New case could transform transfer market like Bosman

Lassana Diarra is arguing Fifa rules breach EU labour laws

- MIGUEL DELANEY

If the transfer system were to end tomorrow, what would actually replace it? Would there be collective bargaining between clubs and players, like in American sport?

As outlandish as that prospect seems, there are some in football currently asking for it – right down to whether this morning will bring about this profound upheaval.

That is when the European Court of Justice will rule on the Lassana Diarra case, which has been cast as challenging the legitimacy of the entire transfer system, as well as Fifa’s authority over it, having pushed for major changes last year. It could well transform the game, as well as the player’s legacy, and shift the direction of football for years to come.

There would be quite a quirk to that, too, given that Diarra is now mostly remembered for unfulfilled potential. He was for a long time just the answer to old quiz questions, as one of few players to have turned out for two of the Premier League’s old “big four” in Arsenal and Chelsea, before moving to Real Madrid. The move to the Bernabeu went awry because Diarra refused to bend to Jose Mourinho’s demands, which is why those who know him aren’t that surprised he has pursued this case.

His name may instead carry a very different legacy, similar to that of Belgian trailblazer Jean-Marc Bosman’s. The sense of portent is all the greater since it is Bosman’s lawyer, Jean-Louis Dupont, who has taken the case. Even some of the details feel as obscure as Bosman’s attempt to move from RFC Liege to Dunkerque in 1990, which eventually resulted in legal victory against Uefa and that first great overhaul of the market in 1995.