The Dahmane case

[Louis]

There's been a huge court case in Belgium, a player walked out on his club and was told to pay 880k euros, he's appealed against the amount and now it's been reduced to 220k euros. Essentially, players in Belgium can buy out their own contract for six-twelve months worth of wages and walk away on a free transfer.

 

I suspect we'll see a lot more Belgians in the richer clubs (who'll pay the voiding fee) as a result.

[Steve_E]

They're beginning to compare it to the Bosman case right now over here. Dahmane's lawyer, Luc Misson, was involved in that case as well. Basically they're being treated the same as any other labourer would be now. The club's general manager has said this is disastrous for the competitiveness of Belgian clubs and if this ruling expands to other European countries than we're seeing the final days of transfers for megabucks right now.

[Louis]

It'd also mean astonishingly high wages for players because there'd be i) no transfer fee ii) competition for the best players would increase wages and iii) increased wages would increase the amount owed to the club.