It’s believed this week that the likes of Chelsea and Man United have been pitched the services of Myles Lewis-Skelly. Yet the teenager’s representatives are adamant their client doesn’t want to leave the club where he’s grown from a child into a young man.
Arsenal, meanwhile, maintain they have asked no one on their behalf to go and discuss the 19-year-old’s future with potential suitors.
So, if neither Arsenal nor Lewis-Skelly wants a transfer, who exactly is pushing this?
“Intermediaries” is a word I’m hearing a lot this summer, but how can you be discussing a transfer when neither a player nor his club has asked for your help?
Whoever has been ringing Stamford Bridge or Old Trafford in the last few days appears to be trying to create a deal worth millions, not because they have been asked to, but for their own self-interest.
That would be like you being content at your workplace, but suddenly hearing that a stranger is trying to get another company to offer you a job. At that point, they will either attempt to encourage you to ask to quit or get your employer to say they are happy for you to leave.
In that instance, some random person has stuck their nose into your affairs and made employment you were perfectly happy with suddenly complicated.
Lewis-Skelly hasn’t asked to leave Arsenal
Lewis-Skelly joined the Hale End Academy when he was eight, so he would surely be emotional at the thought of his boyhood club even considering a transfer.
Yet it’s not him, Mikel Arteta or Andrea Berta who are pushing for a transfer to happen.
If you think this sounds a little bit immoral, that’s because it is.
FIFA put rules in place requiring agents to be licensed and introducing a cap on commission. Yet this is where loopholes around the rules can be found.
As long as brokers are careful with their wording legally, they don’t necessarily need Arsenal or Lewis-Skelly’s approval to encourage others to make a bid.
A disclaimer might be that if nothing is submitted on paper, it’s not an official offer. Stressing that you are not representing said player could make the conversation little more than gossip, while asking a director or owner about a hypothetical situation isn’t necessarily tapping up.
So asking Chelsea:
‘Out of interest, if I knew Arsenal might listen to offers for their midfielder because he won’t play every week, what would your position be?’ could avoid any punishment.
If they hear the answer they like, they can then let Arsenal know that they casually heard Chelsea are in the market for youth and would be willing to pay…
When a player becomes an asset
It’s uncomfortable that these brokers can see a talent as an asset for their own financial gain rather than as a human being.
It’s worse when it’s a youngster who hasn’t asked for any of these rumours and doesn’t want the club he loves to be put in a position where they have to consider an offer.
If a deal then became a reality, this middleman or woman would essentially get a finder’s fee, usually 5-10 percent of the transfer fee.
If they are then the ones who negotiate the contract, they get five percent of the player’s yearly wage.
Which is crazy because you don’t need to know a lot about football to be able to tell a club which players are decent.
Surely some of the biggest clubs in the world don’t need an email telling them that Bruno Guimaraes’ arrival could impact Lewis-Skelly?
If they do, I or most readers could do that.
I would take less than five percent if it helps get me hired?
Dan Smith
What do you think, Gooners? Are intermediaries simply doing their job by identifying potential deals, or is there something wrong with trying to manufacture a transfer when neither the player nor his club appears to be pushing for one? Let us know in the comments.
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I think it’s silly to think that intermediaries are running around trying to make up deals. They exist as you point out to provide plausible deniability. Far more likely that someone at the top level is far more willing to sell MLS than are others and they would push an intermediary to ask around on the hush hush. This gives him and the club the ability to deny but if there is a lucrative deal to be had it gets put out into the transfer press starts commotion and then they can politely turn to the others and say — well why not? We have Bruno G now and the money is good…. Basically with American owners you have to think about these things the way American businessmen think in order to understand…
There’s no doubt Martin Zubimendi would benefit tremendously from Myles Lewis Skelly’s departure.
A midfield exit by the academy graduate would ease rotation pressure for the Spaniard.
Zubimendi faces heavy tactical demads and rotation ‘ and though his structural role differs from a dynamic box to box profile, he’s most susceptible to the pending heavy rotation.
But Skelly performance to the back end of the last campaign and starting from where left off into preseason does not make a departure much football sense, it is this clear step up in performance that will kill this one in child birth.
His goal and celebration against Como have significantly complicated things, Arsenal may have toyed with idea by making him heavily on show in preseason shopping window but it has backfire spectacularly
Martin Zubimendi is a vital squad member for the coming season, if we are to sell players, our attack needs refreshing, but we will probably wait another year..
We will be reliant on Ödegaard to create chances this season and I fancy him to step up and deliver..
If he goes then the team that buys him gains a very good midfielder.
Agents are parasites milking Clubs and Players for their own financial self interest.
If they are deemed as a ‘necessary evil’ they should be fully regulated – with all loopholes fully closed, and harsh financial penalties if they act without the written formal consent of the player concerned.
They are a core reason for AVOIDABLE Transfer Fee Inflation.
If they can be ‘banned’ they should be.
Unfortunately though, that’ll never happen
Off Topic.
I’ve just heard the sad news of the passing of one of our former goalkeepers, Jimmy Rimmer. He was our keeper when I first started going to Highbury in 1975. If it wasn’t for him and our main striker, Brian Kidd, we would have been relegated in the 75/76 season.
RIP Jimmy.
Herr Drier,
Nice post, I echo you’re thoughts. 👍
Seconded
For me, until I see concrete evidence regarding these rumours then I take them with a large pinch of salt really.
Why are we surprised, when has a Journalist ever let the truth get in the way of a good story.
Can’t see him getting many minutes this season (or as many as some fans think )and not good enough to be starting in that MF IMO .
This is where the club needs to step up and sell players while their stick is high ,rumours I’ve read is him and Martinelli could be leaving (Chelsea and turkey )which makes sense to me and would probably recoup 80 million from both sales .
Dan Kit,
I hear that Martinelli is not keen on a move to Turkey.
Your analogy of workplace headhunters doesn’t apply in situations where multi-million-pound football transfers are organised by agents and other connected parties who themselves earn 10/15% of any deals.
What’s odd about this particular situation is that nobody at Arsenal has officially denied it.
reportedly they have denied putting any feeders out
this is agents working off their own devices
Who’s agent do you mean ?
that’s the point of the article
you know have like 5th part agents /intermediaries who work on their own behalf to broker a deal
Respectfully I disagree. I’ve seen c-level boardroom tactics work in a similar manner.
What’s more, Arsenal have an optics problem when it comes to recruitment. Top level talent would fear a drop in their own market value by coming to Arsenal. I don’t think you can name a single non-developmental talent that has gone to Arsenal and improved in values since RVP/Fabregas era. It affects both the buying and selling side of transfer business. I would not be surprised if there is an effort by certain parties to try to drum up perceived value for Arsenal players whether or not they intend to sell, to try and fix this very serious optics issue. Quite frankly, Arsenal need people to start seeing them as a place where they can grow their value /career not as a place where the Ozils and Aubas and Lacas go for their last good paycheck before dropping down a level or three.
I think this is directly related to the Vini Jr drama. It demonstrated the very real problem and no doubt had to impact the attempt to draw a top level star like that who is going to be very conscious of the potential impact to his brand. If Ozil is the last big name player to come— it doesn’t look good to the next elite level star.
Keep in mind I’m not supporting this tactic. I’m simply saying that I think the kronke camp are from a business culture that does think like this. I think after winning Josh felt like they could go out and buy anyone. He was rumored to have headed up the pursuit for Vini Junior. I think that felt like a slap in his face and led to an assessment of that arsenal was not a safe bet for Top talent and now they’re looking at Waze to change that optic. If they can run around and say big clubs want their players for big money then that helps change that perception. Notice how hard it is for us to sell any of our players, especially since we only try and sell the castoffs. Even a decent player like Martinelli can’t seem to draw big clubs or big money. Berta has been reduced to slimming around turkey to drum up sales last year. Looked great to us all but keep in mind knowing they brought in was elite level superstar type. They brought in quality players who were ready to step up some though not all have done that. But we’ve also been marked by the smear tactics of journalists, saying we play ugly, and don’t deserve the champion title. Another winning season will go a long way to helping. Undo this, but I think some of the back room intermediary tactics are really about changing optics and PR.
Apologies for some of the typos in the back end of that long comment. I don’t know how to go in and edit/fix.
There’s no edit/fix facility.