West Ham were among the major Premier League clubs interested in Lille star Jonathan David, who may finally get his big move away from Lille this summer after years of rumors and speculation.
In fact, the Hammers were on the cusp of completing a deal, willing to even overpay and meet the increasingly problematic Lille’s 30 million pound transfer demands for a player on an expiring contract who could easily leave to West Ham for free this winter.
So perhaps, in a way, it is better for West Ham that a deal fell through, and it fell through precisely because the Hammers were unwilling to fall for another party’s unmitigated greed.
According to journalist Matt Hughes, West Ham pulled out of the race for Jonathan David because they were unwilling to spend a ridiculous 10 million pounds in agent fees to secure the transfer of a player who, again, will almost certainly be leaving this winter without a deal in place in the summer market.
It is quite astonishing how many agents are becoming desperate to demand insane kickbacks from clubs to complete deals for players who are on the way out anyway, and it may not be a coincidence that this is the second time it has happened with a Lille player on an expiring contract.
Real Madrid recently dug their toes in and didn’t meet the demands of superagent Jorge Mendes, who used Leny Yoro as the latest pawn in a transfer maneuver that brought a teenage center back prospect on an expiring contract to Manchester United for more than 60 million.
The Merengue club did not see the value in spending an exorbitant fee on a player with an expiring contract, with Lille swaying Yoro to make Mendes’ move possible by threatening to bench the 18-year-old for the entire 2024/25 season if he decided to leave as a free agent.
Agents don’t make money without transfers, and they benefit from facilitating transfers for clubs to maintain relationships with clubs like Manchester United willing to pay them quid pro quo for these types of deals.
So good on West Ham for not ponying up extra money and paying a total of 40 million pounds for a talented but not elite striker who would cost precisely zero pounds in one year from Lille.
West Ham do not need to fall victim to a broken system out of desperation, spending money to a greedy club and agent. And players like David and Yoro should be wiser to what is happening around them, because if they were to leave as free agents, they could pocket all the money themselves without worrying about clubs and agents pocketing the rest.
Your latest reminder that football is broken in a way that no other sport is, yet with so little regulation or people honestly dissecting the disaster that is this business, the caravan continues on its trudge as the dogs bark endlessly into the desert night.
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