Whilst anything could happen in the last 36 hours, and no doubt there will be some down to the wire surprises, this looks like being of the dullest transfer windows ever. The inexorable rise in transfer fees and wages seems to have halted.
Whilst anything could happen in the last 36 hours, and no doubt there will be some down to the wire surprises, this looks like being of the dullest transfer windows ever. The inexorable rise in transfer fees and wages seems to have halted.
Why should this be the case? There are several factors at work. At a general level the recession is impacting football after a time lag. Just as there have been attempts to regulate the financial sector more tightly, Uefa’s financial fair play rules are starting to affect the thinking of formerly free spending clubs.
Clubs are also increasingly taking the view that they have got their fingers burnt with inflated valuations, particularly when the player signed fails to deliver in the way expected. Think Fernando Torres and Chelesa. Manchester United and Arsenal have always taken the view that you don’t get good deals in the January transfer window.
Sometimes one big deal sets in motion a series of other ones. That often happens when a club is taken over, but no clubs have changed ownership. Banks have also been cutting the overdraft facilities offered to clubs and this has hit Everton and Blackburn Rovers.
Some think that there is actually a dearth of talent while some of what there is is being stockpiled by clubs like Manchester City. However, prices and availability are always better in the summer and that will be a true test of whether there is a trend here.
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