Is It Money Well Spent?
By: Inara | November 19th, 2008Watching yesterday’s game against Bordeaux, I was struck by two things. First, Juninho is in danger of growing a mullet. And second, money doesn’t buy everything. Because even though Lyon walked away with the three points, anyone watching the game would admit that Bordeaux dominated the match both in terms of tactics and in possession, and had they possessed a better honed killer instinct, things would have turned out a lot differently. But they didn’t, so good for Lyon.
However, I was struck by the fact that Claude Puel must have one of the most expensive benches in Europe, not as much as clubs like Chelsea, but pretty close (and just so we’re clear, I’m not talking about current market value but the amount Lyon spent to bring them to the club). At the start of the game, Puel’s seven subs alone cost Lyon €50m to purchase. Had Kader Keita been among them, as opposed to in the CFAs, that number would have increased to nearly €70m. Also keep in mind that Lyon spent another €30m on the currently injured players who otherwise would have made the bench.
The best of both worlds.
Bordeaux’s bench on the other hand cost only €9.1m to assemble – and two thirds of that is David Bellion alone. That more than anything underlies the huge economic gap between the two teams. The question is, does Lyon’s financial dominance translate equally onto the pitch? I’m asking this because the common consensus is that Lyon needs to spend more in order to have the level of talent required to ensure dominance on the European scene.
A few weeks ago, I was inspired by Jan’s post over at the Bundesliga Offside on how much money goes into building a successful team. I thought it would be interesting if I did a similar comparison for French clubs. Just how much money have L1 clubs spent on creating their current squads – and has it been worth it?
The following table ranks all L1 teams based on their current league position. Besides the total cost of each squad, I’ve provided the number of players on each team and their average ages. I also thought it would be interesting to look at the composition of the teams, especially the amount of homegrown players, as well as those who sign as free agents or are the result of player swaps. That gives us more detail on how money is distributed among transfers.
Nearly all my data comes from transfermarkt.de, probably the most comprehensive source when it comes to financial data regarding players. That being said, no website is ever perfect, so my figures may not be 100% correct. Since this is the French league, and nobody loves us, data is sketchy and in a few cases missing for some players.
Just some things to keep in mind: Not all clubs report the exact details of their transactions, and many transfers are influenced by more than just the agreed upon price – wages, bonuses, etc. So even if a club snaps up a free player, he might be earning higher wages. Also, regard the “free” column with a grain of salt – for some players, the details of their transfer were unavailable (especially if they play for promoted teams), so I had to make educated guesses, and many of them I am assuming were signed as free agents or that their purchase price was so low as to be minuscule (anything less than €50,000).
Anyway, these numbers reveal some interesting things about Lyon. Spending €140m on 34 players doesn’t seem too bad, until you realize that 16 of those players cost Lyon nothing at all. So really, Lyon have spent €140m on only 18 players. Is that bordering on excessive? Also apparent is that Lyon aren’t big on free agents whereas their nearest rivals Marseille and Bordeaux have signed several. The only one on Lyon’s current squad is – believe it or not – Juninho, who parted from Vasco da Gama eight years ago after a contract dispute.
Probably the greatest robbery of all time.
As expected of a top tier league, many teams don’t have any loaned players (from other clubs) in their rosters at all, and if they do, it’s a player they are looking to sign at the end of the season. Grenoble is alone in having four, which includes Lyon’s own Sandy Paillot. The only player on loan at OL is Timothée Kolodziejczak, who will be purchased when the season ends.
One more thing – Ligue 1 is the youngest league among the Big Five. That makes sense given how much young talent leaves France every season. Most clubs can’t hold on to their best players after the age of 21/22, though clubs like Lyon and Marseille can push that number to 25/26. But this season, Lyon have the third youngest team in L1, with an average age of 23.9. Compare that to their Champions League opponents Bayern Munich, where the average age is 27. Lyon are babies.
Category: Transfers
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I think people are afraid to post on this issue lol. I do believe its money well spent, except for bodmer…but that might be due to having a packed midfield and having play out of position.
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Was it and is it worth it? Well, 7 championships in a row says it was well worth it!! Do we need to spend more to win the Champions League? I don’t know, let’s ask Chelski. And the fact that our average age is only 23.9 bodes VERY well for the present and the future. This probably explains our somewhat consistent inconsistencies…cheers all! Keep up the good work Inara – u rock!
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I think Lyon’s overall transfer policy is very sound.
I seem at times critical of Lyon’s transfers (10 million for Delgado? 15 million for Keita?) but overall I find that Lyon are a very good transfer dealer (even if this season has exposed a slight flaw over the past two seasons with a few understaffed positions [left back, left wing] and others ridiculously overstaffed [Juninho, Toulalan, Bodmer, Kallstrom, Santos, Ederson, Pjanic, Makoun for 2 or 3 positions in central midfield]). 140 million for 18 players isn’t really -that- excessive. It’s about 8 million per player. Given that Lyon have bought Keita, Ederson, Makoun and Delgado for over 10 million each, that means that most of the players were signed for 5-7 million euros… A reasonable price, compared to other Champions League level teams.
Of course, when you look at Ligue 1 Lyon have spent a lot more than their rivals (double of l’OM, and not far from five times more than Bordeaux), but their results are far better, and have been for 7 seasons now. Lyon also have had large cash incomes that Marseille and Bordeaux haven’t had (or less) : Tiago, Malouda, Abidal, Ben Arfa, Diarra, Essien, Luyindula, as well as many “lesser” transfers. So spending 5-10 million is just re-investing in the squad, not being outrageous.
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Really interesting table, Inara, thanks for putting it together. So does “cost” combine transfer outlays and salary? Are the transfer costs just from last summer, or from the arrivals of all the player currently in the squad, whenever they arrived?
And how in the world is Grenoble paying 30 people for €500,000?!
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I’ve been reading this blog for about six months now but this is the first time I’ve commented. It’s amazing. I really don’t think OL’s transfer costs are that unreasonable (except for Kieta’s
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Martha : I believe that “cost” is simply what was paid in transfer fees to bring said player to the club. I also believe they’re not time-adjusted, but inflation has been pretty reasonable, so there’s not going to be a massive change.
For Grenoble, look at their squad : 8 from the youth setup, 17 free transfers/agents, 4 players on loan. That’s 29 players. So in fact, they just bought one player for half a million (Franck Dja Djedje).
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What was Toulalan’s transfer fee?
I’m surprised VAFC have only 1 homegrown player. Isn’t that abnormal for a small club?
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Ah, thank you, Shazback! That makes a whole lot more sense than how I was interpreting it.
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Ronald: Really, you think spending that much on Bodmer was a mistake? We only paid 6.25m for him, which is even less than what we paid for Delgado and Mensah despite them playing significantly less.
ghislain: Good point about Chelsea. I guess the question is, where do you draw the line at spending? Lyon have been spending more and more each season, and they will mostly likely continue to do so. But at the end of the day, money can’t buy you the Champions League, and teams have won that trophy having spent a lot less.
Shazback: Well, Delgado was purchased for 7.25m, though I suppose you could still call that overpriced given that he’s played in only a handful of matches. And you’re right, Lyon are grossly overstaffed in some positions and understaffed in others. I don’t know why since it seems to be such an obvious error.
True that Lyon have won seven titles in a row and may end up snagging number eight, but based on how Lyon have been performing in the league (not necessarily in terms of results but in quality of play) compared to Marseille and Bordeaux, the sporting gap between the two teams doesn’t seem to be as large as the financial gap. And besides this season and the one before it, Lyon spent a lot less and yet won their titles with more ease (though that is partly due to OM and Bordeaux being stronger recently).
Martha: Shazback is correct, the cost refers simply to the transfer fees paid for each player on the current team regardless of when they were purchased. It doesn’t factor in salaries or bonuses. So Lyon’s cost doesn’t include anything involving Benzema and Govou since they are homegrown, but it does factor in the money spent to acquire Cris five seasons ago. Now if we are talking about the market value, which is determined by what the players are worth now (and not what they cost to buy), then Lyon is estimated to be worth around 212m, double that of Marseille and Bordeaux and five times that of Nice, but a little more than half of Real Madrid. You can see a more accurate list of the market value of the clubs here. So market value doesn’t necessarily correlate with transfer value, since a player might be “worth” a lot more but sold for less, or vice versa.
Aaron: Welcome! I’m glad you stopped by to comment. We’d love to see you around more often!
To answer your question, Toulalan’s transfer fee was only 7m euros, which was such a steal. He’s worth three times that now (though it’s incalculable to me!). Valenciennes aren’t known for their youth set up and don’t have many prospects that are ready for L1. They had a few in previous seasons, but they have moved on.Posted from
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Thanks Inara. How do you think OL’s free-kick vulnerable defense will hold up against Hoarau’s strong aerial presence and Rothen’s set piece skills?
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im gonna have to take back what i said about bodmer, as he is still a good midfielder and helped us out in defense without complaining. lol
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Bodmer’s acquisition price was highway robbery!!!! He has the best “quality-to-price ratio” of any of the recent purchases. Well, I guess Lille made-up for what they lost on Bodmer with Keita’s over-inflated transfer fee.
And Inara summed-it-all-up in this paragraph: “True that Lyon have won seven titles in a row and may end up snagging number eight, but based on how Lyon have been performing in the league (not necessarily in terms of results but in quality of play) compared to Marseille and Bordeaux, the sporting gap between the two teams doesn’t seem to be as large as the financial gap. And besides this season and the one before it, Lyon spent a lot less and yet won their titles with more ease (though that is partly due to OM and Bordeaux being stronger recently).” My thoughts exactly.Posted from
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Pourquoi est-ce que vous detestez-moi?
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poser
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hi there – long time lurker first time poster:
i’m wondering with the latest gallas drama at arsenal and ol’s serious and ongoing cb problems whether luring gallas ‘home’ now – during the january winter – would make sense for both him, lyon, and arsenal? would jma be interested in a serious offer, and would gallas consider a serious offer? he’s not the defender he was when he first went to arsenal, but he is by no means over the hill, and of course has vital CL experience.
inara – wonderful blog. many kudos and many thanks to you.
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Aaron: I’m worried about that too because Lyon seem to be having a recurring problem when it comes to aerial defense. The best tactic for them is simply not conceding corners and limiting the amount of fouls which give away dangerous free kicks. The other problem they need to work on is closing down their flanks – it seems to be a weak point (especially on the left).
pierrot: Welcome! Glad to have you on board. As to your question, Aulas loves having French internationals, but Gallas is cuptied and would be useless in the really important games (assuming Lyon qualify in the CL). He also has very high wages, and Lyon could lure in a better and more reliable defender with that salary. But I don’t think Gallas would say no to Lyon, he’s indicated that he only considers four clubs worth his while – PSG, OM, OL, and Bordeaux. However, he also said that he’d come only when he’s ready to “retire.” Who wants a player like that? And let’s not forget his personality problems, I doubt Puel would be okay with it. He is Wenger’s disciple after all.
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Also, sorry I’m late with the preview for tomorrow’s game, I’ll have that up shortly.
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I know this stream is about transfers, not Benzema leaving, but have you guys seen this? http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=593804&sec=europe&root=europe&cc=5901
Of course I hope it is not true, but that certainly would shake up the second half of the season, and put pressure on Aulas to get the defense he needs. If he is not going to have Benzema to get the goals to make up for the defensive lapses, he better get some in that same tranfer window.Posted from
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Aulas said a few days ago that Benzema isn’t leaving this summer. Though he always says stuff like that.
I don’t know, I think it depends on who Lyon signs. Benzema won’t stay for sure if he feels Lyon are being unambitious.
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Also, you know it’s serious when the seriously EPL centric ESPN columnists write about anything involving the French league. I can’t remember the last time they did so.
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You know those “Kader Kieta” and “Ronaldo” posts, that was my younger brother. I just found out he hacked into my computer and started posting stuff. Sorry.
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