to Costa, the club would've jumped at the chance to sign him for "just" £13m per year.</p>
<p>Without a transfer fee, the entire £13m per year, or £250,000 per week, would have gone to Costa.</p>
<p>So, had Costa been out of contract and been allowed to move on a free transfer, Chelsea could've saved £3m per year, while Costa could have earned 35% more. This is a win-win situation.</p>
<p>In the summer of 2013, however, Costa signed a new five-year deal with Atletico. Had Costa simply played out his contract at Atletico, he'd be out of contract this summer. With 19 goals in his first 23 Premier League matches at Chelsea this season, just imagine the sort of numbers he'd have in the familiar (and significantly less competitive) confines of La Liga with Atletico Madrid.</p>
<p>With another tremendous season at Atletico and on the heels of huge new Premier League and Champions League broadcasting deals, maybe his market value would have climbed to £20m per year instead of £16m, and then a club would have naturally jumped at the chance to sign him for £17m per year, or around £325k per week, or <b>more than 75% of what he's earning now</b>. Again, this is a win-win situation, as the club gets the player under market value, as there's no transfer fee involved, and the player gets a massive wage.</p>
<p>There is a limit to what a club is willing to commit to each player, and top players and their agents should be putting themselves in the best position to take home the lion's share. Transfer fees, by their very nature, depress wages, and players should do whatever they can to ensure that the accompanying transfer fee is as low as possible, and ideally non-existent.</p>
<h4>Risks involved</h4>
<p>Of course, this strategy is not without risks. A severe, or even career-ending injury, while unlikely, can happen at any moment on the pitch, and there's something to be said for financial security. If Diego Costa suffers a career-ending injury against Stoke City on Saturday, then he still gets £185k per week for the next four-plus years.</p>
<p>Had he decided to play out his original contract with Atletico and suffered that same career-ending injury against Cordoba on Saturday, well then, he would have cost himself around £50m. In order to hedge against an injury, however, players can take out large insurance policies that they can collect in event of an injury that affects their ability to earn money as footballers.</p>
<p>A sharp decline in performance (and therefore the player's market value) is also not unheard of. For example, I bet Fernando Torres is very happy with his decision to lock in that long-term deal with Chelsea.</p>
<p>Additionally, there's the reality that the player's club isn't going to be too thrilled with the player and decide to quickly embrace the inevitably of life without that player. The player, then, could find himself banished to the reserves and without a platform to continue to showcase his talent for potential suitors. Chelsea fans will be familiar with this tactic, having seen Florent Malouda, Nicolas Anelka, and Alex removed from the first-team towards the end of their careers with the club. Of course, none of these players were stars at the time, and it would be difficult to do the same with a star player who can still help win games for the club.</p>
<p>After Paul Pogba and Marco Reus inexplicably signed new long term contracts, there is another player who might be well served playing out his contract or at the very least, refusing to sign a new contract so his club is forced to sell him at a cut rate rather than losing him for nothing, Daniel Sturridge-style.</p>
<h4>Raheem Sterling</h4>
<p>Raheem Sterling finds himself in a unique situation. Still just twenty years old, he is already one of the most talented (and most marketable) players in the world.</p>
<p>Currently earning £35k per week, he's turned down Liverpool's offer of a new contract at £100k per week, and rightly so.</p>
<p><span>Sterling's situation is slightly complicated by the fact that if he played out his contract and signed for another English club, Liverpool would be eligible for compensation beyond the FIFA-mandated training compensation, and a tribunal would be held to determine the amount of compensation Sterling's new club would owe Liverpool (standard operating procedure when an out of contract player under the age of 24 moves to another English club, unless that player is released). While this compensation is unlikely to be anywhere near Sterling's market value, it's still an added cost Sterling's new club would have to factor in when making a contract offer.</span></p>
<p>However, if Sterling moved abroad, Liverpool (and QPR) would only be owed the FIFA-mandated tranining compensation (negligible amount). At a minimum, Sterling would cost a purchasing club £40m and £150k per week. Assuming a five-year deal, that's £15.8m per year. If he simply plays out his contract, there's no reason why he shouldn't be able to command £250k pw (£13m per year) from a Barcelona, Real Madrid, or Bayern Munich.</p>
<h4>Shorter contracts</h4>
<p>In the NBA, top players are now on what are essentially two or three year deals, as their agents negotiate provisions in their long-term contracts which allows them to opt-out at certain points in their contracts. If they want, they can test the open market and sign bigger deals and/or join better teams.</p>
<p>Football agents should absolutely start negotiating these opt-out clauses, as it not only provides the player with financial security (the player can always choose not to opt out should market conditions dictate that he's already in the best possible sitiation), but it also provides the player with the freedom to test the market and a mechanism for which to earn his full market value, rather than having a sizable chunk of his value siphoned off by his current club in the form of a transfer fee.</p>
<p>It must be noted that only the most sought-after players would likely be able to successfully negotiate opt-out clauses and/or convice clubs to pass the bulk of the savings from not having to pay a transfer fee onto the player, as they are the only ones with enough leverage and demand to pull this off.</p>
<p>Both clubs and fans crave stability, and a "will he opt out, or will he stay" saga can be a bit distracting, to say the least, but for the best available talent, clubs will make these concessions. Having a star player for a few years with the possibility of keeping him around is a lot better than not having a star player at all.</p>
<p>Of course, players who simply become unwilling to negotiate a contract extension and refuse transfers in the hopes that the bulk of that fee ends up as part of his new wages instead of helping the club find a replacement, will find themselves in unpleasant situations as their deals wind down.</p>
<p>That said, boos from the crowd and perhaps a few harsh words from the player's former club shouldn't be a serious deterrent to exploring this path.</p>
<p>Professional athletes have a very limited window in which they can earn money playing sports and they owe it to themselves to do everything they can to maximise their earning potential. In football, top players should start considering taking the calculated risk to play out their contracts and sign shorter deals, which should increase wages in the absence, or reduction of transfer fees.</p>
https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2015/4/1/8325609/top-footballers-shouldnt-sign-long-term-dealsJake Cohen