At Bar Sete, a celebrated watering hole on the Algarve, a new tale about the proprietor arrives almost every morning. Most of the punters know that the bar’s co-owner, Luis Figo, captain of Portugal and Real Madrid superstar, will change club this summer. But they wonder where he is heading.

He may go to the Premiership, where Newcastle United have expressed the strongest interest. Or possibly to Italy, where Internazionale’s name surfaced. Or even the Bundesliga, if Stuttgart are ready to take the ceiling off their wage structure.

Should he leave Spain, Figo, who has a year left on his contract, will be allowed to go without a fee and so, almost certainly, will become the summer’s most expensive “free”. Free is a relative term. He is accustomed to a salary of well over £4m, net, per year.

In an inert transfer market, June has been conspicuous for its free transfers, usually the easiest bits of business to tie up because for players at the ends of their contracts there is no need for secret negotiations or private auctions. They have been legitimately talking to others for up to six months.

For suitors, the absence of a fee is presented as triumph, for two reasons: an economic coup for the club and confirmation that the player, a free agent, chose his new employer rather than have it chosen for him.

But the free transfer is a misnomer, a point made the other day by Johan Cruyff, observing football’s static finances and detecting some false economies. “Anybody who arrives as a free agent earns it back,” said Cruyff. “The player always gets more in salary than he would if there had been a fee, whether it’s a signing-on fee or a more generous contract. I’d like to see some club-to-club payment whenever a player moves.

“The player who arrives free can earn more than a colleague of the same quality, and that creates problems. Harmony in a dressing room, where everybody knows everything, is hard enough and comparisons of earnings don’t help.”

Still, some notable players, out of contract and in their 20s, have moved, for free, to heavyweight clubs in the past fortnight: the Dutch midfielder Mark van Bommel exchanged PSV Eindhoven for Barcelona, striker Shabani Nonda has gone from Monaco to Roma and last week Valencia confirmed they were happy enough with the state of Patrick Kluivert’s knee to take him on, albeit with a clause in his contract that obliges him to conduct himself appropriately in non-working hours. It’s a free, but with constraints on his liberty. “I’m not going to Valencia to party,” Kluivert assured his new employers.

At 29, he has a reputation to rebuild. His year at Newcastle, whom he joined from Barca last August, was worth more than £3m in salary and yielded six Premiership goals, not the return of the centre-forward whom Milan and Barcelona both coveted above all others at various stages of his career.

Valencia are taking a punt. Ditto Roma. Two years ago, Nonda was the most prolific forward in France, though injury blunted his momentum and may have discouraged Juventus, favourites to sign him until Roma made their bid.

Van Bommel, 28, used to collect multiple admirers every summer, and Barcelona regard his capture for no fee as a triumph; they also feel they pulled off one last year by getting Henrik Larsson for nothing from Celtic. Larsson, now 33 and fit again, did enough in three months — injury ruled him out of Barca’s title-winning campaign from late November — to earn an extension to his contract.

Not all of last season’s higher-profile free transfers worked so well. Celtic gained Juninho, an enthusiastic and accomplished pro but one who did not suit them. Edgar Davids, the Holland midfielder, attracted wide interest when his contract with Juventus expired. Inter signed him, against some impressive competition, but 12 months later would happily live without his high wages.

Inter were last season’s free-transfer specialists and recruits such as Esteban Cambiasso, the midfielder unwanted by Real, thrived; Juan Sebastian Veron, performed ably on loan from Chelsea, with Inter wanting him on a permanent basis. They confirmed late on Friday he will stay on loan until 2007.

That may help animate the market. The tycoon clubs of Italy and Spain have had half an eye on Chelsea, waiting for Roman Abramovich to move. The big domino, Chelsea’s expected acquisition of a new centre-forward, has not yet fallen; until it does, there will be caution elsewhere.

Football senses itself to be economically restrained. “The game is still in a recession,” says Arrigo Sacchi, Real’s director of football.

They will probably announce that the Brazilian Robinho is theirs within the next fortnight. He may even inherit Figo’s number, although the departure of the player who cost Real £37m in 2000 is likely to take longer to finalise. Madrid still have obligations to Figo, with a year to run on his contract.

Free is relative. Just ask Winston Bogarde, who became a museum piece to the post-Bosman era. He was released by Barca in 2000 and joined Chelsea. In four seasons, being paid something above £35,000 a week, he made 12 first-team appearances.

Chelsea let him go at the end of his contract. A free agent, Bogarde has been looking for a new club since. There’s been interest, he reports, but he’s concerned that wages should be “reasonable”. Otherwise, he adds, he’ll retire.

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