Abstract
The aim of the current study was to analyse performance differences of football players 2-years prior and the year after signing a new contract (the following year) while taking playing position, nationality, player’s role, team ability, and age into account. The sample was comprised of 249 players (n = 109 defenders, n = 113 midfielders; and n = 27 forwards) from four of the major European Leagues (Bundesliga, English FA Premier League, Ligue 1, and La Liga) during the seasons 2008 to 2015. The dependent variables studied were: shooting accuracy, defense (the sum of defensive actions, tackles, blocks, and interceptions), yellow cards, red cards, passing accuracy, tackle success, and minutes played per match. Two-step cluster analysis allowed classifying the sample into three groups of defenders (national important, foreign important, and less important players) and four groups of midfielders and forwards (national important, foreign important, national less important, and foreign less important players). Magnitude Based Inference (MBI) was used to test the differences between player’s performances during the years of analyses. The main results (very likely and most likely effects) showed better performance in the year prior to signing a new contract than the previous year for foreign important defenders (decreased number of red cards), national important midfielders (increased number of minutes played), foreign important forwards (increased minutes played and defense), and national important forwards (increased minutes played). In addition, performance was lower the year after signing the contract compared to the previous one for less important defenders (decreasing defense), national less important midfielders (decreased minutes played), and foreign less important forwards (decreased defense). On the other hand, the players showed better performance in defense and more minutes played the year after signing the contract for less important defenders, national less important midfielders, and foreign less important forwards. These results may assist coaches to decide on when a new contract should be signed or the duration of the contract.
Highlights
Incentives are known to play a substantial role in a person’s performance
We hypothesized that performance during the previous season is better than performance immediately after signing/ renegotiating the new contract
The following player-related characteristics that may affect performance depending on playing position were: (i) age, (ii) team ability (UEFA ranking of the team where the player play during the year 0), (iii) player nationality, and (iv) player’s role
Summary
Incentives are known to play a substantial role in a person’s performance. An important incentive in professional football is signing a lucrative contract. While performance analysis in football has focused on numerous variables in explaining performance, there is limited knowledge on the impact of the time of signing a contract in football. Previous research on performance analysis in football has investigated the players’ performance from an individual point of view attending to physical demands [1] and technical and tactical indicators [2] according to different performance levels [3], playing positions [4,5], players’ role as starters or non-starters [6], the evolution of physical and technical parameters [7,8] or performance variability [9]. A limitation of this previous research has been to neglect a long-term analysis of a player’s individual performance [10]. Of further relevance to the present research, Mackenzie and Cushion [11] have argued that research on performance analysis should identify long term constraints on an individual’s performance which can be used to improve a player’s recruitment policies and to control for social-cultural (e.g., foreign/ national, top elite leagues) influences that impact players’ performance during their careers
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