Transfer Market Frozen

Halfway through the January Transfer window and the big news is that Sol Campbell has rejoined Arsenal on a 6 month contract, after training with the North London team, following the ex Spurs Man effectively terminating his contract after one game, with League Two Notts’ County back in September.

Campbell played in a Reserve team game for Arsenal against West Ham, on the evening that the news broke, Newcastle, Hull and his former club Portsmouth were rumoured to be talking to the Ex England international.

The Campbell news so far follows the quietest January transfer window since its inception in 2002/2003. Prior to this, the other big transfer news is that Patrick Vieira, the former Arsenal and French international, has returned to the Premiership under his old Internazionale boss, Roberto Mancini, who took over at Manchester City in December. Vieira, like his former Arsenal team-mate, joined on a free, although in this case reports suggest that he has been remunerated with around £140,000 per week, initially for 6 months, leading to a further 12 depending on is ability to prove his fitness.

Despite Vieira’s wage demands, it appears that almost inevitably, the financial bubble that the Premiership found itself in, has finally burst. With the omission of Chelsea, it could be argued that both Manchester City and Arsenal are two of the most financially stable Clubs in the league, despite this, there are only two free transfers to show for the two richest and the most profitable club in the Premier League respectively, after the formers’ foreign owners have bankrolled both clubs debt in the last 12 months.

Following recent events that have come to light, it is unlikely that the richest club of several years ago, Manchester United, are likely to delve into the market, with Sir Alex Ferguson stating that there is “no value” in the January window, although is adamant that he still has access to the £80m that the Champions received for Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer. Funds may be available, but if it was not for a world record transfer fee being received for Ronaldo from Real Madrid, United would have made a loss of over £30m in 2009, with a debt that is currently standing at a staggering £699m

Following Ferguson’s comments with regards to the market, and Liverpool’s American owner, Tom Hicks, suggesting that they will be investing “big” in the summer window rather than immediately, it appears that many have forgotten the small matter of a World Cup approaching in South Africa. Essentially what this means is, that players “value” will be greater reduced if they perform even better than average, or heaven forbid make good progress. Take for example, David Villa, of Spain and Valencia, who is perhaps the most sought after striker in European football at present. Villa would currently be available to the Manchester City’s of this world at around £40m and is currently on around £80k per week at Valencia, who themselves may have to cash in on their prized assets. If the bookmakers are even close to being correct, they make Villa Odds on to win the Golden Boot (9/1) with Spain favourites to win the tournament, in front of Brazil and England Respectively. If one or both of those were to happen, then it’s likely that Valencia could cash in and solve their financial worries for a considerable amount of time and command a fee approaching £60m. However, given the current prudence, the market is unlikely to change in the summer window unless managers can truly persuade their chairman to fund perhaps one or two players of exceptional talent that can push them to the next level. This is something that perhaps Ryan Babel should bear in mind, given his comments on being dropped for Liverpool’s upcoming game against Stoke, as if he does make the World Cup and is still at Anfield, he may well price himself out of the market.

Portsmouth, Liverpool, Bolton and Hull have also been in the news recently for not paying players wages, HMRC winding up orders, emailing obscenities to fans about finances and having to repay creditors, whilst West Ham are still seeking a new owner after months of seeking investment, so it appears that no-one is immune to the financial strife, especially when the more stable clubs tighten the purse strings.

So it seems that the financial climate that affected thousands of the clubs supporters 18 months ago is filtering through to the elite of English Football, with the first Premiership club to go into administration surely being just around the corner. This will no doubt then filter down to the lower reaches of English football, with so little money flowing through the transfer market; therefore will only be a matter of time before several clubs cease to exist. A team going into receivership has become more and more frequent in recent years and since the inception of the Premiership, with the amount of money involved spiralling out of control, the Bolton’s of this world inevitably have to live beyond their means just to survive. If the trend of this window continues, the likes of Notts’ County or Chester will do well to survive and perhaps only time will tell for Portsmouth, West Ham and even Manchester United.