[ad_1]
The official Premier League logo (Getty Images)
The specter of empty booths and uncertainty about future broadcasting and commercial contracts didn’t stop the From the Premier League arms race, as the clubs again spilled more than a billion in the transfer window.
Top-tier English clubs have committed to deals worth £ 1.2 billion ($ 1.5 billion), the lowest spending for a summer transfer window since 2015.
However, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic was more marked when it came to player sales, as the other major European leagues tightened their belts.
Expenses of around £ 400 million mean that net expense of £ 800 million is the second highest on record in a single window.
“The sensible way to look at it is that maybe the transfer market is not going to be as dynamic as in previous years,” John Purcell of Vysyble, specialists in football finance, told AFP.
“What we’ve got is actually the second highest net spend total for a summer window.
“When clubs are making these deals, it tends to be a low down payment and then the rest of the amount that needs to be paid ends.
“That suggests to us that, firstly, the clubs are thinking that this Covid situation is not going to last forever. Secondly, it is forcing the clubs to accumulate their risk exposure a little bit later.”
In stark contrast to investment from the Premier League, spending on transfers in La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga was drastically reduced.
Far from betting on a new Galactic, Real Madrid did not make a single signing.
Barcelona’s dire financial figures for the 2019/20 season show why they spent most of the summer trying to get the big salaries of Luis Suárez, Arturo Vidal and Ivan Rakitic off their books. All three were sold for nominal fees.
The Catalan giants saw their revenue fall by an estimated € 203 million last season and expect at least a further € 60 million drop for the current campaign, with most of the season played behind closed doors.
Meanwhile, spending on Serie A fell by more than 500 million euros compared to the 2019 summer window, despite Juventus’ agreement of 60 million euros on the deadline day for Italian winger Federico Chiesa and Napoli squandered 80 million euros on Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen, according to the daily Gazzetta Dello Sport.
However, the competition for lucrative places in the Champions League and the battle to stay in the top flight is driving the need to spend in the Premier League.
Just a month into the new season, champions Liverpool have been thrashed 7-2 by Aston Villa, while Manchester City and Manchester United have been humiliated at home by two teams that finished outside the top four last season: Leicester and Tottenham.
“It’s no secret that the Premier League is getting more and more competitive. We used to talk about the big four, now we talk about the big six,” said Chris Winn, a soccer finance expert at the UCFB Global Institute of Sport.
“As things become increasingly competitive, especially in this environment where seemingly anything is possible, the last thing clubs want to worry about beyond the uncertainty of the pandemic is the effect of relegation or not qualifying for Europe. .
“The impact of that alone could be even greater than the amounts we are seeing being spent by individual clubs this summer.”
The huge transfer fees don’t even take into account the additional financial commitments that some clubs have made in terms of salaries: Gareth Bale moved to Tottenham on loan from Real Madrid and Edinson Cavani joined Manchester United on a free transfer.
Additional financial pressure comes from the British government, which wants the Premier League to help clubs lower down the football pyramid who depend on gate revenue.
No rescue package has yet been agreed, but failure to do so risks another PR disaster for the Premier League.
Liverpool and Tottenham backed down after initially planning to use government funds to lay off non-playing staff earlier this year.
And Arsenal faced backlash after the man who played the Gunnersaurus club mascot was reported to have been released as part of cost-cutting measures on the same day the club paid £ 45 million to sign. Thomas Partey from Atlético de Madrid.
On the field, the Premier League has challenged Covid’s sadness with unpredictable goal plays that take your eyes off empty funds.
Now it is betting on that product to sustain income even in a global economic crisis.
