Aussie players are smashing transfer records. Does this benefit or harm Australian soccer?
- Written by: Weekend Times
Last weekend, Lucas Herrington made his debut for Hull City in the English Premier League (EPL) after breaking
the transfer record paid for an Australian soccer player.
The 18-year-old signed a five-year deal with the transfer fee estimated to be A$33 million. It shattered the $26 million fee Leicester City paid for Harry Souttar’s move from Stoke City in 2023.
Herrington’s signing wasn’t the only recent mega-money deal for the 2026 Socceroos World Cup squad:
- just days after Herrington’s move, Alessandro Circati signed with Portuguese powerhouse Benfica, equalling Herrington’s $33 million transfer fee
- Nestory Irankunda agreed a deal with Portuguese giants Sporting for around $25 million
- goalkeeper Patrick Beach signed for an undisclosed fee with French club Troyes.
But does Australian soccer, and the A-League, benefit from these massive transfer fees?
A fast rise and an eye-popping opportunity
In September 2024, Herrington signed a three-year contract with Brisbane Roar. But in August 2025, he transferred to US Major League Soccer (MLS) side Colorado Rapids on a contract running until 2029. Colorado paid Brisbane $800,000 for Herrington.
After Herrington’s breakout World Cup performance, Hull targeted him, and on August 12 he signed a deal that broke the Rapids’ transfer fee record.
These transfer fees flow from club to club, with the athlete also having to agree on a salary with their new club.
Transfer fees are regularly made public but salaries are usually not disclosed.
How the money flows
Generally speaking, clubs can generate revenue from player transfers through three main mechanisms: direct transfer fees, sell-on clauses and FIFA training awards.
A direct transfer fee is the initial payment made from the acquiring club to the selling club.
A sell-on clause allows the former club to receive a percentage of any future transfer fee if the player is subsequently transferred.
FIFA training awards provide two forms of financial recognition for clubs involved in a player’s development: training compensation and solidarity contribution.
Training compensation is intended to reimburse clubs for the costs associated with developing a player. Solidarity contributions provide eligible training clubs with a share of certain international transfer fees based on the period they contributed to the player’s development.
In Herrington’s case, while Hull City paid about $33 million to acquire him, Brisbane Roar only received the award fee set by FIFA: $500,000.
Brisbane missed out on the other fees, having sold their sell-on percentage to the Colorado Rapids ahead of the Hull offer.
It is perhaps one of the greatest blunders in Australian soccer transfer history.
But the lack of financial stability in the A-League competitions, both men’s and women’s, may have played a part in the Roar’s decision: they may have been keen for an immediate cash injection.
However, the failure of Australian clubs to capture the full financial value of their players is not inevitable.
One club showing the way
Sydney FC provides an alternative model. Over the past two years, the club has generated more than $5 million from the transfers of academy graduates Patrick Yazbek, Jake Girdwood-Reich, Hayden Matthews and Adrian Segecic, who were developed in the club’s academy from a young age. All moved to European clubs except for Girdwood-Reich, who signed with St Louis in the MLS.
Sydney FC has openly identified player development and overseas transfers as part of its broader financial strategy.
In this sense, the club appears to have recognised something with which Australian soccer has historically struggled. That is, developing talented players is only half the challenge – the other half is ensuring the clubs responsible for their development retain enough of the financial value generated when those players enter the global transfer market.
Timing is crucial – the selling club has to act before the player’s contract expires if they want to maximise value from the player. If their contract expires, they can leave without a transfer fee.
Sydney FC’s strategy is built around creating a cycle in which academy investment produces talented players who then generate transfer income that be reinvested into developing the next generation.
The pros and cons
The success of Australian players overseas may encourage greater international interest in the local game, with overseas clubs, scouts and investors increasingly looking towards Australia as a source of talented players.
That is undoubtedly a positive for the sport locally. But in most transfer cases, little money flows down to the local game.
Meanwhile, A-League clubs that develop but then sell players to generate income can be hamstrung because a player who might otherwise help them in their pursuit of a successful season is suddenly gone.
The league can also suffer if its best players head overseas.
So while there are many obvious benefits when an Australian soccer player signs a big contract to play overseas, there can be real disruption to A-League clubs, academies and institutions that develop young talent.
Steve Georgakis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
