Guarantee on playing Time

[Bondi77]

This is a term which I have heard relatively recently in the media when it comes to a player that is nearing the end of his contract or a young player that has yet to be tied down long term and it really amuses me as I just think it does not exist as which club would agree to it.
If a player is playing well then he is always going to be in contention for the first team and if he is playing crap then he won’t be unless the club paid huge money for him and the club is waiting for them to come good.
I can just imagine a manager being told Player X has to play 20 games this season as it is in his contract.
Thoughts?

 

[yumtum]

This is a term which I have heard relatively recently in the media when it comes to a player that is nearing the end of his contract or a young player that has yet to be tied down long term and it really amuses me as I just think it does not exist as which club would agree to it.
If a player is playing well then he is always going to be in contention for the first team and if he is playing crap then he won’t be unless the club paid huge money for him and the club is waiting for them to come good.
I can just imagine a manager being told Player X has to play 20 games this season as it is in his contract.
Thoughts?

I'm pretty sure Thiago (Bayern) had a clause in his Barca contract that if he dodnt play a certain number of games his release clause would reduce to something ridiculously low.

Guessing these clauses are commonplace, just doesn't specifically say "guaranteed playing time".

 

[Rozay]

I think, logically, a player wants to know what the plan is to integrate them into a team. And ultimately, we cannot say that it doesn’t make sense if they then leave the club and go and play elsewhere, where they were seemingly offered the playing assurances they wanted.

If they left due to lack of playing time and sat on the bench elsewhere, fair enough - but if you leave the bench where you are to go and play, you are surely vindicated.

 

[JPRouve]

The "always in contention" part is wrong. In reality there is a lot more politics in sport and if a young player is in direct competition with an established player or a locker room leader, he isn't in an honest competition, the only way to get signficant game time is if the established player's level drops drastically or through injuries, even then established players generally get the benefits of doubts and a lot of opportunities to keep their place.

As for stating an amount of time, it's not really done but that's not the point of the "guarantee". It's more a gentlemen agreement where the player believe that he is going to be honestly considered and where he can actually see a way toward regular minutes.

 

[sun_tzu]

Seems a pretty logical clause to me
for example lets say a young player is at a big cub and not getting games - the big club dont want to loan him but he feels he needs first team games to improve
A smaller club comes along and agrees a fee with his club so starts negotiations with him and offers a smililar wage to the ones hes on but says he will get more playing time
He has the chance to stay where he is or move on - its perfectly reasonable I think to leave a bigger club and move your whole life on the predilection of more playing time that his agent asks the club to formalise that in the contract and insets a clause that provided he is available for selection he must appear in X% of match day squads play in Y% of games, other wise the player can leave for free / a low fee
If your a manager then there is two possibilities - one you are involved in the transfer and your fine with it, two your not involved in transfer negotiations and a director of football or similar buys all the players and agrees their wages and clauses and you get on with it so again if your a manager under those terms you should be fine with whatever is agreed