The Dembele transfer, and the money chase

If you want to know what’s wrong with the high-stakes European transfer market, you just need to have followed the saga of young Frenchman Ousmane Dembele, Christian Pulisic‘s fellowteen and rising star at Borussia Dortmund.

French newspaper L’Equipe, which has reported extensively on the case, revealed on Thursday that a pair of representatives, attorney BadouSambagu and agent Martial Kodjia, plan to file suit against a third agent, Moussa Sissoko, for interference in the transfer of Dembele from Rennes to Borussia Dortmund last year.They plan on filing a separate suit and ask for $10.8 million in damages.

It is evident to everyone involved in international soccer that transfer fees are out of control. With millionsof dollars at stake, the fight to represent a player can become cut-throat. It’s getting crazier as FIFA has deregulated the agent business. The Evening Standard reported that in less than two years the number of soccer agentsoperating in England has risen from 350 to 1,600.

The Dembele case is unique in one sense — his meteoric rise at Rennes last season sent his value skyrocketing overnight — but exemplaryof the issues at hand.

Clubs negotiate with players not only to try to keep them for as long as possible to help them win games but offer them improved contract terms with the hope theycan hold on to the player long enough to benefit from his rising value on the transfer market.

The Guardian presented a good recap of L’Equipe’s long investigation into the Dembeletransfer.

Until September 2015, Dembele didn’t even have a pro contract, playing on Rennes’ reserve team on a stagiaire, or apprentice, agreement. He wanted out — he wanted to join achildhood friend at Austria’s Red Bull Salzburg — but Rennes wouldn’t release him. A stagiaire contract, given to teenaged prospects, pays only about $1,500 a month — not a lot — but ties theplayer to the club.

In this case, Rennes convinced Dembele to sign a professional contract on the condition that it contain a release clause, paying Rennes 5 million euros ($5.4 million)if he was sold. There were two issues. First, the legality of the release clause — not recognized in France — was questionable. And Dembele was quickly worth a lot more money than $5.4 million onthe European market.

He scored his first goal for Rennes in November 2015, and by the spring had Europe’s top clubs chasing him. So too were other agents. And Sissoko convinced Dembelethat if he wanted to move to a big club, he’d have to ditch his agents, which he did.

By early May, Borussia Dortmund stepped in and offered Rennes $16 million and Sissoko (via a thirdparty) $3.2 million in agent fees. To sweeten the pie, Dortmund gave Dembele a signing bonus of almost $11 million, payable over five years.

There was one small problem: Dembele had achange of heart and changed agents again, going back to Kodjia. Little did they know, the transfer papers had already been signed and Kodjia’s name was nowhere to be found.

Efforts tonegotiate a settlement between Sambagu and Kodjia and Sissoko, who wasn’t even licensed to work in France, failed, leading to the impending lawsuit.