Santalab released by Fury to play in China

Santalab is a real conundrum. He scores some spectacular goals and then does nothing for the rest of the game and is lazy in defence. SFC doesn't miss him. Player transfers are one of the main sources of income for clubs and keep them financially afloat. I'm sure that all clubs make a good profit on local players who are on relatively cheap wages and small signing on fees, if any. The Jets grossed over $6M last season on player deals.

Yes, that's been a problem for a long time I think what you can expect for a transfer fee is realtive to how much you pay your players and how long you have them tied up for. The days of Players beeing slaves and the property of their clubs is gone. if your only prepared to pay a guy 100k for 2 years then asking 1.5 million or such seems unfair. As the A league gets better and better and clubs are prepared to pay more and on longer contracts then the fees will increase. At the moment out league isn't a top league so the players that are brought from here are a little risky and if you ask for too much there's plenty of other leagues with players around the same level of ability. It goes both ways though in that because where not seen to be a big league if an aussie wants to return it's perceived in Europe as there not worth anything and there often allowed to go for free. Take Williams, I hope Roar would have received a fee and I bet the potential fee that Fury would have to pay is much less or non existent.

Sort of related is Vidmar's latest soundbites on the fox website - basically that HAL clubs get undone/ exploited by overseas clubs. his example being Ogenovski being sold for $350K but being valued at $1.7million. This is the sort of matter that needs addressing by FFA and the rest, because if we undersell our assets, we are underselling our games future. its one thing for North or Santalab or Felipe leaving and the clubs getting renumeration, if entitled to it, but it's another if the level of renumeration is a pittance.

Good assessment - I doubt Santalab is a great loss.

I saw Santalab against GCU and he looked ordinary and had very little impact on the game, giving the GCU defence no concerns. My feeling from seeing him play on a number of occasions is that he isn't quite quick enough to play the kind of role the Fury needed him for. Williams, by contrast, certainly is quick enough. I think it was a judicious move by the Fury - they got money for a player who wasn't really what they needed and signed a younger player who is. Nothing to get upset about - just smart work by the club. Williams will, I believe, prove to be a major signing. He'll certainly give Craig Moore something to think about.

I agree its distasteful at best but realistically though, what cld they do to force Felipe back (and they have apparently gotten an argentinian in to replace him now)? I remember this being the theme of a (or similar) thread a few weeks back. The reality is if someone doesnt want to play for you and are (in Felipe's instance) overseas already, with no other ties to the jurisidiction you want to enforce a contract in, then you are in a sorry situation where you either complain to FIFA or sell him (for managers look at Advocaat and FFA or (cross reference to league) no further than sonny bill and the bulldogs). if you get him back or force him to stay will he be in a good frame of mind? Look at Adebadyor for Arsenal last season when it comes to unsettled players perfomaces being wholly inadequate to their assumed potential. Losing Felipe was disappointing, but if they can replace him with someone else, and get reasonable transfer money (assume he was contracted), then they get funds for actually doing very little and can form a team with players who want to be there. Regardless of the size of the club if a players wants to go, they will go eventually (see how Man City, Barca, Real and Chelsea get their contracted players! where will Alonso, Lescott, Terry end up?) It doesnt say much about the clubs IMO, other than HAL clubs simply can't afford to have players "rot on the benches" or loan them off to african clubs like European clubs threaten to do.

I would consider Williams an upgrade but understand why nath's upset. Letting the Brazilian and North go were dissapointing. In regards to North I think they did the right thing. It was early stages in thier recruitment and if they had of kept North against his wishes you can't rely on him beeing your marquee. Archie Thompson wasn't a good salesman when he wanted to leave victory and by saying your not going to let players go overseas all of a sudden their tarets would have wanted to make absolutely sure that they couldn't get a deal overseas before signing on the dotted line. Which means instead of Fury being able to sign people they would ahve had to wait for those targets to finish trials all over the place. While I think north would have been a better Marquee on the field than Fowler, Fowler willl put more bums on seats so it hasn't really cost them. Gold Coast allready had plenty of names on their roster when someone came in for Smeltz so they could afford to be say no

Now that is perfectly correct, I had no disagreeance over the thrust of your post - it is perfectly correct.

Um.... Ok. Well thats good for NQF. Apart from the major oversight on my behalf my point still stands. On more than one occasion a player has left whilst under contract without a transfer fee.

yeah i think it was morelikely a case of good business - money for a player who hasnt even played for you! and they have his position covered with D Williams now anyway.

Umm nath, NQF did get paid to release him... "The Fury had said they would be willing to let Santalab go providing Chengdu came up with an attractive offer, though the details of the deal were not disclosed."

This is ridiculous! Another player allowed to leave whilst contracted to an A League club. My belief is that if your are contracted to a club and another club wants you to play for them a transfer fee must be required. This trend of allowing players who have signed long term deals just to walk away because a better offer has come up must stop. I can't think of another club in the world that would allow a player they have just signed, to leave before even playing a league game. We shouldn't be bending over backwards to these bigger clubs and just letting our players walk out the door. NQF could have made a nice profit by selling him to Chengdu Blades. We talk alot about the apparent player drain. But by letting players leave like this without any reward to our clubs, it's almost like we are pulling the plug ourselves!