Power Play

Forget the moneymen, managers and fans, the people who hold all of the power in football today are those that play it.

'Player power' has never been more evident than in this hectic summer of transfers. We are now in an age where it is perfectly normal for players to jet halfway around the world to undertake a medical with a club without his current club even knowing about it.

How long do you think it took West Ham to work out that a player they own (although how much of him they own is up for debate) and, more importantly, pay an obscene amount of wages to, shouldn't be jetting into Manchester to undertake a medical when Manchester United haven't even agreed to pay them any money yet?

While one Argentine heads into Old Trafford, another heads out. Gabriel Heinze wants to join Liverpool, Rafa Benitez wants to sign him, but Sir Alex Ferguson is 'horrified' at the thought of losing the fans' favourite to the Reds. If, as reported, Heinze has a £6m buy out clause in his contract, there is little United can do if Liverpool offer that amount, however disturbed they are by it.

Sam Allardyce is preparing for the new season at Newcastle, but those preparations will be in tatters if a club offers £9m for Michael Owen or £13m for Obafemi Martins. Newcastle would have to accept the offers and the duo would be off quicker than you could say 'Wai ai man!'

Steve Sidwell refused to sign a new contract at Reading to ensure he could secure a move to the Chelsea substitutes bench (if he gets that far). In doing so he made sure that the club, a club that resurrected his career following his release from Arsenal, would not get a penny for his transfer.

Jose Antonio Reyes is sulking his way into a move to Real Madrid, blaming the British weather, food and just about everything else for his unhappiness. To be fair to him a life in Madrid does appeal, but living in London on about £50,000 a week? Seems like a decent life to me.

John Terry and Frank Lampard are squeezing every penny they can out of Chelsea before they sign new contracts. Both are in powerful positions with only two years left on their current deals. Both know that the club will do everything they can to keep them.

And of course the ultimate example of player power can be seen in one Englishman's move to Beckham FC, er sorry, LA Galaxy. David Beckham's move Stateside has been greeted with more fanfare than any football transfer ever. That is, of course, just how he wants it.

Beckham will receive a reported 40% of the money from every one of the Galaxy shirts sold with his name on the back, and lets be honest, a shirt with Abel Xavier's name on isn't quite as appealing now is it?

With over a quarter of a million Beckham shirts sold already, that represents another California mansion that Mrs B can prance around in.

Forget all the talk about 'no player is bigger than the club.' In today's market, it is the players who hold all the aces.

If it carries on like this, then they'll probably be after the rights to them as well.