The Portuguese midfielder, part of a rare group of players owning a share of their transfer rights, prioritized the club over personal financial gain.
To explain Francisco Conceiçao`s imminent permanent transfer to Juventus, we start with what the player is willing to give up to continue wearing the Bianconeri shirt. He holds 20% of his own transfer rights. What did the Portuguese do? To break the deadlock between Juve and Porto and reach an economic agreement more quickly (with the aim of joining the training camp on the 24th), he clarified that he is not in a hurry to receive his 20% share. This created the decisive breakthrough: the Juventus economic proposal, without that percentage, will be able to satisfy Porto`s request, and Chico can officially become a Juventus player through this operation worth 21-22 million euros plus easily achievable bonuses, reaching up to 25 million. And what about the money destined for Conceiçao? It`s not a definitive renunciation; it will be spread across his salary over several years. Everyone is happy, from the clubs to the player, who provided the decisive assist and reopens his black and white story with this `beau geste` for the Old Lady.
Player Ownership of Transfer Rights
Beyond this positive outcome, the particular dynamic of a player partially owning himself hasn`t gone unnoticed. While less common in Europe, it was not unusual in South America to find players with fractional transfer rights, often with a percentage belonging to a fund. Years ago, FIFA curbed this practice, which led to absurd auctions and brought certain operations, like Neymar`s move from Santos to Barcelona, under scrutiny. However, even with the removal of “third parties,” it remains possible for a portion of the transfer rights to stay with the player. A recent example is Richard Rios, a target for Roma: the Colombian holds 10% of his transfer rights and, similar to Conceiçao, is reportedly willing to waive his share to facilitate a complicated deal that Roma`s sporting director Massara wants to finalize for 28 million euros including bonuses (Palmeiras` latest offer).
Players Who Say No to Money
The other category to which Conceiçao`s situation belongs is that of players who waive money to facilitate their transfer, stay, or departure. Noa Lang did it by reducing his salary to join Napoli, and in 2021, Pedro gave up his August salary from Roma to speed up his move to Lazio. Tonali also cut 400,000 euros from his salary in 2021 just to stay at Milan after his initial loan spell. Gennaro Gattuso, in 2019, when discussing his severance package after a mutual termination with Milan, refused his last two annual salaries to ensure that his entire staff received their remaining 24 months of pay. And then there are Fernando Redondo and Mario Mandzukic; Redondo tore his cruciate ligament, barely played, and resolved the issue by saying: “I asked them not to pay me my salary until I returned to play.” A similar situation involved the former Juve player, Mandzukic, also at AC Milan, when in 2021 he renounced a month`s salary because he was injured. “An exceptional gesture,” commented President Paolo Scaroni, “which demonstrates Mario Mandzukic`s ethics and professionalism and his respect for Milan. The Club will thus have the opportunity to further support the Milan Foundation for projects benefiting young people in socio-economic and educational vulnerability, where sport is a tool for social inclusion.”
