How Premier League transfers really work in 2025 -- and are rules being broken?

2025年英超转会内幕：规则是否被打破？

By Steve Madeley June 15, 2025 12:08 pm GMT+8

Many of us have signed a footballer in our time. We've approached their club, negotiated a fee, spoken to the player's representatives, agreed personal terms, crossed our fingers for good news about the medical and finally completed the deal.

我们很多人都在（游戏）里签下过球员。我们接触其俱乐部、谈判转会费、与球员代表沟通、谈妥个人条款、祈祷体检顺利，最后完成交易。

But while Football Manager and other simulators might offer a representation of how transfers would work if everyone stuck to the letter of the rules, in the real world, these moves effectively happen in reverse.

然而，尽管《足球经理》等模拟游戏描绘了如果大家都严格遵守规则，转会该如何操作；但在现实中，这些步骤的次序实际上是颠倒的。

"It happens in the other direction," an experienced football agent tells The Athletic. "I dare say there's probably five per cent of clubs in the world that do it that (correct) way. The other 95 per cent always agree the player's deal in advance, or certainly the majority of the player's deal.

“现实是反着来的，”一位经验丰富的足球经纪人告诉《The Athletic》。 “我敢说，世界上大概只有5%的俱乐部是按（正确的）规矩办事。另外95%的俱乐部总是提前谈妥球员的个人待遇，或者至少谈妥了大部分条款。”

"Virtually no one is bidding for a player anymore without already knowing that they're going to come to their football club, or have a strong interest in signing for that club."

“实际上，如今几乎没人会在不确定球员是否愿意加盟，或者球员是否对该俱乐部有强烈签约意愿的情况下，就贸然报价了。”

So, in a bid to demystify the process, here is a stage-by-stage breakdown of how a football transfer really happens in 2025, with the help of that agent and a former sporting director at a major UK club, who both wish to remain anonymous to protect relationships.

因此，为了揭开这一过程的神秘面纱，在这位经纪人以及一位英国大俱乐部前体育总监（两人均要求匿名以保护关系）的帮助下，我们按步骤解析2025年足球转会的真实运作方式。

How the deal starts

交易如何开始

Most clubs in the top levels of football now have large recruitment departments and extensive databases filled with research on players they may want to sign in future transfer windows.

如今，顶级足球俱乐部大多拥有庞大的招募部门和丰富的数据库，里面储存着对未来转会窗口可能引进球员的研究资料。

When the time is right, the club aiming to do the buying make contact with the player's representatives to assess the chances of getting a mooted move over the line.

时机成熟时，有意引援的俱乐部会联系球员代表，评估促成传闻中的转会成真的可能性。

"What has changed is that, historically, a lot of deals were very agent-led, because in the past agents probably had better networks than clubs," says the agent. "Now, with the advent of data, clubs know a lot more players. I would say in the past, it used to be 80 per cent agent-led and 20 per cent club-led, whereas now I would say it's 90 per cent club-led."

“变化在于，历史上很多交易是由经纪人主导的，因为过去经纪人的关系网可能比俱乐部更广，”这位经纪人说。“现在，随着数据分析的兴起，俱乐部了解的球员多得多。我认为过去是80%经纪人主导，20%俱乐部主导，而现在我会说是90%俱乐部主导。”

Clubs used to rely on the networks of agents such as Eric Hall

俱乐部过去依赖像埃里克·霍尔这样的经纪人的关系网

The sporting director we talked to says he has often been approached by agents in recent years proposing clients of theirs as possible signings, but that very few of those suggestions are taken further.

与我们交谈的那位体育总监表示，近年来他经常遇到经纪人向其推荐旗下球员作为潜在签约对象，但这些建议很少能被推进。

"I can't think of any times where there's been a player put to me that's been better than the players on our shortlist, or that we didn't already know was available," he says. "Now and again, you might get the one put to you that you didn't think would be feasible or didn't think you could afford and that can be interesting but, nine times out of 10, the players put to you by agents are below the standard of the ones already on your shortlist."

“我想不起有哪次经纪人推荐的球员，能比我们候选名单上的球员更优秀，或者是我们之前不知道其可售性的，”他说。“偶尔，你可能会遇到一个你原以为不可行或买不起的球员推荐，这可能会很有趣。但十有八九，经纪人推荐的球员水平都不及我们候选名单上的球员。”

The buying club talks to the player

买方俱乐部接触球员

Clubs are not allowed to contact players who are under contract elsewhere, either directly or through their representatives, without written permission from the individual's current employers, according to Premier League rules.

根据英超规则，俱乐部未经球员当前雇主的书面许可，不得直接或通过其代表接触与其他俱乐部有合同的球员。

The exception to that is where clubs from another country can legally open negotiations from January in the year a player's contract is due to expire about a free-agent move when it does run out, while the Premier League's regulations say you can speak to targets from the third Saturday in May if their contract is up that summer.

例外情况是，来自其他国家的俱乐部可以在球员合同到期当年的1月起，合法开启关于其合同到期后以自由身加盟的谈判；而英超规则规定，如果球员合同将在当年夏天到期，则可以从五月的第三个星期六起接触目标球员。

In reality, though, clubs do negotiate terms with players or their representatives in private, often over deals that never come to fruition (because the club-to-club negotiations break down or the would-be destination team opt for other targets). This involves recruitment staff or sporting directors sounding out potential signings, usually via agents, to gauge their interest and assess possible costs.

然而现实中，俱乐部确实会私下与球员或其代表谈判条款，而且常常是那些最终未能达成的交易（因为俱乐部之间的谈判破裂，或者潜在下家选择了其他目标）。这涉及到招募人员或体育总监试探潜在签约对象，通常通过经纪人进行，以评估他们的兴趣和可能的成本。

The agent and sporting director explained to The Athletic that this goes unpunished because clubs rarely, if ever, flag up that it's going on to the league mainly because they are doing it too with players they are interested in. The Premier League has the power to investigate an illegal approach even if no complaint has been received, but any investigation would depend on enough information and evidence being available.

经纪人和体育总监向《The Athletic》解释说，这种行为之所以不受惩罚，是因为俱乐部几乎从不向联盟举报此类行为——主要是因为他们自己也对感兴趣的球员做同样的事。英超联盟即使未收到投诉也有权调查非法接触行为，但任何调查都取决于是否有足够的信息和证据。

"Really, it's the way it's always worked," says the agent. "Very occasionally, a club might complain about it if they're going for promotion or trying to stay in a league and they think their player is being unsettled. But almost all of the time, they do nothing because they know they're going to do the same thing themselves in the next transfer window, and people in glass houses can't throw stones."

“老实说，这一直都是这么运作的，”这位经纪人说。“极少数情况下，如果一家俱乐部正在争取升级或保级，并且认为他们的球员被扰乱了军心，他们可能会投诉。但绝大多数时候，他们什么也不做，因为他们知道自己在下个转会窗也会做同样的事，正所谓五十步笑百步。”

The rules remain in place, but clubs don't kick up a stink if they're being broken, so governing bodies don't sanction, and working around them has become accepted practice to help the transfer system run smoothly.

规则依然存在，但俱乐部在被违规接触时通常不会大吵大闹，因此管理机构也不会施加制裁。规避规则已成为一种被普遍接受的惯例，以帮助转会体系顺利运行。

Much of the groundwork for any transfer is done before sporting directors at the buying clubs get fully involved, with a modern recruitment team's responsibilities stretching beyond studying potential signings and compiling reports on them.

任何转会的大量基础工作，在买方俱乐部的体育总监深度介入之前就已完成。现代招募团队的职责不仅仅局限于研究潜在签约对象和撰写报告。

"They watch the players, then they will draw up their shortlist for a centre-forward, for example, and present that to me," says the sporting director. "It will contain everything in terms of the possible cost of the deal, and they won't present a player to me if they don't know the player is interested or at least think he might be interested."

“他们会观察球员，然后拟定一份候选名单，比如中锋位置的，并提交给我，”体育总监说。“名单会包含交易可能涉及的所有成本信息，而且如果他们不知道球员有兴趣——或者至少认为他可能有兴趣——他们是不会把球员推荐给我的。”

"So at that stage, I will know that a player is interested, what the approximate salary is going to be and probably the approximate transfer fee. Even though nothing is finalised, I would say those presentations are usually accurate to about 85 or 90 per cent."

“所以到了那个阶段，我就知道某个球员有兴趣，大致薪资会是多少，可能还有大致的转会费。尽管一切都未最终敲定，但我得说这些报告的准确度通常在85%到90%左右。”

Once sporting directors decide a deal is feasible and attractive, arrangements will usually be made to speak discreetly to the player. In most cases, the selling club will be aware of the general potential for somebody to leave due to conversations with their agent, but they are usually unaware of specific conversations between players and specific buyers.

一旦体育总监认为交易可行且有吸引力，通常会安排谨慎地与球员接触。在大多数情况下，卖方俱乐部会通过与其经纪人的沟通，意识到球员有离队的可能性，但他们通常不知道球员与具体买家之间的具体谈话内容。

The agent adds: "I'd say 90 per cent of the time, the player will have either a telephone conversation or face-to-face conversation with the manager (usually via video call), sporting director or both at the buying club."

经纪人补充道：“我认为90%的情况下，球员会与买方俱乐部的主教练（通常通过视频通话）、体育总监或两者进行电话交谈或面对面交谈。”

"That chat will involve, 'Where do you see me playing?', 'Where do you see the club going?', all this kind of stuff, and often they are quite selfish conversations about what incentives are there for the player. Those conversations normally come weeks in advance as soon as clubs know where they're going to be next season (in terms of which division they will play in)."

“谈话内容会涉及‘你打算让我踢什么位置？’、‘你认为俱乐部未来发展方向如何？’等等这类问题，而且通常是非常利己的对话，讨论球员能从中获得什么激励。这些对话通常会提前数周进行——在俱乐部明确下赛季定位（即参加哪个级别的联赛）后就开始了。”

"But clubs will often have six or seven plates spinning for any one position. They might have the same conversations with six or seven players, then they will decide which one best suits them and best fits their budget. So a lot of the time, things won't go any further than those conversations and no one will ever find out about them."

“但俱乐部通常会在同一个位置同时接触六、七名球员。他们可能与六、七名球员进行同样的对话，然后决定哪一个最适合他们，也最符合预算。所以很多时候，事情就停留在对话阶段，外人永远不会知晓。”

Once those discussions are completed and a club has decided on their preferred target, the sporting director and the player's agent will attempt to come to a deal in principle on personal terms wages, bonuses, et cetera.

一旦这些讨论完成，俱乐部确定了首选目标，体育总监和球员经纪人将尝试就个人条款——工资、奖金等——原则上达成协议。

The buying club talks to the player's current club

买方俱乐部接触球员当前俱乐部

While, according to the rules, clubs should agree a transfer fee before the team doing the buying ever speak to the player involved, in 2025, the official bid is normally the final part of the process.

虽然根据规则，俱乐部应在买方接触相关球员之前就转会费达成一致，但在2025年，正式报价通常是整个过程的最后一步。

Clubs want a high level of confidence a deal can be completed before lodging a bid with the player's current employers. And negotiations on transfer fees can sometimes be little more than a formality.

俱乐部希望在向其当前雇主提出报价之前，就对交易能够完成抱有高度的信心。而关于转会费的谈判有时可能仅仅是走个形式。

The player's agent, in an effort to make a deal as smooth as possible, will often obtain an 'asking price' from a selling club to pass on to would-be buyers, so suitors will know roughly where to pitch their opening offer. Clubs, however, tend to take such information with a pinch of salt.

球员经纪人为了促成交易尽可能顺利，通常会从卖方俱乐部获取一个‘要价’（asking price）并转达给潜在买家，这样求购者就能大致知道首次报价该出多少。然而，俱乐部往往对这种信息持保留态度。

"They give us a figure, which is never right, because they want to have us interested," says the sporting director. "It's almost always a bit lower than the club actually want. To be honest, whenever I get a figure like that, I normally add about 15 per cent to try to get to a realistic figure."

“他们给我们一个数字，这从来都不准，因为他们想引起我们的兴趣，”体育总监说。“这几乎总是比俱乐部实际想要的价格低一点。老实说，每当我拿到这样的数字，我通常会加上大约15%，以试图得到一个更现实的价格。”

Negotiations over a fee can still involve much to and fro, especially if a club are reluctant sellers, or if more than one potential buyer is on the scene, at which point a bidding war can ensue. But even in those cases, a player may already have made a firm decision over where they would rather go.

关于费用的谈判仍可能涉及大量来回拉锯，尤其当俱乐部是勉强出售，或者有多个潜在买家出现时，这时竞价战可能随之而来。但即使在这些情况下，球员可能早已对心仪的去向做出了坚定的决定。

Several clubs were keen on Ipswich striker Liam Delap this summer, but he made it clear he wanted to join Chelsea – and now has

今年夏天，多家俱乐部对伊普斯维奇前锋利亚姆·德拉普（Liam Delap）感兴趣，但他明确表示希望加盟切尔西——如今他已如愿

The agent says: "Usually, we will say to any other clubs, 'The player prefers to go somewhere else, but we'll keep you updated'. Sometimes, if a club is especially reluctant to sell, players might take extreme action to try to force through a move. That may include refusing to train or play, or something less extreme."

经纪人说：“通常，我们会告诉其他俱乐部，‘球员更想去别处，但我们会及时告知您最新情况’。有时，如果一家俱乐部特别不愿意出售，球员可能会采取极端行动试图强行推动转会。这可能包括拒绝训练或比赛，或者一些不那么极端的行为。”

Matheus Nunes was an example of a player when he looked to secure a move from Wolverhampton Wanderers to Manchester City in the summer 2023 window. Players who do that risk punishment from their clubs, most likely fines, but in almost every case the benefits of getting the sought-after move far outweigh the feasible sanctions.

马特乌斯·努内斯就是一个例子，在2023年夏窗寻求从狼队转会曼城时，他[缺席了训练]。这样做的球员会面临俱乐部的惩罚风险，最可能是罚款，但在几乎所有情况下，成功转会带来的好处远远超过可能的处罚。

"I have never encouraged a player to down tools," says the agent. "I know some players and agents do it, but I've always thought that's too much. You have to show some respect to the club that is paying the player's wages."

“我从未鼓励球员罢训罢赛，”经纪人说。“我知道有些球员和经纪人会这么做，但我一直认为这太过分了。你必须对支付球员薪水的俱乐部表示一定的尊重。”

"We do sometimes put in a transfer request and find a way to make that public, to apply a bit of pressure, but that is as far as I would ever go."

“我们有时确实会提交转会申请，并想办法将其公开，施加一点压力，但这也就是我所能做的极限了。”

The final stages

最后阶段

Once all the financial aspects are agreed, the final stage of a transfer is the medical.

一旦所有财务条款达成一致，转会的最后阶段就是体检。

Contrary to common belief, these do not provide a binary 'pass-or-fail' outcome. Instead, they are a series of tests designed to inform the buying club of any medical or fitness issues that might make their investment a greater risk.

与普遍看法相反，体检结果并非简单的“通过/失败”。相反，这是一系列测试，旨在让买方俱乐部了解任何可能增加其投资风险的医疗或体能问题。

Sometimes, though, the results that come back can lead to a transfer being renegotiated, or even cancelled altogether. In 2020, defender Nathan Ferguson's move from West Bromwich Albion to Crystal Palace was called off, then revived on renegotiated terms, after his medical revealed knee issues.

不过，有时体检结果可能导致转会重新谈判，甚至完全取消。2020年，后卫纳坦·弗格森从西布罗姆维奇转会水晶宫的交易，就在体检发现膝盖问题后被叫停，随后又在重新谈判条款后恢复。

A minor concern in these circumstances might result in the buying club seeking a reduced fee to reflect the added risk, while a bigger problem might see them pulling the plug altogether.

这种情况下，轻微的问题可能导致买方俱乐部寻求降低转会费以反映额外风险，而更严重的问题则可能让他们彻底放弃交易。

Usually though, the results provide an all-clear and the deal proceeds as agreed, completing a process that happens the opposite way around to how many fans would expect.

不过通常，结果会显示一切正常，交易按约定进行，从而完成一个与许多球迷预期相反次序的过程。