Why are swap deals so rare in the transfer market?

Swapping players with another club would seem like a surefire way to cut costs of a transfer, right?

Then why do swap deals happen so infrequently? Stuart James explains why swap deals are so complicated many clubs don’t even bother.

Illustrated by Philippe Fenner.

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#Transfers #SwapDeals #TransferNews

[SvedemarJr]

Lowkey 3-way swap deal happened this summer:
Lukaku -> Chelsea
Abraham -> Roma
Dzeko -> Inter

[Lunga]

4x his salary?! Not even a united fan but it’s impossible to have nothing but respect for Sir Alex

[Obi-WanKannabis]

For the same reason we use currency instead of direct trading between items. The thing you have might be worth the same to the thing they're selling but they're not interested in it.

[ly]

Jozy Altidore for Jermaine Defoe between Toronto and Sunderland was an amazing swap deal that benefited both clubs heavily.

[leomessiandrescuccitini]

When Rijkard found Eto'o had a bad influence on the squad, he immediately asked Laporta to discard him.But it was not easy since he performed very well and was a fan favourite icon.Then Rijkard was sacked and Pep was appointed. Pep immediately informed Eto'o that he doesn't count on him.That was the reason behind his swap deal.

Barca swapped Arthur who was a fan favourite (he was the "next Xavi") with an ageing Pjanic.
Clearly they are not good in swap deals

[CorinthianProductions]

Huge respect to Sir Alex for sorting Gillespie out with his wages, great manager and an even greater human being

[siiir]

I especially love the transfer rumours every year that went something like: "Man City to swap 3 players for Messi???"
Like that kind of deal probably never happened in the history of the game lmao

[kohchungwei]

It doesn't help that swap deals don't often work out, Sanchez-Mkhi; Arthur-Pjanic, more failures than successes imo.

[arvindkhurana]

I found that out the hard way as I started playing Football Manager (dropped it eventually). At a relatively decent club, when I tried to swap one of my rotational players for an upgrade over him, I agreed a transfer deal with the other club for a certain price and my player.

I even had my target's agent agree to a contract, but the deal broke down. And when I looked for it, I saw that the player on my club's books had refused to sign with them because the other club refused to pay his agent's commission.

[alexandrossavvoulidis]

Another good triangle swap deal was from this transfer window. Dzeko joined Inter from AS Roma, Abraham joined AS Roma from Chelsea and Lukaku joined Chelsea from Inter. Such a great deal for all 3 of them as it was a win-win-win situation for the clubs and for the players.

[ashmusics]

A similar to Giroud, Batshuayi, Aubameyang deal happened in 2021. Remember, Chelsea bought Lukaku from Inter who bought Dzeko from Roma who bought Tammy from Chelsea. Not ideally swaps, but it did happen.

[chiss]

Could we get a video on what it actually means for a club to go into administration?

[edevans]

On top of the standardized contracts, one reason you get trades in US sports is that different teams have different time horizons. If one team is in a "win now" mode and another is rebuilding then it makes sense for one team to trade a player in their prime for someone younger. And since you can't generally sell players for cash, if you have a player on a short term contract generally the only way to get something is to trade that player away.

[CJ_Yo_]

I'd like to see a video on teams that host friendlies before signing a player. It must be a common occurrence, so often as a Swansea fan we've played a European or British club then ended up either selling them a player or purchasing one of theirs.

[BlueBirdgg]

In Brazil, swap deals are fairly common. Every year, there is a a club with a new manager that wants to swap players with other teams (normally his ex-team).

[marcogiuberto]

Same reason we switched from bartering system to money system I guess...

[drkface]

Player trades work in US sports because there's less disparity in what players make from team to team. Draft picks are often included in trades too. Trades are often done to get teams under the salary cap. In football there is no salary cap.

Let's say Manchester City sent Gabriel Jesus to Villa for Jack Grealish plus the difference in their values in cash. Even if City sent them the amount of cash they wanted the deal still wouldn't work because Villa can't pay Jesus' wages. And even though they probably could afford his wages in theory he'd be making so much more than his teammates that it would threaten the stability of their locker room.

[josephmorden]

Might not have wanted to talk about him (for good reason) but the swap for Sigurdsson and Ben Davies with Swansea and spurs was one that really benefited both clubs if Spurs weren't willing to give Sigurdsson game time

[jonkhoo]

It is very interesting to note that in US sports, swap deals or trades is the norm alongside free agent signings 🤔

[aybaer]

Liverpool - Wolves had one last season, with Jota going to Liverpool, and Hoever going to Wolves, plus some additional fees from Liverpool for Jota.