And what about the last year of the contract?

Not so long ago, the general scheme for working on a player's contract renewal was to wait halfway through the length of the deal.

Based on his performance and the market options, he began to work at that moment, together with the player's agent, on that extension that was understood to be desired by both parties.

Times in which the important thing for the player was to put an end to the uncertainty that always hovers over you when you play football, to consolidate what you have achieved, preventing a serious injury from causing you to lose everything you have gained through a good career.

For the club it was important to maintain the structure of that team that had a good performance and of that player who had shown his worth on the pitch and who was also an asset in the locker room.

Better that than being exposed to losing the player and having to go to a market that did not always offer you what you demanded.

This scheme was altered when an exceptional offer arrived for one of both parties and work began on a transfer that was understood to be good for everyone and that activated the club's knowledge of its network of

to determine the best successor for the emerging talent.

Of course, this scheme is also possible at this time and that the mechanism is valid in these times, but we have been seeing how different forms of work have been introduced in the world of football.

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Casemiro's English temptation

On the one hand, the clubs that began to advance their signing process and obtained the agreement of players who began their penultimate contract season and who promised not to renew it and arrive with the release letter to their new destination.

Yes, I know that the FIFA rule prevents us from being able to negotiate with players until the last six months of the contract, but there have always been informal conversations, discussions only of intentions, subliminal messages... let's go to all that communication that is not explicit and that They allow the player and the club to stay within the legality.

This system favored the economy of the clubs that obtained high-quality players at zero cost and allowed the player involved and his agent to enjoy juicy signing bonuses that made this type of operation a highly appreciated model.

Of course, like all things in this life, the subject had edges and problems.

One of them came from the risk involved in the general financing system of the clubs and which is based on the sale of players and the subsequent investment in cheaper talent and lower contracts.

The money from football stayed in football to continue adding coal to the machinery.

The second had to do with what we did with that player who did not want to renew and about whom our market information told us that he had an agreement with another team, although legally he could not have any document to support it.

This could be true and never occur, see Dembélé case.

And here comes one of the favorite discussions of this summer in which more has been said about economics than about real football.

The first version is always repressive, forceful and harsh, that is, a player in the stands and a problem solved.

Of course, that always creates problems because that player also trains and interacts with the team on a daily basis and can be a daily and continuous source of negative energy.

And we lose his talent on the field.

That is why my option has always been that we use what we pay, we eliminate excuses in the locker room and we continue to have a player of high competitive value.

Of course, every rule can, and should, have its exceptions, always.

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