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The January transfer window, which closes on Monday night, has lived up to all expectations of being the calmest market the Premier League has ever seen.
In a bumpy season, this came as no surprise.
Yes, there will be the usual belated deal scramble, some odd loan firms, and some desperate moves to get players off the books.
But eventually even top-level clubs have realized that we are in a global pandemic, the financial implications are huge for football and few are willing to gamble a lot of money.
Manchester United have made the biggest deal yet with a £ 37 million move for young Atalanta prospect Amad Diallo, while Aston Villa has spent £ 14 million on Marseille’s Morgan Sanson.
Other than that, it has been bits and pieces.
Like Robert Snodgrass joining West Brom from West Ham with only a few clubs looking to do business.
Liverpool could get a late central half, but simply because of their injury crisis and it has become quite clear that they did not want to spend.
The reasons are obvious.
The clubs are nervous, they have no idea when normal service will resume, if at all.
There is no denying that clubs thought the crisis and panic were over last summer, as Chelsea spent over £ 200 million, Arsenal bought out players like Thomas Partey and many of the big clubs in a big way. they had no shackles.
The expense was over a billion pounds.
But this window has shown that football has realized all the implications and that is why the famous yellow tickers, crazy stories and hype have been in short supply this time.
January can be the month clubs hire a player to give them a boost for the rest of the season. Manchester United bought Bruno Fernandes last January for 47 million pounds.
But no one has been that bold this time … because they don’t know where the next paycheck will come from.
The next TV deal would normally go out to tender, negotiations would be in full swing, the latest deal was worth £ 5bn and the clubs would also be counting the millions of business deals.
Now, no one is sure when the next TV deal will be discussed, much less agreed.
And companies like Sky and BT Sport don’t even know why they will be bidding.
Games behind closed doors are not attractive to broadcasters. And clubs can’t spend money they don’t have.
Trade deals are also in danger of a major decline, there is talk of bookmaker sponsorship deals that are banned in football and clubs are announcing big losses.
A major Premier League club was losing £ 10 million a week during the lockdown, Tottenham president Daniel Levy warned of “sunk losses” if fans don’t return and even a well-managed club like Brighton posted losses of £ 67 million in his last accounts. .
There is no money and maybe that’s a good thing because even the most hardened football fans fighting the pandemic want to see clubs spend hundreds of millions?
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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