PREMIERSHIP TRANSFER RECORD BROKEN

MANCITY AND SPURS LEAD THE WAY

the premiership is awash with cash and they sure know how to burn it.
Spending by Premiership clubs on new players in the January transfer window has hit a fresh all-time high of £160m according to Deloitte's sports business group. The amount may still go up because the transfer window was extended because of the bad weather so that deals in progress could be completed, but the total is already well above last year's £150m. Spending between Premiership teams made up around £105m of the £160m. Manchester City and Spurs have been the two biggest spenders. Deloittes said Manchester City have spent more than £50m during the transfer window and Tottenham around £45m. Total spending by Premiership teams in the January window again far exceeded that in other European leagues. Peter Rawnsley, director in the sports business group at Deloitte, commented. 'With the majority of their revenue streams already secured for the current season, whilst [Premier League] clubs are not recession-proof, they are relatively recession-resistant. Looking ahead, while the clubs will not be complacent, the latest transfer activity re-emphasises the financial strength and global appeal of the Premier League competition.'

NEW WAYS OF FUNDING TRANSFER DEALS

AS CREDIT CRUNCH FORCES CLUBS TO DO FINANCIAL ENGINEERING


We are in a credit crunch and an impending global economic slump where even the most solid businesses are having a hard time acquiring credit to fund their operations so it call for innovative ways for the spend-crazy premiership clubs to sustain their business model.One of such inventions is BESPOKE FINANCING. this is where a transaction is financed using tailor-made financial instruments.- a sort of a custom-made financing arrangement.
The January transfer window was marked by the increased use of bespoke loan facilities and debt trades to make deals happen. Spurs have struck lucky and have been the primary beneficiaries of 'debt forgiveness' meaning that their spending is closer to £20m than the reported figure of £49m. In Robbie Keane's case Liverpool still owed Tottenham around £11m of the initial £19m fee they agreed last summer, meaning his £12m move to White Hart Lane was completed with less than £1m in cash travelling in the other direction. Defoe's return did have a net cost to Spurs who notionally paid £15.75m for a player they sold for £9.2m last January, but with Portsmouth still owing outstanding fees for Defoe, Younes Kaboul and Pedro Mendes, only £6m in cash changed hands.

While Spurs have benefited from specific circumstances, the now-commonplace payment of transfer fees in instalments has seen an increase in the use of football-specific facilities to keep the transfer market moving. These niche products have boomed in the last year, driven by changes in the way that transfer deals are done and the pressure on cash flows. Where once deals were done on fairly straightforward cash terms, the size of modern transfer fees - there were six worth more than £10m in January alone - have left even the largest clubs having to pay in tranches. With selling clubs keen to get their hands on all the money up front, a small number of banks, specialist football finance houses and at least one player agency have developed bespoke loan products for football. Banks are increasingly being asked to provide facilities that allow the selling club to receive the full transfer fee up front, with the debt effectively being repaid by the buying club.
This could be explored here in Ghana even though our transfer market is not even matured and we don't need to reinvent the wheel.it fosters a less acrimonius relationship among our clubs and works to the benefit of club owners

I BELONG TO MONEY

What is pushing Kaka to even consider moving from a high flying club like Ac Milan to a lowly and struggling club with no compelling history like Manchester City? Well some will say Man city with its new status as the “richest club” in the world has what it takes to become as big as big as the Milans of this world in a matter of years. After all look what Abramovic’s money did for Chelsea over the last few seasons. Kaka, one can argue is making a logical decision to become the fulcrum around which a team of world beaters will be built at Mancity and go into football folklore as the one that led a revolution that turned minnow into a giant; just like Maradonna did for Torino and Johan Cryuf for Barcelona in the 1970s and 1980s.
Again Mancity as a team doesn’t look that bad with the likes of Robinho, Elano, Wright-Phillips, Richards etc Kaka will find teammates with the ability and talents to help him in this project. And undoubtedly the arrival of Kaka will convince other world class players to decide to join. In a matter of two seasons Mancity will undoubtedly be competing for the Premiership title and appear in the final stages of the champions League. Furthermore at 26 Kaka has managed to achieve what any players could dream to achieve in their lifetime. He has won all the that there is to be won-two champions League titles, a clutch of Scudettos ,a FIFA World Cup ,a South American Continental Championship , a host of individual honors, the ultimate of which is the FIFA World Player of the Year that he won in 2007.surely he can relax on such laurels or if his ego is still big he could devote the rest of his career seeking a new challenge elsewhere- and what better challenge is there for a footballer than to do what everyone thinks is counterintuitive and totally crazy. There is enough purely footballing reasons for Kaka to move to Mancity.
However the obscene sums being bandied around makes it difficult to defend the legitimate reasons enumerated above. I am well informed that apart from the record £94?(compare this to the 2007 to budget of the republic of Sierra-Leone of $88m ) transfer fee , the personal terms are hard to comprehend. Kaka is reported to be demanding a daily wage of a staggering $120,000 which works up to about $900,000 per week (which works up about $45m per year).
In addition Kaka has negotiated a series of exit and conditional clauses that does little to betray his skepticism and commercial motives behind this unprecedented move. Some of such clauses include a strong commitment from the “deep pocket “Gulf owners of Mancity to commit long-term to the club as well as a steady stream of investment in playing and infrastructure assets. Also kaka has demanded assurances that other world class players will join Mancity as soon as possible failure of which could lead to his exit. It is also reported that Mancity will pay Kaka large sums of money any season they fail to qualify for the UEFA champions League.
The motivation is money and it is not only Kaka who is in to benefit. all sorts of people including the inevitable agents, advisers, financiers deal brokers/makers,lawyers etc. stand to benefit lucratively if the deal pulls through.
A lot of money is at stake a lot of poeple stand to gain so enormous pressure is being exerted on the "innocent" Kaka to sign the deal.
And what do i hear about the other Premiership managers complaining of the sums involved? this is all sour grapes. if they had the kind of money City has i can bet my last dollar on it that they will spent it to get Kaka in their teams. if Spurs spent $30m on Bent , Liverpool spent $50m on Torres, Man U spent $60m on Berbatov and even Arsenal are prepare to spent $30m on Arshavin ;what is wrong with City dolling out a few "quids" on one of the worlds best players?
if kaka signs for city as we all agree is likely to happen , it will not be such a bd thing after all.