Javier Reina Picked Up By Cruzeiro.

By: Mauro | April 16th, 2008

Now, I usually don’t report transfer news nor do I think that it’s something that I should do but today’s news affects Cruzeiro, a team already qualified for the next round so I thought it would be prudent to write something appropriate. I also wanted to give everyone here an idea of how things are handled in South America with respect to transfers.

Many times, players aren’t necessarily owned entirely or in part by the club they play for. May not sound weird?(Maybe not, given the whole Tevez and Mascherano deal with MSI, West Ham and Man Utd. That was one of the transfers that was more on the up and up despite how shady it was.) Well, many times companies (not unlike MSI) or investors (not unlike Kia Joorabchian) that are not in any way associated with football put money down on a player and THEY own his rights.

In today’s news, one of these cases came to light. Colombian Javier Reina was transferred to Cruzeiro from America de Cali for $900,000. That’s right dollars. Not Colombian pesos, American dollars. Thank your lucky stars our currency is still worth something, somewhere.

Still not strange enough? Aside from dealing in foreign currency, America de Cali still owns a percentage of this players rights. So, should or when he gets transferred, 20% of that transfer fee goes back to Colombia. Also, the majority holders of this human being are Cruzeiro (40%) and the other part belong to a chain of supermarkets in Brazil called Sonda. You read correctly, a chain of supermarkets owns 40% of this 19-year old man’s rights should he be transferred again.

I’m not sure if you guys agree with me or not, but this is ridiculous. The transfer market in South America is getting a little out of hand and if these youngsters aren’t going to be protected by their clubs (who, in my opinion are the first line of defense against the Euros) than the teen’s parents should step in. The reason why South American football the leagues are so irregular is because it’s so hard to replace players that are sold off to the big European, as well as small Eastern block European clubs. If not the clubs or the parents than the countries’ FAs should set regulations. My feeling is that they are all on the take.

I know it sounds like I might ask you to sign a petition but I won’t. I just think this is all getting out of hand. Today is a sad day for the transfer market.