Contracts in football are a very strange thing. Their presence is fairly unique to spot, and in theory, they serve as a means of ensuring that both a player’s future at a club is secure. The idea of a contract is to serve to benefit both parties – with the player guaranteed a salary, and the club in a position to hold on to their player, if they choose to, for the length of that contract.
It makes a lot of sense, then, for Everton to look to seal a new deal for Romelu Lukaku. The player’s agent has even recently confirmed to TalkSport that the Belgian forward is closing in on a new contract at Goodison Park, much to the delight of the Everton faithful. Lukaku has, of course, been on fire this season – having already picked up 17 Premier League goals.
However, in the modern game, contracts don’t work like they used to and, as a result, could this proposed new contract for Lukaku actually mean very little?
You only have to look at previous examples of major players signing contracts to see that, in many ways, they do close to nothing to prevent big moves. Luis Suarez, Gareth Bale, Luke Shaw – what do all of these players have in common? They all signed a new deal and left a club within a year of doing so. For a more recent example, look no further than the Dimitri Payet saga in January: the Frenchman secured the move he wanted to Marseille despite signing a new contract less than a year earlier. Just because Romelu Lukaku is, on paper, committing his long-term future to Everton, that doesn’t necessarily mean that a move isn’t forthcoming.
His depature, in fact, is a very real prospect. Chelsea, who brought the Belgian to England prior to selling him to Everton, have been linked with a move for quite some time – this report emerged via Yahoo Sport earlier this month suggesting that the Blues could look to seal a summer swoop. With Diego Costa still facing an uncertain future, the concept of Lukaku playing for Chelsea is quickly becoming a very realistic thought. With Chelsea not afraid to splash the cash on a big name forward, you can be sure that a sizeable price tag will do little to put them off.
So the big question is: if Lukaku’s deal is not going to keep him at the club, why go through the trouble of securing one, particularly at such great length?
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In many ways, it simply serves as a means of getting the best new possible for Everton. The reason that players like Shaw, Suarez and Bale were able to go for such astronomical sums was because they had all been signed on long contracts by their club. With no risk of an expiry, clubs could hold out for maximum profit. Whilst this new deal will certainly cost Chelsea more at the end of the season, should they come in for Lukaku, it is unlikely to be a deal-breaker for the Blues.
By looking at what Lukaku’s agent, Mino Raiola, has been saying, it seems that a move could very well be on the cards. Refusing to rule out a move away despite the impending new deal, Raiola revealed to TalkSport: “In football, contracts are not there to be going until the end sometimes…If everybody thinks it is better to move on, then that will be done at that moment”. Here, Raiola is acknowledging the prospect of Lukaku moving on, potentially at the end of the season, highlighting how little this contract really means.
In a week that a Premier League-winning manager was sacked just four months after the fact, it is clear that the power in football is now in the hands of the players and their agents. If Romelu Lukaku wishes to seek a move at the end of the season, his contract simply serves as a bargaining chip for his club, and it will have little impact on any potential departure. The new deal is certainly a boost for Everton, should it come, but it is certainly not the game changer that it appears to be on the surface.
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