dude has 4 years on his contract and mun have approximately 0 use for your money, you have the opposite of leverage

Di Maria wanting out is mad leverage, if he didn't wanted out the rule of us being overpaying whale would apply.

MU cutting their losses and reinvesting sounds like the way to go.

imo that only really matters if the contract is ticking down and the player's value is about to nosedive, and even that might not matter much to mun (see de gea).

for example, saurez opening begging for a move to arse a couple years ago just didnt matter cos he had years left on his contract and pool were like lolno you're too valuable to us and you're staying, and mun have far more flexibility in this respect than relatively-busto-pool. bale was desperate for a move but spuds were able to hold out for a world record fee cos sorry mate you've got years left on your contract.

course if lvg just doesnt want di maria then that's another matter. but thats not really leverage on psgs part, its just mun wanting to get rid.

i've heard lvg making soothing noises about it being up to the player, but i think if that were really true then de gea would already be at RM.

Agree with BAIDS. Not sure how this is true at all. Look how long his contract has left.

Like BAIDS said, that's no leverage. AdM may well want out, but he's been making all the right noises publicly so he's unlikely to kick up a fuss all of a sudden. The only hope you've got is that LvG doesn't want him, which, like BAIDS said, isn't leverage, just us wanting rid. Sadly I think this may in fact be the case.

It's ridic that ManU paid 60 million when he was really worth 45 million at most and now it's like 50 million price tag when he's worth like 35 million. But I guess there's nothing wrong with overpaying when you wanna do it. I guess it's just paying cos that's how the market works.

Yea I can't see this system continuing to function this way forever.

I realize it's much more complicated because it's FA-->UEFA--->FIFA but the players are basically dictating where they want to go. Unless clubs start telling the players to get **** themselves and running down their contracts this will never change. Do you guys not have some system like MLB/NFL/NHL/NBA Owners v. players and a collective bargaining agreement. The system of just the same 4-6 rich teams buying any player who kicks up a fuss doesn't seem sustainable

there's lots of EU laws that would ban a draft and such, and since there's many leagues in different countries competing instead of one major league dominating, a salary cap wouldn't be effective, even if it was allowed

If Di Maria didn't wanted to leave (and LvG wanted him to stay badly obv) there'd be no deal and we'd move on to our next target, here you have to entertain offers for "market" price or risk not only a financial hit but a sportive one too, having big time players sulking/clowning/complaining/being unhappy is a no-no in any serious club.

He's nowhere near Bale/Suarez importance to their team either.

Yea totally get that. I'm always amazed at how little footballers are paid relative to American sports, so it's not so much about the salary cap, just the whole oh I'm good now, sell me to Madrid, Barca, Bayern, PSG, or top4 team in tblitw

think the key difference is that no one watches an end of season nfl game between two 3-11 teams, whereas lots of people will watch an end of season PL game between two teams on 30 pts with 5 games to go.

one title, one objective, 32 teams demands parity in a way that PLAAP doesn't

Totally get that, though there were plenty of Prem games last year that were not worth watching (West Ham and Newcastle basically getting a safe points total and packing it in for example). I'm not so much even talking from a parity point, but from a this system is broken and the players have way too much power perspective. I guess owners are getting paid so whatever.

Player power is great thing. It secures them the money they are worth. The main problem in the US system is you have all these guys who are more or less forced to sign contracts for far less than they should be making. Having to be drafted takes away all your bargaining power.

If you're the best in the world it might not be that bad but it sucks if you're pretty ordinary and just trying to secure your future. Especially in a place like the NFL where the average career is something like 4 years and you're giving up 20 years in life expectancy. The clubs and their billionaire owners should get ****ed tbh.

Think it's the exact opposite actually, in the NBA at least. Lebron is forced to sign for far less than he's worth because he's limited by the max, while average players consistently get overpaid simply for being 6'10+ or super athletic.

daca spitting hot truth, it's great to see an area where employees get the leverage they deserve.

yank league CBAs are very different. NFL union is certainly lol.

Where are we hearing about Di Maria wanting to leave? Wasn't he quoted before the Copa America saying he wanted to stay and prove himself?

I guess it's different from sport to sport and having a max contract certainly makes things worse for the star players. I was mainly thinking about the NFL because it's the only thing Ive really followed

The life of a guy in a marginal spot on a NFL roster must be grueling. You're slowly killing yourself while you can basically lose your job and your income from one day to the next. Compared to that a marginal premier league player has it much better.

I think baseball is a little different, but with many of the same problems. You have to play for years in the league before you really can get paid.

The downside is that John Henry probably gets less value from his football players than from his baseball players, but Sterling has a family to take care of, so Henry will have to settle for £49m.

Ox looks like he cut down his bf%(wasn't rooneyesque but higher than optimal anyway)
coming season is make or break for him btw, superstar or squad player

Wut

Players deserve to be paid €€€ because they're worth it. Before the Bosman ruling football had rules that prevented that. It was an injustice and the EU told the clubs to gtfo.

The same thing should happen in the US, but billionaires getting richer is apparently more important than rights for working people.

No I meant the part about them having it better than us athletes when avg usa salary >>>> football salary except NFL where they play 16 games a season and kill each other and have the worst players union ever. Enes Kanter (who? Exactly) makes more money than like everyone on Liverpool.

not rly that big a difference

NBA £2.7m
IPL (cricket) £2.5m
MLB £2.4m
PL £2.3m
NHL £1.5m
NFL £1.2m

I'm sure most fans would support a rise in ticket prices and TV subscription fees to contribute towards the plight of underpaid players. Say 20%?