Football’s $3 billion transfer gamble: Ex-Scotland Yard detective on the urgent need for improved due diligence in player transfers
IMAGO | Nervous AZ Alkmaar players during a penalty shoot out in the UEFA Youth League at Stade De Geneve, Geneva. They later went on to win the tournament.
Neil Whitbread, a former Scotland Yard detective turned football industry consultant, aims to improve due diligence processes in player transfers.
Whitbread's work focuses on intelligence gathering and due diligence on transfer targets, providing insights into players' characters, backgrounds, and social interactions.
Why it matters: Lack of due diligence processes in football transfers has been a surprising revelation for Whitbread, with many clubs lacking thorough assessments despite spending huge amounts.
The perspective: Despite the influx of money into football, the industry has not adopted the same level of due diligence commonly seen in high-level executive appointments.
3 July 2023 - 3:29 PM
This summer the $3 billion mark is likely to be surpassed on spending in the global transfer market. The amount is significant by any measure, roughly equivalent to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) attracted by a mid-sized European country.
But imagine if, say, Austria or Denmark, carried out those sorts of levels of transactions with little or no due diligence? Could you conceive a PLC making multi-million acquisition without doing background checks on their purchases?
But
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