Berlin (AFP)

Inter Milan and Bayern Munich have just engaged the stars Alexis Sanchez and Philippe Coutinho for derisory sums: thanks to the system of loans, whose clubs now use ... and abuse, sometimes to the detriment of the players.

"In recent years, the lending market has become a second market for commercial transfers, and in 2017, for example, more than $ 500 million has been invested in loans, which was not the goal when this system was put in place. place ", explains Jonas Baer-Hoffmann, General Manager of the International FIFPro Players Union, in an interview with the German agency SID, a subsidiary of AFP.

. Young talents on trial

Originally, the loan is designed to give time to young talents, barred in major clubs, playing them a few months or more with a less upscale training.

But some clubs, like Chelsea, have optimized the system by hiring dozens of young professionals, and lending them systematically, to build a pool of cheap, cheap labor in the short term.

Hopes are - or not - proven and the home club can then choose the ones it recovers for its own first team. The others are sold.

This season, two days before the closing of the transfer window on the continent, the London club had already 23 players on loan, according to its official website. In fact up to forty according to counts of the British press.

The Belgian international Michy Batshuayi, now in the Blues, has for example been systematically loaned for two years, six months in Dortmund, six months in Valencia, and another six months at Crystal Palace.

"It's problematic," says Baer Hoffmann, "the situation becomes very precarious for players who are loaned to a different club every year, and can not become established or integrate socially in a city."

Especially since FIFA, which regulates the exchange of players between clubs, has so far never legislated on loans. The rules that apply are enacted by each country separately.

Inter, Juventus or Manchester City are also known for making the loan a true economic model.

. Mega-stars at a discount

Another use of the loan, prized by the very big stables of the continent: to get rid of temporarily stars with huge salaries but left on the bench by the coach, and whose price on the market makes it very difficult a "traditional" transfer.

That's how Bayern Munich have just won for a season Croatian Ivan Perisic (Inter Milan), and the Brazilian Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona).

Coutinho, disappointing for 18 months at Barça, is the most expensive player in the history of the club blaugrana (120 M EUR + 40 M EUR bonus). The Catalans are happy to have it exported to Germany in the form of a one-year loan with a call option of EUR 120 million.

The German club is also winning: the expense is minimal (Coutinho, 8.5 million, Perisic, 5 million) compared to the purchase of player of this caliber, and the risk less if the star does not adapt, as was the case of the Colombian James, lent two seasons by the Real and finally left this summer, without having really convinced.

. Well smoothed accounts

The loan has finally become a decisive element of financial arrangements that allow to play with the rules.

In 2017, PSG had taken Mbappé for a season "on loan" from Monaco - but with mandatory purchase at the end of the season - not to charge the expense (180 million euros) to its annual budget, and thus avoid falling under financial fair play, while he had just acquired Neymar for 222 million euros. UEFA, not fooled, has opened an investigation into this operation.

Another example: This summer, Betis Sevilla bought PSG Giovani Lo Celso, then decided to resell it in Tottenham. But this "sale" is actually a one-year loan to the English club. The transaction provides for 16 million euros for the loan, which would be deducted from the sales price in 2020.

The goal is to limit the price of the sale, in order to minimize the share of the capital gain to be paid back to the Paris-SG, which on the other hand does not affect anything on the loan.

© 2019 AFP