When the club signs a player we generally know how much has been paid in transfer fees, the figures from www.soccerbase.com are used here. The www.nufc.com site also lists details of the length of each player's contract.
The club has to pay the transfer fee to the selling club. In the club accounts it then has to report how much it views each player's worth has declined each year. So for example Michael Owen for £16m on a four year contract costs the club 16/4 = £4m per year. This is what is reported as 'amortisation' in the club accounts. At the end of the contract the player can just leave on a 'free' so he is viewed as potentially no worth to the business after that.
This only covers the costs for players bought in. So Steven Taylor, for example, does not have any effect on the amortisation costs of the club, as he was never bought from another club. Also once a player has finished his initial contract he stops being counted. So Shay Given for example has no effect.
The table below shows the players on our books who are currently included in the amortisation cost for the business. The column that is entitled "Current Worth" shows how much that player is still valued at. So after one year Michael Owen a quarter of his transfer fee has been used up at a cost to the business £4m, and is now valued as being worth £12m to the club.
In the last two years the club have also started to review the values they have for players. So for example in 2005 they decided that the players were actually worth £3.7m less than the books stated, in 2006 they wrote down player values by a further £1.4m. No indication is given on which players values these write-offs refer to.
The current worth is useful in estimating whether a transfer deal is financially good for the club or not. So for example any fee over £1m for Bramble would be of financial benefit, any fee of less than £7.6m for Luque would not be.
The figures used here are not from the club's accounts. The club do not itemise the costs for a specific player, they just give the total figure. These figures are estimates, and only included to try and help understand why there is occasionally comments from clubs regarding transfers being a good deal.
| Player | Purchase date | Contract End | Contract (yrs) | Transfer fee £m | Current worth £m | 2006-2007 cost | 2008 Cost | 2009 Cost |
| Bramble | Jul-02 | Jun-07 | 5 | 5.0 | 1.0 | 1.00 | 0 | 0 |
| Solano | Aug-05 | Jun-07 | 2 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Carr | Jun-04 | Jun-08 | 4 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.50 | 0.50 | 0 |
| Butt | Jun-04 | Jun-08 | 4 | 2.5 | 1.3 | 0.63 | 0.63 | 0 |
| Milner | Jul-04 | Jun-09 | 5 | 3.6 | 2.2 | 0.72 | 0.72 | 0.72 |
| Baba | Jan-05 | Jun-09 | 4 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.25 |
| Owen | Aug-05 | Jun-09 | 4 | 16.0 | 12.0 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 |
| Emre | Jun-05 | Jun-10 | 5 | 3.8 | 3.0 | 0.76 | 0.76 | 0.76 |
| Parker | Jun-05 | Jun-10 | 5 | 6.5 | 5.2 | 1.30 | 1.30 | 1.30 |
| Luque | Aug-05 | Jun-10 | 5 | 9.5 | 7.6 | 1.90 | 1.90 | 1.90 |
| Duff | Jul-06 | Jun-11 | 5 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Martins | Aug-06 | Jun-11 | 5 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 2.00 |
| Totals: | 66.4 | 49.5 | 14.81 | 13.06 | 11.93 |
In the 2006 accounts published in October 2006 they say the amortisation costs for 2005 were £9.8m, In the 2005 report they said the 2005 costs were £11.8m, plus a further £3m write-off. The difference may be due to the change in accounting rules now in place, although this is not clear form the accounts.
The graph below uses the most recently reported figure.
