Cynics often say that there are three things important in modern football: money, money and money. While this a clear overstatement, there is something to it. In order to succeed on a national and, even more so, European level you need loads of dough. Most successful clubs of this day and age have a steady source of income, either a rich owner, or millions of fans willing to buy a shirt and watch their team, or often both. But it’s not just about having money, it’s how you use them that’s more important. And here we come to transfer policy, one of the most important issues for clubs these days.

There are no rules

How much is too much for one transfer? How old should be the players that you buy? Is it better to buy young players that you’ll later develop, or players who are already stars? These are just few of the questions that managers, owners and transfer committees of clubs all over Europe and the whole world ask themselves and discuss on their meetings. Clubs which are well-off financially don’t have to think twice, despite UEFA’s new financial fair play. But even clubs who are not as wealthy, often spend a huge proportion of their transfer budget on one player. This can be an exceptional move that can guarantee more than one good season and even a return of the investment with some additional profit, but it can also ruin the club’s chances and cause disaster. There are some parameters and criteria that managers take into consideration, but ultimately no one can say with a degree of certainty whether a player is going to be a flop or a success. It is a gamble really and if you’re a fan of it, you might want to take a look at all these websites mentioned on KillerPokies.com.

Some of the biggest flops

There has been many examples that buying an expensive player is not worth the risk, as some of the players for whom astonishing prices were paid turned out to be flops. We all remember when Liverpool paid £20M for Stewart Downing in 2011. Downing didn’t score a single goal and he didn’t have a single assist in the first year of his arrival. Real Madrid paid an even greater sum for Kaka, £56M to AC Milan, only to have him return to the Italian club after not achieving what was expected of him. Liverpool had another pretty terrible transfer these past years, when they paid £35M for Andy Carroll. Just for a comparison, Robin Van Persie and Eden Hazard were cheaper than him. Real also have a vast record of transfer flops. They paid £23M for Frenchman Nicolas Anelka, only to have him leave a year later. Chelsea ‘wasted’ a serious amount of money on Liverpool’s prolific striker Fernando Torres. The London Blues paid £50M for the Spaniard who scored only 20 goals in 3 seasons and was in the end sold to Atletico Madrid.

Successful transfers

Of course there are many examples of players who were worth every penny. Eric Cantona was sold to Manchester United for the amount of mere £1.2M and became one of the most important players in the history of the club. Arsenal paid £10.5M to Juventus for Thierry Henry, which wasn’t a small sum in 1999, but the player led them to two Premier League titles and 3 FA Cups. Arsenal had a lot of luck with another Frenchman, Nicolas Anelka, who was acquired from PSG for the small amount of £500,000. Cristiano Ronaldo was bought by Real Madrid for the amount of £80M, which many thought was too much. But the player led his new club to their 10th title in the Champions League and has so far scored 233 goals in 211 appearances. As you can see, taking a risk can be quite profitable. Those of you who are risk-takers, or even if they’re in just for the fun, can click here for the review and see how you can enjoy top-notch NetEnt casino games.

Measures of precaution should be taken

All in all, it’s hard to reach a definitive conclusion, whether or not big player signings are worth the risk. It all depends on the history of the player, and perhaps more importantly on the financial stability of the club which is buying him. If the club is rich and a transfer would not be a great burden on their budget, they can afford to risk it. Otherwise, their owner, manager and transfer committee if they have one, should really think each transfer through, especially if it may cause financial trouble.