Make no mistake about it, transfer fees have gone through the roof over the last few years. While that’s unquestionably true at the top end of the transfer market, the world-record fee being broken three times in the last four years, it’s affected those lower down the pecking order as well.
Reported West Ham target Alfie Mawson represents a fine example. The Swansea centre-back is yet to be capped by England, plies his trade with a relegation-threatened side and only has 18 months’ worth of experience in the Premier League. But according to The Sun, signing him this January would set the east London club back a whopping £40million.
That would constitute a record transfer fee for the Hammers but it appears Irons supporters have become accustomed to such extortionate deals. When we asked West Ham fans earlier this week whether they’d back a £40million swoop for Mawson, our poll revealed that almost half – 48% – would.
Would Mawson be a good signing for David Moyes’ first transfer window at the London Stadium? Let us know by commenting below…
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Barcelona midfielder Alex Song is believed to be considering leaving the Nou Camp in search of regular first-team football, according to reports from The Mirror.
The Cameroonian left Arsenal last year to join the Catalan giants, but has struggled to force his way into the starting XI on a regular basis.
Midfield trio Sergio Busquets, Xavi and Andres Inesta are seen as the club’s first choice trio and are backed up by the likes of Cesc Fabregas.
This has seen Song spending most of his time at the club on the bench, leading to speculation of a Premier League return.
Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham have all been linked with the enforcer, and could make winter moves if his situation is still bleak at the turn of the year.
Song has made just one start during Barca’s opening seven games of the 2013/14 campaign, which was forced due to an injury suffered by Busquets.
He is desperate to get his career back on track, with a move away from Spain thought to be the best option.
United and Arsenal are said to be very keen, with both sides looking at adding a deep lying midfielder to their ranks.
Spurs are also watching the situation, and could move to beat their rivals to his signature.
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Both FIFA and UEFA have an obligation to safeguard the future of football. The European governing body’s plan to regulate the spending of its constituency members is an admirable, and necessary, step. There are other areas though where UEFA could potentially step in to regulate certain parts of the sport. For example, player transfers. It is so interlinked with the problems facing the sport at this present time that for many it seems like the next logical step for Platini to take.
Such an exercise would undoubtedly come with challenges but it could be a valuable opportunity to stamp out certain, less favourable elements of the sport. Attempting to do so would not come without opposition but providing it received the backing of the clubs it could prove worthwhile.
The primary benefit of having a UEFA regulated transfer market would be that agents would become, for the most part, redundant. There would be no need for agents to act as a mediator if that mediator was a centralised governing body.
At a time when money’s stranglehold of our sport is ever increasing so is the power that agents are able to wield over clubs and footballers. How many players have been persuaded to move from their clubs as a result of their agents? How many footballers’ dream moves have never materialised as a result of their agents’ financial demands?
Sir Alex Ferguson admitted to having cancelled transfers as a result of the demands of the agents. There is a fine line between having the best interests of your client at heart and simply trying to extort as much money out of a club as possible. The vast majority of agents in today’s world have crossed that line.
To rid our sport of agents would also, you would hope, encourage a culture whereby footballers are taught to think for themselves. The commercialisation of football has taken so much from the game that it is important that the players themselves are still able to analyse and appreciate their moral responsibilities and act accordingly.
In theory, if UEFA regulate the transfer market there will also be less of a possibility for corruption. The allegations made by the BBC towards a number of Premier League managers, coaches and agents could be a thing of the past. There would be no opportunity for corruption to go unnoticed if UEFA had an active role in every transfer.
It’s not just bungs that are the issue either. Anybody who read or watched the recent reports on the trafficking of young African footballers to Europe will understand that a more intensive focus is needed on the transfer market, especially when players have come from deprived areas where they may be manipulated and abused.
There are, however, downsides to implementing an initiative like this. The first is that, just because we allocate the responsibility to UEFA it wouldn’t necessarily mean that corruption could not take place. After the revelations of the last two years associated with FIFA, trust for football’s governing bodies are at an all time low whilst having UEFA regulate transfers could stamp out elements of lower level corruption it is far from guaranteed.
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The main issue for UEFA would be the sheer scale of the task. Would it actually be possible to closely monitor every single transfer made throughout Europe? And, even if they could do it, would it be painfully inefficient. On the whole, centralised governing bodies are always slower to act than local, devolved governing bodies. Were this pattern to be mirrored in football it could spell the end of last minute deadline day signings and transfers of this nature. Sometimes it is essential for transfers to be conducted quickly and it would appear unlikely that such transfers would ever be possible.
Lastly, while it’s important to remember that some agents do serve some sort of purpose in some cases, it is obvious that UEFA should attempt to create some extra regulating bodies to monitor the transfer market in Europe. The power of certain incredibly rich clubs is becoming dangerous, as is the influence that agents hold over their players. What those necessary next steps are, however, is up to Platini.
It is only Manchester United’s stuttering form that prevented them securing second place in the Premier League prior to their 0-0 bore draw against West Ham.
The Red Devils would have had the luxury of resting players with even more time to spare before the FA Cup final had they not contrived to lose against Brighton and West Brom in recent weeks but after their stalemate against the Hammers means that the runners-up spot is finally theirs.
That means that Mourinho can – like he did last season before the Europa League final – use the campaign’s last Premier League engagement to showcase some of the club’s best young talent.
On that occasion, United ran out 2-0 winners against Crystal Palace with youngster Josh Harrop – who is now at Preston – getting the opening goal and Reds fans want to see something similar against Watford this weekend.
They are calling on Mourinho to ring the changes again and one or two names in particular keep cropping up…
According to reports on The Mirror’s live transfer blog on Thursday , Everton’s January transfer window plans may have changed after they were offered the chance to sign Sunderland defender Lamine Kone in a cut-price deal.
What’s the word, then?
Well, The Mirror says that the Toffees can bring the Ivory Coast international to Goodison Park for £10m in the New Year, just 18 months after they bid £19m to bring him to Merseyside, and it could prove to be an attractive proposition considering they have been linked with a £30m move for West Brom’s Jonny Evans and a £20m move for Lille’s Adama Soumaoro.
Everton boss Sam Allardyce knows Kone well having brought him to Sunderland in 2016 during his spell in charge at the Stadium of Light, and the 63-year-old could jump at the chance to be reunited with the centre-back after he played a key role in keeping the Mackems up in 2016.
How has Kone done this season?
The 28-year-old was unable to prevent Sunderland being relegated from the Premier League for the second successive campaign, and he made 11 Championship appearances for them before picking up a knee injury which has kept him on the sidelines since.
However, Kone showed the ability that he has earlier in the season and according to Squawka, the centre-back has won 33 of the 48 aerial duels he has faced in England’s second tier this term, while he also made 103 clearances, 18 interceptions and seven blocks.
Would he be a good signing for Everton?
He certainly would be, yes.
While some Toffees supporters may be put off by the fact that Kone was part of a poor Sunderland team and defence last season, the 28-year-old has shown on an individual basis that he is more than good enough to perform at a high level in the Premier League.
The Merseyside outfit need a younger but experienced defender to replace the likes of Ashley Williams and Phil Jagielka in the long-term – and with summer addition Michael Keane struggling and left out of the team in recent weeks – and the Ivory Coast international could certainly do that.
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If Allardyce could bring Kone to Goodison Park for around £10m, he would probably be more than happy to do it considering some of the high prices they may have to pay for other targets next month.
Alex Ferguson’s final season with Manchester United has often been talked about as one of his finest campaigns, largely because he captured the club’s 20th league title with a squad who, against previous squads, would not be deemed the strongest.
It was Ferguson in the dugout who strengthened the weaknesses in this United team, giving them the necessary mental tools to overcome their shortcomings. It’s the aura he exudes and the expectation he places into his team. You could go a little way into arguing that Ferguson was one of the few managers in world football who could have turned this group into champions, regardless of the quality surrounding them in the league.
After such a long time in charge, the transition to Ferguson’s successor will obviously be important. There is comfort in the fact that Ferguson is ‘moving upstairs,’ but it is absolutely fundamental for future success that David Moyes is offered full control to shape the playing squad and ethos of the club in his own image. Fortunately, that image isn’t too dissimilar to what we’ve come to know under Ferguson.
It’s a new era in the history of Manchester United and it needs to be treated like one. There is always a fear that any club experiencing difficulty could simply revert back to what they know best as a means to sail out of stormy waters. There will be a presence over Old Trafford and over Moyes’ shoulder that only adds weight to the expectation. It’s not an exploration of the idea that it would be best if Ferguson removed himself completely from the club – there is actually plenty of good that can come from this, look at Barcelona, Bayern and Ajax – but it is an acceptance that inadvertently the old manager may ‘get in the way’ of the new man in charge.
What you’d like to see is Moyes come in and make changes in areas where he feels essential. That means pulling up parts of the squad that may not be seen as long-term components of the team and enforcing his authority to the fullest extent. That includes having all the freedom to bring in his coaching staff, rather than having those left by the previous manager forced upon him. There should be no comparisons where comparisons aren’t necessary. How much will it undermine Moyes if the shadow of Ferguson continues to hang over him through the unnecessary and potentially damaging talk of years of gone by?
There should be a sense of excitement rather than trepidation. Manchester United and Ferguson wouldn’t have chosen Moyes if they didn’t believe him to be up for the job. The lack of silverware doesn’t matter, just as it didn’t to Barcelona when Pep Guardiola took over. This is a job that has been highlighted and treated as something exceptional. Yes, it is an exceptional club that wants to maintain its incredibly high standards in football, but this remains simply a football job like all others.
It’s important to remember that Moyes was appointed in an act that went against the grain. There was little to no chasing of European-classed managers and those with experience in the Champions League. Specifically, United chose not to go for the short-term option and rather opted for a man they’d prefer to be in place for many, many years. And while Moyes and Ferguson have plenty of similar approaches to the game, it’s not to say that Moyes can run United in exactly the same manner as Ferguson. It means allowing the new manager to make changes on the pitch and behind the scenes which he feels will bring long-term stability under his stewardship. This is no longer Alex Ferguson’s team, and that is the most important factor to remember.
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According to reports in the Evening Standard, West Bromwich Albion defender Jonny Evans is among Arsenal’s summer transfer targets, and he could be seen as a replacement in the XI for Laurent Koscielny.
What’s the word, then?
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Well, the Evening Standard says that the north London outfit expect to be busy in the transfer window under whoever their new manager is going to be, following a second successive season of finishing outside of the top four in the Premier League and failing to qualify for the Champions League.
The Evening Standard says that the Gunners want a new centre-back and Evans, who has 68 international caps for Northern Ireland could be available for just £3m if the Baggies are relegated because of a clause in his contract, is one of their targets.
It is no surprise that Arsenal are looking to strengthen their defence this summer having conceded 48 goals in their 36 top flight matches – 16 more than arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur and 11 more than seventh-place Burnley.
How has Evans done this season?
It’s been a tough campaign for West Brom and the versatile defender – who is capable of playing as a left-back as well as centre-back – and he played in just one of their three Premier League victories up until last month having missed the first two through injury back in August.
The 30-year-old has actually failed to get into the XI under Moore so far having been absent for the draw against Swansea City and the win against Manchester United because of injury, and he has had to settle for a spot on the substitutes’ bench with Craig Dawson and Ahmed Hegazi shining on the pitch.
The former Red Devil is known for his experience, leadership and being good in possession however, and he is sure to have his suitors whether the Baggies stay up or go down.
Would he be a good signing for Arsenal?
It’s difficult to say.
Evans certainly hasn’t had the best season but having played many times for Manchester United previously, he has shown that he can make an impact at the highest level in the Premier League.
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Whether that would be as a starter remains to be seen, but he would certainly add some much-needed English top flight experience alongside the likes of Shkodran Mustafi, Calum Chambers and Rob Holding.
He could also prove to be a decent replacement for Laurent Koscielny, whom Arsenal fans on Twitter had little sympathy for following his Achilles injury, with his arrival potentially bringing the Frenchman’s eight-year spell at the Emirates to an end.
With the signing of Sergio Romero from Sampdoria, you wonder whether David de Gea getting closer to the Old Trafford exit door and what effect that could have on Louis Van Gaal’s side.
In one word, it would be big. As it was once said by the great Sir Alex Ferguson, “a top goalkeeper gets you 15 points per season” and last season many would agree that de Gea did at least that.
And if he did leave, de Gea’s departure would cost United dear. Not only is he a fantastic keeper who makes some ‘good’ saves, he made great saves when United need him to the most last term.
Of course with a goalkeeper it is tough to exactly work out how many points they earn their side over the course of the seasont as they do not score goals. Clean sheets don’t really tell you everything.
But of course when a player leaves, the replacement of said player can either soften or accentuate the void. There’s no doubting Romero’s ability, but he’s not of de Gea’s standing, so perhaps in this instance the replacement won’t quite match up and points could be lost over the course of a season instead.
The stats do show that de Gea had the impact many on lookers would have thought last season. His impact was huge in the United goal, as clear chances missed against the Spaniard was up at 68% second highest in the league. When compared to the league average, the Spaniard is keeping out 10% more clear chances than the any other goalkeeper in the Premier league.
One thing that highlights this point is how, according to Opt,a no Premier League side made more unpunished errors leading to chances than United last season. The reason why they didn’t lead to goals was down to the Spanish international’s heroics between the sticks.
The stats show that de Gea’s brilliance last season prevented five goals that should have gone in, but for the Spaniard’s efforts five goals may not seem like a lot.
But it depends on what five goals you are talking about. In the five games where the opposition missed more than three clear cut chances against United, the Reds won by more than one goal just once, meaning de Gea arguably won his side 12 points last season.
And for arguments sake, those 12 points could prove huge if he does indeed leave. It could be the difference between a fourth place or spot just inside the top seven. Or even the title and third place.
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His impact can’t be underestimated and his departure would have a huge impact on the Reds should they let him go this summer.
He’s had a terrible season at Spurs, frustrating the fans with his poor performances, yet without Emmanuel Adebayor on Wednesday night, Tottenham probably wouldn’t have got a point from their match with Chelsea. The Togolese striker scored a stunner to level the scores at 1-1, before his delicate back-heel assisted Gylfi Sigurdsson to equalise for the second and last time just minutes before the full time whistle.
A rare, superb display by the forward, scoring his seventh goal in all competitions for Spurs this season. And yet such a great performance can frustrate so many fans. Tottenham’s faithful will be asking why he doesn’t play like that every week. Often criticised for being lazy and uninterested most of the time, Adebayor looked like a man proving a point at Stamford Bridge. With AVB supposedly looking to bring in a new striker in the summer, maybe Adebayor was proving he still has what it takes at White Hart Lane, or maybe he was just desperate to get into the Champions League. For whatever reason, the former Arsenal star was on top of his game
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A professional performance from a man who has been completely unprofessional at Tottenham all season. The forward struggled from the off this campaign, scoring his first goal in November against Arsenal before getting sent off. After getting his third goal in all competitions by the second day of 2013, the majority of supporters weren’t too upset to see him jet off to the African Cup of Nations. Adebayor appeared four times for Togo, and although he only scored once, he played much better than when wearing the white of Tottenham.
And yet when he came back, Manu was still struggling in a Spurs shirt. He upset Tottenham fans instantly, with his delayed return from the African Cup of Nations. With Jermain Defoe out injured, Spurs needed Adebayor. But he was still in Africa, where he claimed there was no travel arranged for him to return, after he was asked to meet the Togo President with the rest of the team. Supporters may have forgiven him eventually, but they were still frustrated with his performances when he returned. Knowing he was a good player, it was difficult to give an explanation as to why Adebayor was failing to make a positive impact.
But the chant “He scores when he wants” seems to be appropriate when it comes to Adebayor. A temperamental player, the draw against Chelsea showed Spurs fans he still has the quality they saw when he first joined the club. And yet the fact the Togo forward decides not to play with the same energy or desire in all of Tottenham’s matches, let alone score goals such as on Wednesday night, has left Spurs supporters in pain.
Never looking hungry, or energetic, Adebayor has been a frustrating player to watch. Chelsea fans may suffer from seeing Torres struggle to score, but at least they see the Spaniard try hard to get on the score sheet. But with Adebayor, there appears to be a lack of drive, and just the occasional piece of magic which makes most Tottenham fans keep the faith with the former City forward, before once again letting them down with a string of goalless, effortless matches.
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After he demanded such high wages when Spurs made his loan deal permanent, you would expect the striker to work hard to remind the club why they pay him approximately £100,000-a-week. Instead, Daniel Levy watches his money trudge along the pitch, with no desire to bust a gut. And then when everyone starts to question the striker, once every one or two months, he plays closer to his 100% talent, to ease supporters’ woes. And then the cycle loops, ending disappointment with one brief, yet quality performance, before reverting back to his normal, lazy state of disinterest. He may well have been crucial in Tottenham’s 2-2 draw with Chelsea, but if the club are serious about becoming a Champions League team, they are best off chucking the man sucking up their wages, and bring in a hungry, energetic forward instead.
There was an almost macabre element to endure as you sat back and watched the Robin van Persie transfer story unfold. It wasn’t anything to do with the ambitions of the player nor even the acceptance of the club to sell to one of their greatest rivals. It’s more the simple principle that Arsene Wenger has been perceived to have done the best he could, to squeeze £24million out of his star acquisition.
Because even if circumstances dictated Van Persie’s sale was inevitability, it still doesn’t mean it’s right. Sir Alex Ferguson personally intervening to make the sale stick, felt akin to the school bully walking over and nicking Wenger’s lunch money. Wenger was powerless and even though he may view the avoidance of a beating -in this case, a potential RVP Bosman- as something of a victory, the truth is he’s still been forced to give up something he so dearly wished to keep.
Wenger achieved the best possible deal he could for the football club and time may even dictate Van Persie’s sale to be something of a masterstroke, given his injury history. But even if it does turn out to be a blinder, it’s one that should never have been played.
As the Gunner’s failed to net in their Premier League curtain raiser against Sunderland on Saturday, the hacks of Fleet Street probably couldn’t believe their luck.
The Sun took it upon themselves to spell it out as bright as day for Arsenal fans with the overzealous “NO RVP = NO GOALS,” hammered their back page, adjacent to the rather apt image of Arsene Wenger burying his head in his hands. The task of replacing 37 goals may have started in earnest during the weekend, but it’s clear that the replacement duo of Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud are going to be under massive pressure to perform from the off this season. Foreign signings need to be allowed a fair period of adjustment to bed into the trappings of English football. The stirring has begun and it feels as if it their purgatory period may have already defined by the shadow of their predecessor.
Because they’re not just replacing any run of the mill striker. It feels very clichéd to describe Van Persie as irreplaceable but how do you go about replacing a player who at times last season, almost dragged his team kicking and screaming back into the top four? Talismanic is one thing. Scoring 30 league goals, creating another nine and urging your team on as club captain is quite another. You may not be able to put a definitive value on those traits, but £24milion certainly doesn’t cover it.
However, the sale of Van Persie was dictated under the looming circumstance of his rapidly expiring contract. The Dutchman had one year left to run on his deal at the Emirates. The reality was of course, that should Wenger refuse to sell his prize asset now, that he would go for nothing the following summer. Barring an absolute catastrophe, it’s hard to envisage that he’d have had a lack of clubs to pick from with a non-existent transfer fee. He wanted out and he had to go this summer.
And considering the situation, Wenger did a cracking job to get the amount of money he did for his skipper. At 29, Van Persie is at the wrong end of his twenties, had a contractual situation that drastically effected his transfer fee and most prominently, had only managed more than 28 league games in a season for the first time in his career last term. He represents a substantial risk to Fergie, but should they win a Premier League or a Champions League off the back of his mercurial left foot, the fee is all but forgotten.
But the point is that the elements of risk in this deal would be a hell of a lot more prominent, had he not cost £24miilion. And if his deal had say three years left to run as opposed to one, there’s no way he’d have left the Emirates for a penny under £30million, at the very least. As a simple matter of risk management, would Manchester United, Juventus or any other club for that matter, have been willing to risk a potential £35million plus on a striker of Van Persie’s age and with his injury record? It doesn’t matter that he’s nearly 30; he was arguably the best out-and-out striker in Europe last season. If Wenger didn’t want to sell, clubs would have had to cough up that sort of money.
But the length of his contract distorted the circumstance and however you frame the £24million, it could have been so much different. It feels like Groundhog Day again at the Emirates. Similarly with the Samir Nasri deal to Manchester City in 2011, no one can deny that £25million was a good bit of business. But yet again, it was dictated by his contract situation; Nasri had one-year left to run on his latest deal.
It remains to be seen what their North London rivals attain for their prized asset, but as we are seeing with Luka Modric’s protracted move away to Real Madrid, no one is pushing Spurs chairman Daniel Levy around. His philosophy has been to regularly top-up Spurs’ players with new deals when their stock has incrementally risen. You can’t prevent the likes of Modric and Van Persie from wanting to move, but you can ensure that the club remains in a degree of control. However you may critique their transfer activity, Spurs have ensured everything has been done to ensure they get maximum value out of their players.
But as Alex Song becomes the latest Arsenal player to jump ship, following his £15million move to Barcelona, it feels like something of a tipping point has emerged. Here was a player who, according to recent reports, showed a lack of professionalism in training towards the end of last term and the club has subsequently been happy to let him move on. But conflicting stories have suggested that Song was in fact, desperate to commit his future to the Gunners and his advisors initiated contact with the club in January, in the hope of renewing his £55,000-a-week deal that had three years left to run.
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It’s difficult to make a staunch analysis on such conflicting reports and who you believe will greatly determine what viewpoint you take on Song’s departure. As immoral as footballers wages may be, was Song really asking too much in looking for parity with the club’s top earners? A salary of £55k a week for a man who chipped in with 11 league assists as arguably Arsenal’s second most influential player last season, doesn’t seem particularly reflective with the rest of the market. Have Arsenal flogged a greedy, unprofessional player to Barcelona and avoided the next Nasri/Van Perise? Or is this transfer the legacy of having their fingers burnt for two summers on the trot?
The term watershed season is wheeled out a little too often this season, but it feels like it could definitely be slapped on Arsenal’s term this season. Arsene Wenger is trying to run the football club in the mould of sustainability, not reckless investment. But as important as it is to acquire new players, he equally needs to find a way to keep the ones he already has. Next up is Theo Walcott. Let’s hope the script isn’t already written.
How can Arsenal buck the departures of their finest players? Are the club right to not hand new contracts out like confetti or does something have to change quickly at the Emirates? Tell me how you see it on Twitter: follow @samuel_antrobus and bat me all your views.