11 Jul 2025 20:41:07
Dear Ed001, something I'm curious about that you might know the answer to - it seems to be becoming more common for a club to agree personal terms with a player in advance of actually making a formal offer for a player. I see it all the time now - X agrees personal terms, but clubs still some way apart on valuation. Isn't this the definition of tapping someone up? I'm looking at Forest reporting Spurs for their Gibbs-White approach, which seems fair enough, but most of the transfers I've seen this summer the player seems to have already agreed terms before being given permission to talk to the potential buyer?

{Ed001's Note - not necessarily tapping up. Sometimes clubs will give permission so that the buying club know if they can actually afford to sign them. Usually though, until a deal is close between the 2 clubs, the selling club only tends to agree to them getting an overview of the kind of salary etc the player is seeking. The Forest case is different and comes down to Spurs knowing about a clause in the contract that is supposed to be confidential.}

1.) 12 Jul 2025
12 Jul 2025 08:48:53
Ed001, aren’t clubs allowed to talk to agents year round without permission from the players club? And whilst I understand the confidentiality part, surely clubs know agents would be like I’m sure *club A* would find a bid of Xm acceptable ;) without outright saying *player B* has this clause. So unless MGW clause was say 60,000,765.43 and that’s the exact Spurs bid, I don’t really see how Forest prove their case?

{Ed001's Note - it is very difficult to prove in a court of law, but the FA is a civil court, so proof only has to be established on the balance of probability. It is a much lower threshold. And any agent that did suggest an amount near to a clause they know about would be almost certainly considered to be breaching confidentiality. As they should do, because that is exactly what it is they would be doing.}

2.) 13 Jul 2025
13 Jul 2025 00:02:24
Hi Ed, thanks for interesting replies. I was wondering with the Gibbs White case, what would the player stand to benefit from the release clause if it was kept confidential?

{Ed001's Note - the knowledge of knowing that there is a point where he gets to decide if he stays or goes. The club are unable to reject offers above that amount.}

3.) 13 Jul 2025
13 Jul 2025 12:54:46
Thanks Ed001. Really interesting. I guess if the selling club is willing to listen to offers, allowing a club to agree personal terms with the player in principle also potentially makes those at the buying club in some way more psychologically committed to the deal. I just don't remember it ever being written about in the past the way it's written about now, whether it happened before or not. Perhaps something to do with the changing news cycle and constant need for 'content'.

I've just understood something about release clauses as well that I hadn't before, so thanks for that. I'm now remembering the infamous £40m + £1 bid from Arsenal for Suarez.

{Ed001's Note - it is easy to forget stuff when it doesn't involve your own club. Must be said, clauses based on a sale price in English football are a fairly new phenomena and still rare.}