Evergreen in professional football: transfer market as a “marketing tool”: the hype about change

Airport halls, parking lots or the back entrances of hospitals are generally not the most exciting photo motifs.

During the summer break, when professional footballers are increasingly playing friendly matches and moving from A to B, these images are almost omnipresent in the media. The transfer market has long since become one of the central topics of conversation among football fans. A long-running hit on social networks too.

“You can tell that the topic is getting bigger and bigger. More rumors are being created, there are transfer shows on television, sometimes – and I think that’s a shame – there is more public discussion about changes than about the game itself,” said sports director Sven Mislintat from Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart of the German Press Agency. “I have the feeling that the transfer market is increasingly being used as a marketing tool – whether by the club or by consultants. Attempts are sometimes made to distinguish oneself through transfers.” After all, big deals also attract a lot of attention.

But by no means only changes from the international top category, such as that of striker Sadio Mané from FC Liverpool to FC Bayern Munich a few weeks ago, are followed in minute detail on the Internet – from the player’s arrival in the city to his medical check in the hospital to the signature of the new contract on the club premises. A lot of information often leaks out in advance. One might think that the industry is becoming more and more talkative. Maybe people don’t talk anymore – just more people with you.

More players and more money

“I think that in general the interests have not changed that much,” said PR expert Carsten Meyer, whose agency “spirit communication” advises several former and current Bundesliga players and coaches on media matters, the dpa. “There have simply been more players and there is more money involved than before.”

Individual reporters have also specialized in transfers. Fabrizio Romano is probably the best known of them at the moment. The Italian has almost ten million followers on Twitter and provides them with new information every day. In hot transfer phases like the current one, he only sleeps around three hours a night and charges his cell phone up to twelve times a day, the freelance journalist told Sport Bild. He is in contact with managers and consultants – and also with players directly. “The transfer industry is part of my life,” said Romano. “And I’m part of the transfer industry.”

«Transfer industry» is booming

It’s booming. Internet portals such as “transfermarkt.de”, where all sorts of statistics can be found and discussions are held in forums, are also feeling the effects. In August 2016, she recorded 180 million, five years later in the same month already 420 million page views, the editors said in response to a dpa request. The summer transfer window attracts up to 59 million visitors to the site every month, who find out about and exchange information about rumors and player changes.

Thanks to social networks, fans can now reach the public. Each of them can send pictures and information around the world – and thus possibly feel a part of the big game, which they used to only follow from the outside.

“The competitive situation has increased due to new media such as Twitter or Instagram,” explained PR professional Meyer. “Rumors spread faster. It’s gotten harder to keep things secret.” And they are picked up faster too. His agency sensitizes its clients to the fact that “more and more is being written”. However, her work has not changed fundamentally.

“There are more and more sources, especially in the social media area, serious and dubious,” said VfB sports director Mislintat. However, this does not have to be a disadvantage for his own job. “Sometimes there are so many player names in circulation that it is always difficult for outsiders to see which player a club is really interested in.” And with whom it is worth sticking to your heels.