A Nod to Loic Perrin and Other One-Club Men

A one-club man is essentially a player who spends his entire career at a single club, largely out of loyalty and love for the club. The player often becomes synonymous with the ethos of the club and the community. The idea of a one-club man is becoming less and less common as football becomes increasingly guided by financial gain and agents are becoming much more influential in the decisions made by the players they represent.

Footballers are rarely privy to the negotiations of their own contracts anymore with their chosen representatives given the power to thrash out a deal with the club and should terms not be agreed upon, said player will be swiftly touted out to gage if any interested parties are willing to engage in formal talks. The landscape of transfers in football was forever changed in 1995 with the 'Bosman ruling' this rule meant that a player could leave his current club at the end of his contract without the club having to receive a fee.

This legal decision gave the players huge leverage when negotiating contracts with their potential employers and meant they were able to demand larger salaries and signing-on fees due to the lack of transfer fees. This in turn placed a lot of power in the hands of agents. Around the time, the ruling facilitated big moves for Edgar Davids and Patrick Kluivert (Ajax to AC Milan, 1996 and 1997), Brian Laudrup (Rangers to Chelsea, 1998) and Steve McManaman (Liverpool to Real Madrid, 1999) among many others.

Another reason the one club man is seen less and less is due to players looking to prolong their careers by dropping down the footballing pyramid and playing at a less taxing level such as John Terry signing for Aston Villa. Others look to move abroad to still be able to play frequently such as the influx of players who head to the MLS (Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo, David Villa, Steven Gerrard, Nani, David Beckham - the latter making the MLS a much more viable option for footballers).