The art of selling your best player: 'It is all about being proactive rather than reactive'

出售最佳球员的艺术：“关键在于未雨绸缪，而非被动应对”

By Steve Madeley July 9, 2025 12:10 pm

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Brighton and Hove Albion have become experts at it. Wolverhampton Wanderers have done it regularly in the past couple of years. Bournemouth are becoming familiar with the challenge.

布莱顿已成为此道专家。狼队在过去几年里也经常操作。伯恩茅斯正逐渐熟悉这项挑战。

Aston Villa had mixed success when trying it, and Tottenham Hotspur largely got it wrong.

阿斯顿维拉尝试时成败参半，而托特纳姆热刺则多半搞砸了。

Managing the sale of your best player has become a vital skill for many Premier League football clubs in recent years. Several clubs now build their operation on a plan to create stars and sell them at a profit to reinvest in the next crop of players, making smooth sales imperative.

近年来，妥善管理最佳球员的出售已成为许多英超足球俱乐部的关键技能。一些俱乐部现在将其运营建立在培养球星并以盈利出售、再将资金用于投资下一代球员的计划之上，这使得平稳出售变得至关重要。

But with long-term planning, delicate negotiations and close relationships with agents, there is more to it than supporters might think.

但这其中涉及长期规划、精妙的谈判以及与经纪人的密切关系，其复杂程度远超球迷想象。

The Athletic consulted two executives, who have experience working at Premier League clubs and have been involved in selling star players to wealthier rivals, to get their reflections on how the deals unfolded.

《The Athletic》咨询了两位曾效力于英超俱乐部、并参与过将球星出售给财力更雄厚对手的转会交易的高管，以获取他们对交易如何展开的见解。

Both spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, so, for the sake of clarity, we will refer to them as Director A and Director B.

两人均要求匿名以保护关系网络，因此为表述清晰，我们将他们称为总监A和总监B。

"It is all about being proactive rather than reactive," said Director A. "If you have people around who are comfortable with being reactive, then it can get difficult, but if everyone buys into a proactive plan, then it can work really well."

“一切的关键在于未雨绸缪，而非被动应对，”总监A说道。“如果你周围的人都习惯于被动应对，那事情就会变得困难；但如果大家都认同并执行一个主动规划的计划，那效果会非常好。”

This summer, the challenge of handling the loss of stars has been felt most acutely by Bournemouth, who have sold defenders Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez to Real Madrid for £50million ($68m) and Liverpool for £40m respectively.

今年夏天，伯恩茅斯最为深切地感受到了应对球星流失的挑战，他们已将后卫迪安·霍伊森以5000万英镑出售给皇家马德里，并将米洛斯·科尔克兹以4000万英镑出售给利物浦。

In most cases, clubs find ways to manage the departure of their best players smoothly, with Director A revealing how communication is key, often beginning several months before the transfer window arrives when a key figure is likely to leave.

在大多数情况下，俱乐部都能找到方法平稳处理核心球员的离队。总监A揭示了沟通是关键，通常在转会窗口开启前几个月，当某位关键人物可能离开时，沟通就开始了。

"You pretty much always know when a player is going," he said. "You will start to hear rumours, and then it's about sitting down and having an honest conversation with the player and his agent."

“你几乎总是能知道一名球员何时会离开，”他说。“你会开始听到传闻，然后就需要坐下来与球员及其经纪人进行一次坦诚的对话。”

"And then you usually come to an agreement where you say, 'If the right deal is available, then it might be the right time for everyone for the player to move on'."

“然后你们通常会达成一项共识，即‘如果有合适的报价出现，那么对所有人来说，球员转会可能就是合适的时机’。”

"Once you have had that conversation and you know a player is going in the next window or the window after that, you can start future-proofing to make sure you have replacements already in place."

“一旦你进行了这样的对话，并且知道一名球员将在下一个窗口或再下一个窗口离开，你就可以开始未雨绸缪，确保已有替代者就位。”

Replacing Huijsen and Kerkez will be the biggest task for Bournemouth this summer, especially with the club relatively new to big-money departures --- but the club's most recent work in replacing a high-profile star was successful enough to give supporters confidence for the season ahead.

今夏，伯恩茅斯最大的任务是找到霍伊森和科尔克兹的替代者，尤其是该俱乐部对于处理高额转会离队还相对陌生——但俱乐部最近在替代一位知名球星方面的工作相当成功，足以让球迷对即将到来的赛季充满信心。

Last summer, Bournemouth sold Dominic Solanke, their attacking spearhead, to Tottenham for £65m. Under Andoni Iraola, they still improved their Premier League finishing position from 12th to ninth, thanks in large part to 10 goals from Evanilson, who they bought last summer for just over half the Solanke windfall, and 12 and 11 from Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo, who they had signed in earlier windows in what looked suspiciously like a succession plan.

去年夏天，伯恩茅斯以6500万英镑将他们的进攻核心多米尼克·索兰克卖给了热刺。在安德尼·伊劳拉的带领下，他们的英超最终排名仍从第12位提升至第9位，这在很大程度上要归功于埃瓦尼尔森打入的10球（去年夏天仅花费了索兰克转会费的一半多一点购入），以及贾斯汀·克鲁伊维特和安托万·塞梅尼奥分别打入的12球和11球（这两人是在更早的转会窗签下的，看起来颇像接班计划的一部分）。

When Brighton sold their first-choice midfielders, Moises Caicedo (to Chelsea) and Alexis Mac Allister (to Liverpool), for a combined £150m in the same summer, it took a couple of years to replace them fully, despite the immediate signing of Carlos Baleba.

当布莱顿在同一个夏天将他们的主力中场莫伊塞斯·凯塞多（卖给切尔西）和亚历克西斯·麦卡利斯特（卖给利物浦）以总计1.5亿英镑出售后，尽管立即签下了卡洛斯·巴莱巴，但仍用了两年时间才完全替代他们。

A year later, the arrivals of Georginio Rutter, Mats Wieffer and Matt O'Riley gave the club more midfield options, lifting them back into the top half of the Premier League last season following a slip to 11th in their first season without the influential duo.

一年后，乔吉尼奥·鲁特尔、马茨·维费尔和马特·奥赖利的加盟为俱乐部提供了更多的中场选择，帮助他们在失去那对极具影响力的组合后的首个赛季跌至第11名后，于上赛季重返英超上半区。

At Wolves, the departures of talisman Ruben Neves and veteran partner Joao Moutinho two summers ago were mitigated hugely by the presence of two midfielders they had signed a few months earlier. Joao Gomes and Mario Lemina became the first-choice midfield pairing in the first 18 months of Wolves' post-Neves team.

在狼队，两个夏天前核心球员鲁本·内维斯及其经验丰富的搭档若昂·穆蒂尼奥的离队，因俱乐部几个月前签下的两名中场球员的存在而大大缓解了影响。若昂·戈麦斯和马里奥·勒米纳在狼队后内维斯时代的前18个月成为了首选的中场搭档。

It does not always work so well. When Gareth Bale left Tottenham for Real Madrid in 2013, Spurs spent the £85m they received for their star on seven players.

事情并非总能如此顺利。2013年，当加雷斯·贝尔离开热刺加盟皇家马德里时，热刺将出售这位球星所得的8500万英镑花在了七名球员身上。

They were dubbed the "magnificent seven" but had mixed fortunes. Some were more successful than others, but only Christian Eriksen could be considered a clear success.

他们被称为“神奇七侠”，但命运各异。有些人比其他人更成功，但只有克里斯蒂安·埃里克森可被视为明确成功的引援。

Aston Villa appeared to have everything worked out when they sold Jack Grealish to Manchester City in 2021, a year after tying him down to a new contract with a £100m release clause.

2021年，阿斯顿维拉将杰克·格拉利什出售给曼城时，似乎一切都计划好了——一年前，他们刚与格拉利什签下了一份包含1亿英镑解约金的新合同。

Then-CEO Christian Purslow addressed fans in a video when Grealish departed, explaining they had planned for this scenario and had decided that three new signings were needed to replace all of Grealish's attributes and reduce an overreliance on one player.

时任首席执行官克里斯蒂安·珀斯洛在格拉利什离队时通过视频向球迷发表讲话，解释俱乐部已为此情景做了计划，并决定引进三名新援来替代格拉利什的所有特质，并减少对单一球员的过度依赖。

Emiliano Buendia struggled to make an impact at Villa Park, Danny Ings scored goals sporadically, and Leon Bailey came good belatedly, although arguably not to the level Villa hoped.

埃米利亚诺·布恩迪亚在维拉公园球场难以发挥作用，丹尼·英斯偶有进球，莱昂·贝利后来渐入佳境，但可以说仍未达到维拉期望的水平。

Still, Director A believes long-term planning and acting before a sale is the best way to avoid leaving a gaping void.

尽管如此，总监A仍然相信，长期规划并在出售前采取行动是避免留下巨大空缺的最佳方式。

"It works if you are future-proof," he said. "So we had a key player who was going and we signed another player six months earlier, so he had time to bed in."

“如果你能做到未雨绸缪，这方法就有效，”他说。“所以我们有一位关键球员将要离开，而我们在六个月前就签下了另一名球员，这样他就有时间适应磨合。”

"Then we knew we had our replacement in place, he was settled at the club, and we didn't have to go out and buy a direct replacement when selling clubs knew we had a big chunk of money in our pockets."

“然后我们就知道替代者已经到位，他在俱乐部安顿下来了。这样，当卖家俱乐部知道我们口袋里揣着一大笔钱时，我们就不必急于出去购买一个直接替代者。”

"In an ideal world, you get your replacements first and give them a chance to adapt and settle in without any of the pressure of starting every week and being expected to replace your best player."

“在理想情况下，你先引进替代者，让他们有机会适应和安顿下来，而不必承受每周首发并被期待取代你最佳球员的压力。”

"And because they are already at the club, when the time comes, the fans don't necessarily view them as the direct replacement for 'Player X', so that takes some of the pressure off, too."

“而且因为他们已经在俱乐部了，当时机到来时，球迷们未必会将他们视为‘X球员’的直接替代者，这也减轻了一些压力。”

"And it also gives you some time, so if the player you've signed has come in and really struggled, then you know that you need to go out and get someone else to give that player a bit more time to adapt."

“这也给你一些缓冲时间，所以如果你签下的球员来了之后确实很挣扎，那么你就知道需要再出去找其他人，同时也给那位球员更多一点时间去适应。”

"The key thing is that everyone understands the strategy and buys into it, so the whole club is ideally working a year ahead --- six months at a minimum."

“关键在于每个人都理解这个策略并认同它，这样整个俱乐部理想上是在提前一年运作——至少提前六个月。”

"It doesn't work out exactly as you envisage. Sometimes you agree a player can go, but then the right deal isn't available and the player asks to stay for another six months or a year. As long as the player is committed and willing to apply himself, that's fine."

“事情并不总是完全按你预想的发展。有时你同意一名球员可以离开，但合适的报价没有出现，球员要求再留六个月或一年。只要球员保持专注并愿意全力以赴，那就没问题。”

"But you also need to have multiple assets. If your model as a club is to sell one big asset every year and reinvest the money, it's no good if you only have one."

“但你也需要有多个可售资产。如果俱乐部的运营模式是每年出售一个大资产并重新投资这笔钱，那么你只有一个资产是行不通的。”

"You have to make sure you always have four or five who you could sell for good money so that if the deal isn't there for the one you planned to sell, you can change plans and sell somebody else, and so you know you have assets you can look to sell in future years."

“你必须确保始终有四五个能卖出好价钱的球员，这样，如果计划出售的那个球员没有合适的交易，你可以改变计划出售其他人；同时你也清楚未来几年还有哪些资产可以出售。”

While these are the best-case scenarios, it does not always work out as smoothly as hoped, according to Director B.

虽然这些都是最佳情况，但据总监B所说，事情并不总是如希望的那样顺利。

"At that level of the market, you are usually dealing with the biggest and best agents, players that are potentially full of tantrums if it is not going to happen, because they are life-changing contracts," he said.

“在那个级别的市场，你通常面对的是最大牌、最优秀的经纪人，以及那些如果转会不成可能会暴跳如雷的球员，因为那都是改变人生的合同。”他说。

"It's becoming increasingly common that family members are directly involved in the transfer, which is tricky. Of course, then it is personal and emotional --- everything you don't want it to be in a negotiation."

“家庭成员直接参与转会的情况越来越普遍，这很棘手。当然，那样一来就变得非常个人化和情绪化——这正是你在谈判中不希望出现的一切。”

"All the things you try to do in a negotiation --- depersonalise it, keep it very objective, don't let subjectivity come into it --- become difficult with family members."

“你在谈判中试图做到的所有事情 --- 去个人化、保持高度客观、不让主观因素介入 --- 在有家庭成员参与的情况下都变得困难。”

"Emotions of the agent also come into it sometimes, because often it is their biggest payday, or if the agent has one player in their stable, this is their one payday. If he doesn't make it big on that player, he is not making it at all."

“经纪人的情绪有时也会卷入其中，因为这通常是他们收入最高的一天，或者如果经纪人旗下只有一名球员，这就是他们唯一的大赚一笔的机会。如果他没能在那个球员身上赚到大钱，那他根本就赚不到钱了。”