DEADLINE DAYS OF BIG DEALS AND EVEN BIGGER HYPE HAVE GONE OUT OF THE WINDOW

This could be the quietest day of transfers the Premier League has seen as clubs are nervous about what the future may hold

THE January transfer window – which closes tonight – has lived up to every expectation of being the quietest market the Premier League has ever seen.

In a season full of shocks, this was not a surprise.

Yes, there will be the usual late scramble for deals, some strange loan signings and some desperate moves to get players off the books.

But, finally, even top-flight clubs have woken up to the fact we are in a global pandemic, the financial implications are huge for football – and few are willing to take a bigmoney gamble.

Manchester United have done the biggest deal so far with a £37million move for Atalanta’s young prospect Amad Diallo, while Aston Villa have spent £14m 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 any business.

Liverpool might land a late centre-half, but purely because of their injury crisis, and it has been pretty clear they did not want to spend. The reasons are obvious.

Clubs are nervous and have no idea when normal service will resume – if at all.

There is no denying that clubs thought the crisis and panic was over last summer as Chelsea spent more than £200m, Arsenal bought big on the likes of Thomas Partey, and the shackles were off for many of the big clubs.

The spending was more than £1billion.

But this window has shown that football has realised the full implications and that is why the famous yellow tickers, the mad stories and hype have been in short supply this time.

January can be the month where clubs sign a player to give them a boost for the rest of the campaign. Manchester United bought Bruno Fernandes last January for £47m.

But no one has been that bold this time... because they do not know where the next pay cheque is coming from.

The next TV deal would normally be out to tender, negotiations in full flow. The last deal was worth £5bn and clubs would also be counting up the millions from commercial deals.

Now, no one is sure when the next television deal will be discussed, let alone agreed.

And the likes of Sky and BT Sport do not even know what they will be bidding for.

Games behind closed doors are not attractive for the broadcasters. And clubs cannot spend money they do not have.

Commercial deals are also in danger of a major drop, there is talk of deals with bookmaker sponsorships being banned in football, and clubs are announcing huge losses.

One major Premier League club was losing £10m a week during the lockdown, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy warned of “irrecoverable losses” if fans do not return, and even a well-run club like Brighton posted losses of £67m in their last accounts.

There is no money around and maybe that’s a good thing because would even hardened fans, struggling in the pandemic, want to see clubs spending hundreds of millions?

Sky and BT don’t know what they will be bidding for. Games behind closed doors are not attractive to broadcasters and clubs can’t spend money they don’t have