FIFA Plan to Restrict Agents' Fees & Number of International Loan Deals

Football agents have been hit by a new FIFA proposal on Wednesday, which plans to restrict fees paid to the players' representatives, as well as the number of international loan deals clubs can be involved in.

The series of measures from football's governing body have been agreed by the Football Stakeholders Committee to 'protect the integrity of the system and prevent abuses'.

If implemented, the new recommendations, which go to the FIFA Council meeting on 24 October, will curb the increase in transfer fees and payments made to extra parties, such as agents. 

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Premier League clubs paid out over £260m to agents during the 2018/19 campaign, which saw a £49m increase on the previous season.

These changes will allow agents of the selling club a maximum of only 10% of the player's transfer fee, and 3% of the player's fee for the agent of a buying club, according to data released on the official FIFA website. 

The restrictions on the amount of International loan deals have been made to 'prevent player hoarding and ensure that loans have a valid sporting purpose for youth development as opposed to commercial purposes'.

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Clubs will be limited to eight international loans both incoming and outgoing for players aged 22 and over, which will then be reduced again to six loans in the 2022/23 season. 

There will also be a maximum of three loans in and three out by the same two clubs.

These rules may have serious consequences for clubs which have stockpiled young talent, and continuously loaned players out with a slim chance of ever breaking into their first team. 

Many Premier League clubs use the loan system to their advantage such as Chelsea, who loaned out 41 players during the 2018/19 season to a variety of different clubs and nations.