Sometime soon, one of football’s governing bodies is going to have to step in — and sort out this transfer madness once and for all.

Maybe it needs to be FIFA, the overlords?

Or perhaps the best bet would be for UEFA to do it, seeing as Europe — and most notably England — is where most of the silly money is?

What we need is sensible player-pricing introduced, with levels based on age, achievement and international caps etc.

And hopefully that would see some sort of sanity and longevity returned to the transfer market — because we cannot keep going on like this.

PSG are reportedly ready to break the world record for Neymar (
Image:
Chris Trotman)
....while Mbappe could also move for a gastronomical sum (
Image:
AFP/Getty)

Even Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho and Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola admitted that much last week.

Although, frankly, those two as much as any ­managers have paid the silly money for players that has got us into this mess — which does make their comments seem a bit rich.

Mourinho has spent money everywhere he has been, bar Porto. At Chelsea he was very much part of the billionaire-driven money boom in English football.

And then you have Guardiola — who in this window alone has spent £100million on a couple of full-backs.

I understand the argument that the top stars have a brand value and that a club can get their £100m back in ­merchandising and ­attracting other players.

Lukaku set United back £75m (
Image:
REUTERS)
City splashed the cash on Walker (
Image:
Getty Images North America)

But when you get deals like £50m-plus for Kyle Walker then, I’m sorry, that’s just obscene.

United and City aren’t the only clubs guilty of paying over the odds — take West Brom, for example, who have paid £12m for Jay Rodriguez.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see Rodriguez succeed after the injury ­problems he has had.

But that’s still an awful lot of money for a player who has so much to prove in terms of fitness alone.

In the Championship, Ross McCormack cost Aston Villa almost £13m last summer, and Ruben Neves has just cost Wolves nearly £16m from Porto.

Rodriguez cost West Brom £12m (
Image:
AMA/WBA FC via Getty)
Wolves forked out nearly £16m for Neves (
Image:
Twitter/Wolves)

If they were that good they’d be playing in the Premier League. But they’re not.

The worst consequences of the sky-high transfer fees are for the clubs that have fallen out of the Premier League but no longer have parachute payments to keep them competitive.

They’re having to go and hawk ­themselves around the world to potential backers who can afford to pay today’s ­player prices — which means you’re getting characters like Jorge Mendes, Dr Xia and all the overseas owners coming in.

As Mourinho said, what is happening is dragging up the prices of ‘average’ and, dare I say it, ‘poor’ players in the Premier League, and further down the pyramid.

Where it ends I don’t know, but in the next two decades, mark my words, we will see the world’s first billion-pound player.

Everton could pay around £50m for Sigurdsson (
Image:
Getty)
Ake rejoined Bournemouth for £20m (
Image:
Getty)
Even Middlesbrough paid £15m for Britt Assombalonga (
Image:
Rex Features)

I was the British record transfer 22 years ago at £8.5m. Now the record’s £89m.

It’s gone up tenfold in two decades. If we stick to that rate of ­inflation we’re not going to be too far off a billion by 2037.

The clubs who are playing in the Champions League and can make huge sums with pre- and post-season tours will probably be able to cope. Well done them.

But what about the rest of the clubs? They’re just not going to be able to ­compete. I already get a lot of people contacting me saying they find this money-go-round very difficult to stomach.

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Supporters are now so detached from Championship players costing £15m, and earning £80,000 a week, that it’s ­turning them away from the game.

I know of loads of people opting to free-stream football ­illegally, rather than pay TV subscriptions.

It’s not just about money saved. It’s a badge of honour. A two-fingered salute to the crazy sums ­players, ­managers and clubs are earning.

It has to change. The fact that even Mourinho and Guardiola — two of the ­biggest ­shakers of the money tree — admit it, just goes to show it must happen soon.

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