MASSIVE transfer fees could soon become a thing of the past — with players’ chiefs wanting stars to have freedom to break their contracts for a fixed compensation payment.
The international players’ union FifPro has accused Fifa of dragging its feet over new transfer rules after the European Court agreed that ex-Arsenal and Chelsea star Lassana Diarra was illegally “handcuffed” by Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow a decade ago.
Major agents claimed the October ruling was the first step towards a US-style “free agency” for players, with fees becoming a thing of the past and stars only liable to pay the balance of their contracts when they switch clubs.
Top clubs and Fifa are battling to resist such a move, while this summer Prem clubs already splashed out £375million before the full market officially opens tomorrow.
But now FifPro has told stars and their lawyers to be ready to test Fifa’s failure to react and use European law to push for freedom of movement.
FifPro legal chief Alexandra Gomez Bruinewoud said: “Every worker should have the right to end a contractual relationship.
“Knowing how much you will have to pay as compensation is part of that right.
“Also, the fact you leave your job should not prevent you from being hired in another job, which is what was happening in football.”
Even the giants of the game may be forced into a major rethink by the repercussions of a row sparked in Moscow a decade ago.
Former Chelsea, Arsenal and Portsmouth midfielder Diarra may not have really impacted the Prem in his four seasons, which brought just 44 top-flight games.
Yet Diarra’s win at the European Court of Justice looks increasingly likely to significantly change the way the transfer market works.
If FifPro is right, the result will be for all players to have the right to break their contracts.
It would see players worth £100m on the open market suddenly available for a fraction of that sum.
Of course, any new regulations will not be introduced this summer.
Fifa rushed through a series of temporary transfer regulations, with dire warnings of the “collapse” of the transfer market unleashing “chaos”.
But FifPro remains unconvinced the latest moves from Zurich meet the demands of EU law.
One insider explained: “This could be the last few years of the inflated transfer fees we have all seen.
“The European Court has said that football must operate within EU law.
“Football is the outlier. There’s no other industry — other than maybe thoroughbred horses — where you see employees change hands for millions of pounds and it is time for the game to be brought in step.”
Gomez Bruinewoud added: “The judges in the Diarra case explained why the system was against EU law.
“I’m not afraid to say the same Fifa rules are probably also against most national labour laws.”
Top players will benefit from higher wages and longer deals, though with budgets finite, that would mean less cash and shorter deals for players further down the pecking order — and limited job security in the lower tiers.
Prem club bosses also fear the consequences, arguing the effective abolition of fees would blow up the entire footballing pyramid as money would no longer “trickle down”.
It is likely that, as with the Jean-Marc Bosman courtroom saga that turned European football on its head 30 years ago, it will need another player to be the test case to break the current system.
But it seems that challenge is a matter of time from being made. And with the players’ union backing, the most fundamental change the game has ever seen.
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