Agent for Allan starts fishing for a contract extension in the press

Dealing with contracts is an unfortunate reality of modern football. Few players any more ever see the expiration dates of their deals, with early transfers for players the team needs to get rid of and regular contract extensions for players they want to keep being the norm. That can create some public politicking over contracts, something all football fans have grown all too used to seeing -- and something that Napoli fans are currently seeing with Allan.

His agent is in the media complaining that Napoli don't pay him much -- only €1.2 million per season. And you know what? He's actually kind of right. That annual salary translates to a little over €23,000 per week, which is nothing compared to the value he's provided Napoli this season. A similarly talented midfielder at Allan's age -- 25 years old -- and experience would almost certainly be making twice that at minimum in England, a locale his agent specifically mentioned in his comments.

Could Allan go to England? Business is business, I’d see nothing wrong with that if all the sides were happy with the terms of the deal.

But the first thing I’d do would be go to see the club and see if the contract can be improved, because he doesn’t earn much.

-Source: Football Italia

The latter point is the key one here, and is exactly what's going on here. The interview was the agent's way of opening talks with Napoli in a public setting, and his ovation to English teams is just a way of trying to speed things up and potentially give himself and his client some leverage.

The thing that has to be considered with Allan's contract, however, is that the  Brazilian plays in Italy. Allan was making about a third of what he is now when he was with Udinese, and Napoli pay fairly well for an Italian team. Key words, "for an Italian team." They just don't pay as much as most English and many Spanish and German teams to, simply because they can't afford to. Napoli do try to take care of their core players, though, and Allan has certainly become that.

There's probably nothing for Napoli fans to worry about here. As his agent claimed, Allan is an extraordinary player, and he has earned and should get an improved contract, even though he's only been around for a season. Some English teams might be interested in him, but they'd have to pay a pretty penny or ten in order to pry him away from Napoli, and he sure as heck won't be going to Brazil as his agent implied -- Allan would certainly prefer to get paid a little less instead of promised more and not get paid reliably, as has been an issue with many Brazilian teams of late.