July 10, 1995: Arsenal Signs Veteran International David Platt, Contract Possibly Second in Britain to Include Image Rights Tax Avoidance Scheme

Arsenal pays £4.75m to sign veteran England international David Platt from the Italian club Sampdoria. [Independent, 7/11/1995] Platt’s contract is reportedly the second for a British footballer to include a provision that part of the money Arsenal pays him is for image rights. This money is paid into an account in an offshore tax haven and taxed at a lower rate than the salary for playing football. Dennis Bergkamp, also signed by Arsenal around this time (see June 20, 1995), has a similar provision in his contract. [SportsPro, 2/25/2011] The Inland Revenue will challenge the image rights payments, but will be unsuccesful (see April 2000). However, it will later win a significant settlement from British football clubs (see (March 2011)).