SOARING PLAYER WAGES HIT £4BN

CLUBS now spend more on player salaries than transfer fees — with £4billion a year paid in employment contracts across the global game, an official FIFA report on the international transfer market has revealed. For the first time the FIFA Transfer Matching System (TMS) report into players moving between clubs in different nations has included player salaries and has uncovered what the report claims are some ‘staggering’ results. The report shows that clubs committed £4bn in salaries over the duration of the contracts signed in 2014 compared to £2.7bn in transfer fees, with a further £154million spent on intermediary (generally agents) commissions. That amounts to a total spend of £6.76bn, with the salaries for players increasing by 33 per cent from £2.95bn to that £4bn figure between 2013 and 2014. The current salary spend for this year stands at a mind-boggling £3.91bn and TMS analysts see a rise of two per cent on the figure at this point last year. Interestingly, only 13 per cent international transfers involved the payment of a fee, with more than 70 per cent of players out of contract when they moved. As the report states, the FIFA figures are reliable as clubs enter all salary information into the International Transfer Matching System. The details will cover the full length of the new contract, although not bonus payments. The average salary quoted across global football is £262,000, with Spanish players commanding the highest salaries — an average of £563,000. English players are not ranked in the top 10 because few move between nations. English clubs still spent more in the last transfer window than any other country, the report adds. At £652m the spend was more than double any other country and roughly 10 per cent of the international market. The Premier League also buys more players from other top-five European leagues than any other, with those players three times more expensive than those recruited from elsewhere. The report also reveals that since 2013, UEFA clubs have been responsible for 80 per cent of the total salaries in global transfers — with AFC (Asia) close behind. It adds: ‘Average salaries tend to grow with age, often peaking at 28.’