SPRING 2024

AUTHOR

Shiv Mittal, New York University

ABSTRACT

The study is based on the correlation of high value football transfers, and the change in market value of those transfers for their new clubs. Analyzing pre covid data, from seasons 2017/18 to 19/20, a comparison has been made for the change in market value of the top 10 valued transfers, for goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, attackers over the course of 2 years from their transfer. There has been minimal previous research on this, however, there has been research on why football transfers do not work out well. A variety of reasons such as not fitting in the team, locational preferences, problems with the coach etc. it has always been of great interest as to why players who are bought for such amounts, tend to not live up to their potential. A club makes this incredible investment, so that the player plays well in the club and improves it, whereas it seems to be the opposite. Transfer fee seems to have an unexpected negative correlation with player performances, which has been verified by the results in this experiment also. We can also see that players with high value fees who transfer to Spanish clubs seem to have the greatest dip in performances.

This study disrupts the common belief that players who are sold for more should live up to their potential, and shows each player does not have to play well for every club in the world. It explores different ways in which clubs can go about football transfers to make them successful, such as data analysis.