Once again it was a frentic last day as the transfer window closed, indeed last hour as Arsenal and Chelsea made requests after 11 p.m. The usual calls have been heard for the system to be scrapped and replaced with a draft system, but it certainly creates a lot of excitement as the deadline approaches with ‘make your mind up’ time for clubs and players. It should also be remembered that the window was originally intrroduced to meet the requirements of EU competition law.
Once again it was a frentic last day as the transfer window closed, indeed last hour as Arsenal and Chelsea made requests after 11 p.m. The usual calls have been heard for the system to be scrapped and replaced with a draft system, but it certainly creates a lot of excitement as the deadline approaches with ‘make your mind up’ time for clubs and players. It should also be remembered that the window was originally intrroduced to meet the requirements of EU competition law.
Prices can go up, but they can also go down as the window closes and players become desperate to move and clubs to offload them to reduce their wage bill. A couple of players yesterday filed last minute transfer requests to force the pace.
Arsene Wenger, under pressure from fans and the board, was one to make a last minute trolley dash but only used £27.8m on four players from the £60m he had available from the sales of Fabregas and Nasri. In part this was because of silly prices. Lille wanted £30m for Yann M’Villa and Blackburn Rovers £30m for Christopher Samba.
Although I do think that Arsene Wenger is a great manager, Arsenal should have drawn up and implemented a transfer strategy much earlier in the summer to avoid this last minute rush.
Stoke City are hardly one of the most glamorous of the Premiership clubs but they have joined the big spenders by splashing out £22m, including £10m on Peter Crouch. But when you consider the rewards of staying in the top flight it’s not that much.