GHOST WINDOW
Premier League transfer outlay this month is just £37m with clubs spooked by Everton’s 10-point penalty and spending more judiciously, making it a nightmare for agents. This is the…
IT has been described as ‘the ghost window’. Where the spectre of profit and sustainability rules looms large, striking fear into those who dare to spend beyond their limitations.
To apply perspective, Premier League clubs splurged an unprecedented £815million last January. Today, with a week to go before the transfer window closes, the spendometer has not even touched £40m. It’s enough to make Jim White’s yellow tie fade to grey. In short, it’s eerily quiet.
But let’s not be naive here. History tells us that can change in the blink of an eye should one big deal land or panic set in.
Indeed, West Ham yesterday showed their hand by bringing in Kalvin Phillips from Manchester City and Ibrahim Osman from Nordsjaelland. Yet there is no doubt the 10-point punishment meted out to Everton for falling foul of profit and sustainability, and the pending second charges they and Nottingham Forest now face, have brought greater caution to the usual trend to spend.
The pockets of Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Newcastle United may well remain deep but they are tiptoeing along a proverbial high wire due to their previous trading.
For some, the reasoning is much more blunt: the quality isn’t there to meet the demand. Throw in an Asian Cup and an Africa Cup of Nations, meaning clubs want to retain what fringe players they have to cover for absences and possible injuries, and you have the perfect storm.
Everton, long under Premier League restrictions, have the added hindrance of being subject to a takeover. They continue to pay the price for past excesses and mistakes, as in the summer of 2022 when they turned down Chelsea’s lucrative offer for Anthony Gordon only to sell him to Newcastle United for less last January. Everton’s focus, beyond praying for points to be reinstated, is to keep their small squad intact, and out of the clutches of opportunists.
As Saudi Arabia’s Al Ettifaq eye Abdoulaye Doucoure, scorer of so many key goals, that may not be so simple.
A deal for Brentford’s Ivan Toney, arguably the best English striker in the division, is there to be done as he won’t sign a new contract. But at an asking price of £100m it’s one considered unrealistic and best parked until the summer.
‘One bad window can impact three years of freedom,’ a leading Premier League chief executive tells Mail Sport. ‘Clubs want to be better run but also clubs are having to be better run.
‘When (new CEO) Omar Berrada arrives at Manchester United he won’t need to be a forensic scientist to work out that their transfer strategy has been questionable. Never mind the inflated fee for Antony, why would you allow David de Gea to leave after he has agreed a pay cut and replace him with a goalkeeper who is arguably not as good for £43.7m plus wages?’
Another Premier League director picks up the thread: ‘Financial fair play, or “fit for purpose” as we like to call it, is definitely a factor. We have seen a lot of windows that haven’t had much by way of quality supply but that hasn’t stopped business from being brisk. More clubs are trying to move away from ad hoc transfers and work to a strategy.’
Wolves’ summer of cost cutting put paid to Julen Lopetegui’s time as manager. They couldn’t match his ambition but the common sense action has benefited his replacement Gary O’Neil.
‘The club managed to correct things,’ O’Neil says. ‘You have seen what has happened with a couple of charges. The club worked really hard to make sure that doesn’t happen to us.’
When Newcastle chief executive Darren Eales declared ‘every player has his price’, Kieran Trippier’s suitors Bayern Munich were not the only ones to take notice. Newcastle don’t need money to get on the right side of FFP, but they do if they’re going to buy a much-needed midfielder in this window. The rules are you can’t have losses of more than £105m over a three-year period but on June 1, when they enter the next rolling three-year period, they can spend again.
Agents are often portrayed as the villains but it’s not always the cushy job people perceive. ‘It’s been a nightmare,’ says one as he boards a flight to London trying to placate a client. ‘I’ve got this midfielder saying, “Get me a move to Saudi Arabia”. I’ve told him there are only 144 overseas players registered in Saudi so why would they pick you when you haven’t started all season?’
Another says: ‘Clubs are asking for mermaids. In other words, they don’t exist. One League Two club asked me for a 20-year-old striker on loan because he’s on the bench at a Premier League club. He’s made 14 appearances this season, in the top flight, why would he drop down? I said to them, “I’d like to marry Cindy Crawford — but guess what? It ain’t gonna happen’’.’
Of course that’s not prevalent across the country as one Premier League director of football is at pains to point out. ‘You have to have a plan,’ he says. ‘Not just for this window but the next two. I disagree with the lack of quality theory, it’s out there and there are opportunities.
‘A lot of January business is reactive, so the shutters are never completely down. The conversations are still taking place, trust me.’
There’s life in this window yet, just not as we know it.