A registration that enters a minute late, a lost pulse to the club, a teammate who takes their place in the eleven or, sometimes, a strategy that goes wrong. There are many reasons that turn players into “hot potatoes”, footballers without a team in May or June, for footballers' agents. Some, like Mariano, Eden Hazard, Diego Costa or Sergio Ramos have a better chance of finding a team, others have it more complicated.
The age and the minutes in the field would be the two barriers that footballers face in their career when it comes to finding a team, according to Álvaro Navazo, representative of the You First agency, one of the strongest in the Spanish market.. For example, Mariano, a Real Madrid striker, is barely 30 years old.. However, you have to put together three seasons to add 1,000 minutes of play (11 games). This factor closes the horizon of teams that could be interested in their services.
You don't have to leave Real Madrid to find a case very similar to Mariano's, perhaps more bloody since Vinicius' irruption, such as Eden Hazard's. He came to the Chamartín team for 100 million euros and, despite enjoying more opportunities than the Spanish-Dominican, after just 10 games in his last season (less than 400 minutes), he leaves discipline through the back door. “When you play little, the normal thing is to take the first thing that comes to you,” says Navazo and completes, “the players have to realize that the important thing is to play.”
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Something similar happens to Adama Traoré, a winger who played for Barcelona and with Luis Enrique's Spanish team, but who at Wolverhampton has not been able to give his best version. Just 12 starts in 34 games and since July 1 without a team, although it sounds for several teams, some Spanish. “You have to do a season of 30 games to get back into the wheel,” explains Navazo about the importance of the minutes.
Sergio Ramos, for his part, did not come out in the best way for Real Madrid. On top of that, his first year at PSG was much better and he was plagued with injuries, he barely played a dozen games. In this second, despite the fact that his performance increased, the team has not fully met expectations and there has been a change not only in coach, but also in politics, which has left him without a team. And Ramos, today, is 37 years old.
“Age is the most difficult factor when it comes to placing a footballer,” says Navazo and talks about the fact that clubs tend to go “year by year”. That policy was the one that, precisely, distanced him from Real Madrid. “Sometimes it's hard for the player to see that problem and they don't realize that they already call him less because of his age,” he adds.
There are other players whose situations are different. There are footballers who, having a market, prefer to wait to try to “speculate” or take more attractive options. De Gea, Manchester United's starting goalkeeper and chosen as a Golden Glove last year, is without a team awaiting other offers, while his position has been occupied by the Cameroonian Andrés Onana. “When it comes to taking stock, you always doubt whether to speculate a little more or take the first good thing that comes along,” says the representative of You First.
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The position occupied by the Atlético de Madrid youth squad does not favor him since “goalkeepers and defenders are the most difficult positions to place”. “The forwards always have a market, always”, Navazo adds. The problem also for the big players is that their range of choice of equipment is more limited than that of the average players.
For example, Diego Costa, striker for Lagarto, who went through big European clubs and who today, at Wolverhampton, has played his last and worst season with just one goal in 25 games.. Without a team, it sounds like Brazilian teams, but with humble goals like avoiding relegation.
Another of the vicissitudes of these categories of players are the transfer bonuses. Options that very few have and that do not always occur. “There are great players who receive more offers to be free, but not because those clubs are going to pay a transfer bonus, but because if they had to face a transfer, they would not even consider it,” Navazo details.. In addition, advances in medical technology have made more and more footballers assume the risk of being injured without a contract as recovery time has been cut.
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However, these problems affect 1% of footballers. There are others, those who are not fighting for million-dollar contracts, who must take advantage of their performance, especially in the peaks of the market, which are between February and March in order to be able to place themselves and not be without a contract in June, although “those who have not stood out have the same problem in February as in June,” according to Navazo. Because the job of the representatives is “to tell them the truths even if they don't want to hear them”. “We can have a different opinion, but the one that counts is the market,” he explains.
As in everything, there are exceptions and the You First agent remembers the cases of Kroos and Modric, a rare bird in this world of football. “It is difficult that there is a player who says that he will be up to a certain age and retire. Most always want to extend their career as long as possible,” he concludes.