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The money paid to agents for facilitating transfers for players between clubs or contract renewals at their current club. Agent fees can be enormous - sometimes tens of millions for a single deal. Agents get paid by clubs, players, or both. The fees have grown so large that clubs and FIFA have tried to regulate them. Super-agents like Jorge Mendes and the late Mino Raiola built empires on these commissions.

An unbroken chain of passes before the ball is lost. Sequences can be long (tiki-taka style) or short (direct football). Teams are judged on how many long sequences they produce and what they do with them. A 15-pass sequence that ends with a sideways ball is different from one that ends with a shot. The quality of the sequence's endpoint matters as much as the length.

The creative midfielder who runs the game, creates chances, and controls tempo. Classic number 10s like Maradona and Zidane played between midfield and attack. Deep-lying playmakers like Pirlo and Xavi do similar things from further back. Pure playmakers are rarer now because teams spread creative duties around instead of relying on one player. But the role still gets romanticized as football at its most artistic.

Italian term for a midfielder who drifts into the half-space between central and wide areas. Not quite a central midfielder, not quite a winger. They make runs into channels, receive between the lines, and provide width when wingers cut inside. Gündoğan under Guardiola played this way - nominally central but constantly drifting wide and arriving late in the box.

A quick pass and return - you pass to a teammate, run past your marker, and receive the ball back. Also called a wall pass or give-and-go. Simple but effective for breaking through tight defenses. Requires two players on the same wavelength and a pass with enough pace that the defender can't recover. Basic attacking play that never goes out of fashion.

Actively closing down opponents to force mistakes or win the ball. You can press high (in their third), in a mid-block (middle of the pitch), or low (in your own third). It only works if everyone does it together - one player pressing alone just leaves space behind them. Klopp's Liverpool and Guardiola's City have made it central to how they play, using pressing as the first step of attack.

A stat that values how much a player increases their team's chance of scoring through their actions. Unlike xG, which only looks at shots, xT gives every zone on the pitch a threat value. Move the ball from a low-value zone to a high-value zone - through passes, carries, or dribbles - and you generate xT. Useful for rating midfielders and ball-playing defenders who progress play without necessarily shooting or assisting.

Running outside and past a teammate who has the ball, usually a full-back going around a winger. Creates a 2v1 against the defender, who has to choose between following the runner or staying with the ball. Even if the pass doesn't come, the threat of it stretches the defence and opens space to cut inside. One of the most basic attacking moves, taught from youth level, and still works at the top.

A clause giving the selling club a percentage of any future transfer fee. If you sell a player for £10m with a 20% sell-on, and they're later sold for £50m, you get £8m (20% of the £40m profit). Smart for clubs who develop young players - you benefit from their continued success even after they leave. Can complicate future deals though.

A large group of players owned by one club but loaned out to others, sometimes dozens at a time. Chelsea at their peak had 40+ players out on loan. The logic: develop youngsters, maintain asset value, collect loan fees, maybe find a gem. Critics say it hoards talent and blocks pathways at other clubs. New rules have been introduced to limit it.