What Percentage Of A Transfer Fee Goes To The Player?

Back in the early days of football, transfers used to be so simple.

You would pay a few pounds maybe even less, and that was the deal done.

But nowadays not only are the stakes a lot higher, but everything is more complicated.

This is why for a lot of transfers, it can take weeks and even months to finalise.

As how much the footballer gets, how much the agent gets plus the clubs involved all have to be ironed out.

So the question is that when a player does sign for another club, exactly what percentage of the transfer fee goes to the player.

I will address this all within this post.

Who Gets The Money During A Football Transfer?

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During a football transfer, the money will be split between the player, the club selling the player and finally the agent.

Starting with the actual transfer fee that is agreed upon, depending on what deal occurs, this will be split between the club and the player’s agent.

However, in most deals, the club will get the majority of the money with the agent getting the remainder.

If we use Cristiano Ronaldo’s blockbuster transfer from Real Madrid to Juventus in 2018, the fee was agreed to be $100 million euros.

But not all this money went to Real Madrid, as Ronaldo’s agent reportedly took about 10% of the fee, meaning he got around $10 million for negotiating the deal.

Although where things get complicated is through additional clauses in contracts.

As you have buy back and sell-on clauses, typically involved too.

Which depending on which clauses are triggered, can result in different parties being awarded additional money or money from the transfer.

To name a recent example, you have teenage sensation Jadon Sancho who moved to Manchester United for £75 million from Dortmund.

However, due to a sell-on clause in the contract that Dortmund agreed to when buying him from Manchester City, it meant they would have to give 15% of the final transfer back to Manchester City.

So while you will typically see just one transfer number, while most of the money does end up the club, it can end up going to various parties that have been involved with the player.

 

What Percentage Of A Transfer Fee Goes To The Player

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Apart from the wages that are agreed with the contract, the transfer fee is only spread around clubs and agents.

This means that a footballer won’t get a percentage of the transfer fee, since that transaction doesn’t include him.

That is because players are assets of clubs, and its them who own them and

However, that doesn’t mean that a player won’t get funds upon signing for a club.

As with contracts, you will typically have different bonuses of which includes a signing bonus.

This means that when a club buys a player, they will give them a signing on bonus which is separate from the transfer fee.

The amount they get depends on how expensive and valuable the player is.

For some of the richest players like Neymar and Messi, they will get millions in signing on bonuses when they sign a contract.

A good example would be Willian, as at the same time as giving him the number 12 jersey he was also awarded a signing on bonus of $14 million by the club.

Whereas a club graduate who is with a teams academy will only get a couple of pounds.

How Do Players Benefit Financially From A Transfer?

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When a player agrees to join a club, isn’t just the transfer that needs to be sorted out but the contract itself too.

Now the contract is important because it makes a player an asset of the club.

It also, therefore, means that for the remainder of that contract they will get a weekly wage from the club.

However that isn’t all, has when a player undergoes talks with a club, along with choosing numbers, bonuses need to be sorted out too.

When footballers sign a contract, whether that be for a new club or an existing one, they get a number of bonuses.

Bonuses are used to encourage a player to join but also to do well at the club.

This can consist of scoring one or x amount of goals, setting up goals, appearances or even sitting on the bench.

Whenever a player achieves one of the bonuses, it is triggered within the contract and paid towards them.

 

Conclusion

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I hope this post gave you an idea of what percentage of a transfer fee goes to footballers, which as you can is normally zero.

However, as I have also written, it is certainly not the case that footballers get nothing, as with along with the wages they do get bonuses too.

Now if you have any questions by all means down below and I will answer them when I next get chance 🙂