FIFA-licensed agent Matthew Moore has revealed how much European clubs are typically willing to spend on talent from overseas.
His comments come at a time when South Africa has struggled to export players to Europe at the same rate as in previous years.
Several European clubs have shown interest in South African players, but negotiations have often stalled because of differences between the valuations of the selling clubs and what European sides are prepared to pay.
According to Moore, several factors influence a club’s decision on how much to spend, including a player’s experience and the amount of regular playing time they are getting at their current club.
Drawing from his experience at Centre Circle Consulting, Moore revealed that European clubs are generally willing to spend between R9.3 million and R13 million [€500,000–€700,000] on a normal overseas talent.
“I’d say it depends on a player and a lot of circumstances,” said Moore during the interview with Andile Ncube on Metro FM.
“I’ll talk from our experience in the other market. A lot of the time if you’re doing a good player that’s playing first team, and has good minutes, they will look probably between €500k to €700k [R9.3 million to R13 million] of transfer fee.
“If you’re talking about a younger player, it’s gonna be more risky for the teams, he hasn’t played first team football, so they don’t know if he’s gonna make it. They might give less fixed and more add-ons.
“So, there’s no set fee, it’s about being flexible in finding win-win situations with the club.
“Let me tell you something, I was sitting in a meeting in Belgium with a club, a few months. We said to the Sporting Director, ‘how about this player?’ who happened to be South African.
“He looked at me, and said how many South African players are playing in top five leagues. We said look at Lyle [Foster], who had been relegated with Burnley. He said ‘exactly why would I go spend so much on a player who has re-sell value’.”
Image credit: SNAWA
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