After the formal inception of the Football League in 1888, the financial benefit that accrued from the game went largely to those who owned clubs. It was nearly 70 years until an Italian, Gigi Peronace, a translator for British managers in Italy, became one of the first to exploit the game’s growing popularity in Europe and see a market opportunity.
In 1957, Peronace mediated the groundbreaking transfer of John Charles from Leeds to Juventus for a then-record £65,000, exploiting the wage disparities between the two countries. At a time when UK wage caps limited players’ earnings, Italian clubs could offer lucrative deals, highlighted by Charles’s £10,000 signing-on bonus compared with the UK norm of £100.
