from Amazon
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Pre-contract agreements
Google that. It’s a contract to sign a contract. They seem to be quite common in soccer. Here’s one story where a 17-yr old was successfully sued for millions for reneging on a contract to sign a contract. As best as I can figure, clubs sponsor soccer acadamies for kids (and I’m talking kids kids), and at some age, it seems something like at the age of 14 or so, they sign a contract that obliges them to sign another contract at age 16 (which seems to be the age of consent I guess). I’m presuming that if the club satisfies all the conditions, and they are not trying to unduly profit from the kid, the kid then has to sign a contract on his 16th birthday. Merida, who managed to “go into hiding” until after his 16th birthday, emerged on some other club (in another country), thereby reneging on a contract to sign a contract.
Anyway, this is very confusing, since it’s hard to find any source on the matter. Everywhere I look, these pre-contract agreements seem standard, and so, there’s nothing devoted to explaining them.