Spmeone will be feeling good today...

[gullmachine88]

Man Utd release Barthez

Manchester United have agreed a £5m package to terminate goalkeeper Fabien Barthez's contract from 30 June.
Barthez, who joined United from Monaco for £7.8m in 2000, has been on loan at Marseille since January.

The French World Cup winner will sever his United links two days after his 33rd birthday and will be free to join Marseille or any other club.

He lost his place towards the end of last season and was allowed to go on loan after United signed Tim Howard.

A statement from United on Tuesday - released as part of their interim results - read: "Manchester United has reached agreement with Fabien Barthez to terminate his contract with the club with effect from 30 June 2004.

"Barthez joined Manchester United in June 2000 from AS Monaco and was contracted to the club until June 2006.

"As a result of this agreement, the second-half results will include a write-off of the un-amortised balance of the original registration cost and compensation to the player on termination. The total charge will be £5m."

 

[gullmachine88]

5 mill, to go play football elsewhere

 

[REDLAND]

Thats a good price for him,

 

[Bozza]

I'm no accountant but that does not mean Barthez will be getting £5m. What it is saying is the amount they paid for him (said to be £7.8m) will be charged to their accounts over the years of the contract. Amortization is the term used when describing depreciation of an intangible asset. So rather than United taking a £7.8m hit to their accounts when they signed Barthez they would charge £1.3m per year over the 6 years of his contract (assuming a 'straight line' method was used).

This probably means about £2.5m of the £5m is the write off Barthez's registration whilst the bald Frenchman has pocketed a similar amount. Probably about half of what he would have got for seeing his contract out...

(Sits back and waits for Mr. Accountancy, Artois, to correct all of the above)

 

[Martlet]

[boring accounting bit on the way....look away now!]

it's not entirely true...much of the £5 mill is the "unamortised registration cost" - basically, when you buy a player, a club can capitalise the registration cost or transfer price (ie treat it as an asset), and write it off over the life of the player's contract.

A large proportion of the £5mill will be Man Utd having to write off the remaining asset in their books - which is not a cash transfer to Barthez at all. Unlikely we'll ever find out exactly how much goes to Barthez