It’s no news that the transfer window is one beautiful marriage that all football aficionados love to witness season in, season out, and it would forever last many decades between every football clubs all over the world. Although everything called football now is up in the air due to the pandemic which has taken over the world of football in the last few months.
Even though all football aficionados and buffs don’t know exactly when their favorite sport would return back to the screen, and critically the transfer window, the transfer market would be open, but then the financial condition of every football clubs involved may not be as robust like before.
Ironically, experts believe that the next transfer window would see more player swaps, with the uncertainty and financial losses of clubs, will mean that their astronomical spending power is reduced to the minimal level, and they won’t be able to outlay as much cash on transfers for their coveted football stars.
Therefore, given this situation in this torrid time, there will be a return to the days of swap exchange in order to make sure that teams can still obtain their targets, big clubs such as Manchester City, Real Madrid, et al may still have the financial capabilities in their coffers to spend but their clients may not get that astronomical fee they are used to because of the financial effects of the COVID-19.
Today in our piece, we take a look at the effects of COVID-19 on the summer transfer as it affects every team.
La Liga
Barcelona- (The Catalan)
Just of recent, the idea for football stars to take a pay cut in their astronomical salaries was brought up due to the financial condition clubs are going through, and graciously the players have been playing on fine with the script, in the case of Barcelona they made a request to ERTE, a legal mechanism through which a temporary reduction in salary can be applied, and according to report their request has been granted which means pay cuts can be applied to, to their employees.
Meanwhile, it’s no news that Neymar left Barcelona for Paris Saint Germain for the biggest transfer fee in the world, and ever since he left the Calatan side, there has been a lot of effort and agenda from the club hierarchy and fans to bring back the Brazilian.
However, as it stands now Neymar could be set to continue at Paris Saint Germain beyond the summer and perhaps into next season in PSG’s benefit, which simply means the Catalan fans won’t be granted their wish until when the World heals from the pandemic COVID19 or when Barcelona have the financial muscle to at least trigger the Brazilian transfer fee which by next summer must have reduced.
The Brazilian is now at a point where his contract could be terminated provided €180 million are paid, but as it stands that figure now seems improbable given the circumstances on the ground, for the record Barcelona couldn’t even afford that fee last summer and ironically for the Catalan next summer it’s not looking visible that they would get their man.
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Another player the Catalan giant have been touted to sign in the summer is Lautaro Martinez, who has a €115 million release clause but the Catalan club may look to include some players in the deal, players like Arturo Vidal who hasn’t been enjoying his stay with the Catalan side due to lack of playing time, but then with the caliber of player Vidal is, he won’t want to be used in a likely add up deal for the Nerazzurri forward Martinez.
Samuel Umtiti, another player who often battle with injuries so as such Barcelona may want to use him in the deal, injury-free the Frenchman is a good defender that can be trusted anytime, any day, as such no team would get that kind of opportunity to have Umtiti in their team and not hold to it, unfortunately, Umtiti is a big player who might not want to switch club in such manner and prefer to move to another team in a proper way.
So in other words, it’s left to be seen how Barcelona battle their way through this conundrum come summer transfer window.
Atletico Madrid – (The Rojiblancos)
The Atletico Madrid hierarchy also considered a swap deal during the January transfer with a player like Thomas Lemar for Arsenal forward Alexander Lacazzette as another alternative for the Cavani deal, however, neither of the swap deal took place and that of Cavani as Atletico Madrid finances continue to be tight given the circumstances of things economic wise.
Another player that is also linked with the Rojiblancos is Ivan Rakitic, although the Croatian midfielder might not be able to command huge transfer due to his age and more so his contract should expire soon, so clubs interested in signing the Croatian won’t need to pay a huge fee for him, but they may need to wait a long time before formalities could be completed for the former Sevilla captain as per the situation of things and how the summer transfer would look like.
Real Madrid – (Los Blancos)
The Los Blancos have so many players on their book that some just need to go, not for financial reasons but simply to avoid overcrowding in certain positions and critically to create room for more European Union players in the team, players such as Brahim Diaz, Bale, and James.
With the likes of Achraf Hakimi, Dani Ceballos and some other players on loan, but most importantly Hakimi whose loan deals would end this summer, staying back at Dortmund or return to Madrid the decision will solely depend on Los Blancos, given the situation of things the decision may not come easy as expected.
Even with the fact that the 21-year-old has been a key member of the BVB side, his growth in leap and bound on the pitch has reflected on his market value which has gone up from €5 million when he left Madrid in 2018 now to €60 million.
So any team who wants to sign all of these players will need to wait patiently till when normalcy returns back to football and most importantly their financial prowess needs to be examined.
Bundesliga
Borussia Dortmund & Bayern Munich
Both German giants must have been building up towards a mouthwatering summer transfer window, but unfortunately for them, the whole earth’s plan changed due to the deadly virus that has been rocking the world of sports.
The pandemic has shut down all major footballing events across the globe and even cast a huge doubt on football campaigns in countries affected to be completed across Europe and most importantly the summer transfer which clubs take solace in to rejuvenate their team.
However, as a result of the COVID-19, all transfer rumors been linked with the Bundesliga giants are now in doubt, as the fans may not be able to see players they wished to join their team. But then what looks like a piece of good news for the Signal Iduna Park faithful is that Jadon Sancho’s imminent return to the Premier League would be delayed and we may not get to see huge transfer concerning that deal with his release clause reported to be around £120 million.
Hope to make progress on Sancho joining any clubs like Manchester United, City, Chelsea and Liverpool interested in the young Englishman may need to be completed before May, but based on the given situation things now look tricky for them all as they’re left wondering if his release clause is going to stand the test of time.
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On the other hand for the Bavarians, their interest and pursuit in Manchester City Leroy Sane may be aborted, and players who are on loan, and those whose contract is likely to expire would need to be sorted out if those players are still very much important in the team.
Just like no one has an idea for when the 2019-20 season will end, as such, no one has any idea when the transfer window will open, but then some experts believe it will certainly be delayed, but when it open it will likely run towards the 2020-21 season and teams in the Bundesliga who loves to do their business earlier would need to wait, and critically teams whose deals for that substantial sums could be put off the table.
Premier League
Manchester United, City, & Chelsea
All of a sudden, every club is uncertain of what the value of players will be when the transfer window comes to town, and whether they can even afford to pay their current team due to the economic impact of the COVID-19.
According to the report, United and Chelsea would not rule out signing Sancho mega valuation, given the fact that both clubs are in decent shape financially and had been preparing to spend big on the young Englishman.
However given the circumstances the world of football is in right now the deal could be frowned on, morally at a time when so many individuals, businesses and football clubs are up against spending such fee on a player.
More importantly with the fact that clubs are losing money on the gate fee, advertising and merchandise that brings in a whole lot of money into all of these clubs, even their deal with the broadcast right is been threatening if the football calendar isn’t completed.
According to Daniel Geey, one of the United Kingdom’s most respected Sports Lawyers, who said: “It’s difficult in this time of sensitivity to even consider multi-million-pound transfers“. “Right across the top five leagues and everybody else, the issue of finishing the season has financial consequences, particularly linked to broadcasting and tickets“.
So in other words, if games are not televised, it will get to a point when clubs can’t afford to pay their players without those games on television, money won’t come in and with the spending big in the transfer market may be difficult for the clubs.
Seria A
Juventus – (Old Lady)
Another club who needs to balance the book is the Old Lady, with Dybala, Higuain, Bernardeschi and Costa all likely to leave the team whenever the transfer window opens, and with clubs looking at the option of swap deal it might be a bit difficult for them to achieve that as all the players mentioned are big stars who wouldn’t want to change club through swap deal.
Juventus are once linked with their former player Paul Pogba and its no news that the old lady really wants the French midfielder back in their team. With the World-Cup winner still contracted with the Red Devils, it would be difficult to price him away right now based on the situation and his huge release clause.
This also applies to other clubs in Serie A and other Leagues as it would be difficult for all the clubs to trigger expensive transfer deal due to what the clubs are going through in this torrid time of COVID-19.
