Transfer Deals Might Reach 100 Million Soon

`Price` of football players has soared in every 4 years. Those who perform in World Cups raise their `value` as well as the waiver, which becomes a scale for what players are worth. Waiver is a kind of `premium` that is involved in transfer deals of players. The team that recruits a new player pays certain amount of money to the previous team, and some big stars take 20 per cent as their share.

After the 1998 France World Cup, Italy’s Christian Vieri opened the 50 million-waiver generation as he moved from Lazio to Inter Milan. In the same year, Portugal’s Luis Figo (Real Madrid) and Argentina’s Hernan Crespo (Lazio) each received 56.1 million and 54.1 million, outrunning Vieri. Zinedine Zidane made a new record in his transfer from Italy’s Juventus to Spain’s Real Madrid by receiving 64.4 million dollars (83.7 billion won).

Spain’s EFE press totalized Zidane’s annual income that he earns total of 13.6 million euro (15.8 billion won), including salary and advertisement contracts. David Beckham, who signed a re-contract with Manchester United, is said to earn 16 million dollars (20.5 billion won) annually from his 300 per cent-risen salary and new image charge. So-called `South America’s Zidane` Uruguayan midfielder Alvaro Recoba (Inter Milan) is the world’s best in terms of annual salary alone, as he receives 9.1 million dollars (11.6 billion won). Transfer deal of Brazil’s Ronaldo (26. Inter Milan) was unexpectedly low for his reputation, as it only involved 25 million dollars (32 billion won). His transfer took place in 1997 from Spain’s Barcelona to Italy’s Inter Milan, being under-evaluated of the market value.

Among defenders, France’s Lilian Thuram (Juventus) is the most expensive player, recording 38 billion won in his transfer. Italy’s Gianluigi Buffon registered his cost for 49.5 million dollars (59.6 billion won) as a goalkeeper. Asia’s highest record is Japan’s Nakata Hidetoshi, who transferred to Italy’s Parma for 37.8 billion won.

There is a growing anticipation for `100 million-dollar deals`, as extensive `transfer of stars` is expected following the World Cup. In case of England’s Michael Owen (Liverpool) and France’s David Trezeguet (Juventus), transfer deals are expected at 70 million dollars. If Zidane and Figo do well in the World Cup finals, their deals might reach 100 million.

buddy@donga.com