(Credit: Manh Tung - Breaking Media / Getty Images)

Ben Palmer

Tue 12 August 2025 18:00, UK

Alexander Isak and other players may be able to walk away from their clubs for a set fee in the future.

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That is according to football finance expert Dan Plumley, who revealed to Football Insider that the lawsuit being levied against FIFA could cause a seismic shift in the power balance of the sport.

Former Chelsea, Arsenal, and Portsmouth midfielder Lassana Diarra was ordered by FIFA to pay his former side Lokomotiv Moscow €10million (£8.7m) after cancelling his contract one year into a four-year deal, reports The Times.

Alexander Isak wants to join Liverpool this summer.

(Credit: Hasan Karim, Breaking Media)

This could theoretically see a player like Alexander Isak join Liverpool without the need for a drawn-out transfer saga.

Isak could be in breach of his Newcastle contract if he refuses to play for the club this season, but a change to the rules could allow the Swedish striker to avoid the debacle that has unfolded, as he may be able to just say “I can move” and leave.

Plumley explained to Football Insider exclusively: “I think it’s really interesting.

“Ultimately, what this comes down to is, if this were to go the way of the players in this regard, and with the case and the way it’s looking, you would be looking at a big power shift from club to player in that transfer market, which is what we saw 30 years ago.

“But this would be on another level now, given the way the game’s gone, so it would shift that balance of power quite substantially to the players.

“What does it mean to do that financially is something that we don’t know yet, but what we’re certainly looking at here is a huge shift in the balance of power.

“It would be shifting even more so now onto the players.

“It’s certainly looking at shifting that balance of power to the player.”

Football’s main governing body never seems far from a dispute or a debacle and the latest one that is brewing, aside from a humungous class action being levied against them, relates to the next Club World Cup.

Chelsea may not be invited to the 2029 Club World Cup, as FIFA are reviewing their participation rules for the next edition of the tournament, according to The Telegraph.

Liverpool were not involved in the Club World Cup.
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