With prices high and bargains rare, clubs are not usually incentivised to go out and spend in the January transfer window. In the last post-Christmas window the net spend was just £32.3m. However, it may be different this year. The compressed nature of the table may give clubs the motive to splash the cash.
With prices high and bargains rare, clubs are not usually incentivised to go out and spend in the January transfer window. In the last post-Christmas window the net spend was just £32.3m. However, it may be different this year. The compressed nature of the table may give clubs the motive to splash the cash.
The stakes are high. Participation in next season’s Champions League is likely to bring in more than £50m for winning the competition and in excess of £20m for reaching the group stage. For Tottenham Hotspur qualification could make the difference in terms of negotiating stadium and naming rights deals.
Clubs have the cash. The new television deal kicks in next season, adding at least £55m to the amount available to a top flight club. That is before one takes account of what is bound to be an enhanced overseas rights deal. Even the team who finish bottom this season will earn almost as much as Manchester City did for winning the title last May.
Financial fair play is a consideration in the background for clubs like Chelsea, but Arsenal have the cash and need to spend it. Although prudence and restraint are much talked about in a climate of austerity in the wider economy, this may be the time for a winter gamble.