Ah summer. That time of year when the days get longer, the weather gets warmer and top clubs across the world get silly with the amount of coin they're willing to pay for top players. Especially those players who have distinguished themselves on the world's biggest stage, if we happen to be coming out of a FIFA World Cup cycle. Which, of course, we are.
This year is no exception, and the weeks following World Cup 2014 have seen big name transfers for big sums - including the transfer of Suarez to Barcelona for over $120M and World Cup standout and Golden Boot winner James Rodriguez to Real Madrid for just shy of the same amount.
In their excellent book "Soccernomics," Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymansky examine this phenomenon closely - that is, the urge of managers and owners to spend outrageous sums to acquire top talent at precisely the wrong time, i.e., when the hearts and minds of an adoring public are focused on the stars of World Cup, and these players and their agents have maximum leverage.
Kuper and Szymanski's advice? Keep your wallet in your pocket, Madrid. After all, the age-old law of supply and demand states that when demand surges for a limited supply of a product (in this case, big name players), the price isn't likely to lean in favor of the buyer. But, clubs like Real Madrid can't seem to resist the urge to spend big at these moments. A quick look back at the past decade or so shows that Madrid has made the same maneuver after each World Cup, aquiring Ronaldo in 2002, Fabio Cannavaro in 2006, and both Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira in 2010.
But perhaps there's an argument to be made that it's precisely because of the surge in public interest and the press that results from record transfer fees that teams like Real Madrid are willing to pay them. After all, isn't acquiring a player for a record fee the ultimate "status symbol" for a team? Only the most successful teams could afford to do this and, let's face it, Madrid in particular is doing something right - winning the Copa del Ray last season and defeating city rival Atlético Madrid to win a record 10th UEFA Champions League title.
So, as a follow up to the story we wrote earlier this week about Liverpool's sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona - and what they might (or might not) do with their newfound wealth - we've compiled a list of the top 10 most expensive transfers of 2014 so far. (We have to say thanks to TransferMarkt and Goal.com for the data that informed this analysis.)
While it's hard to say which of these transfers will work out and which will blow up in the respective faces of the managers at the helm of the teams in question, we as the viewing public can sit back and enjoy the spectacle. After all, isn't this what professional sports is all about? (Insert hint of irony here.)
