By Mark Baber
February 3 – English transfer spending in terms of money spent may be higher this transfer window, but the volume of transfers is down 16% and loans down 17%.
Meanwhile the percentage of transfers that are free have risen from 2% to a massive 47%, according to an analysis of statistics from the Association of Football Statisticians (AFS).
The trend appears to be a result of UEFA’s Fair Play regulations now becoming a real consideration for clubs needing to keep their spending within the new threshold the rules demand.
Similarly, players and their agents’ aggressive expectations of even higher wages, due to the massive TV deal that kicks in next season for the Premier League, appears to have lead to caution amongst clubs not willing to risk on players that will not make an immediate impact on their league position.
The higher spending in the Premier League this January is a result of the spending of relegation threatened Newcastle and QPR, and Liverpool’s Champions League aspirations.
There were 204 transfers involving clubs in the Football League (FL) and Premier League (PL), down 16% from last year, as well as 208 loans, with domestic loans over 17% down from last year.
There has been a fall of over 50% in the number of players transferred to play outside England, (from 21 to 10) with Jake Jervis, who moves to Elazigspor being one of the very few English players to follow in David Beckham’s footsteps to play abroad.
Loans from abroad have remained at a low level (13 as compared to 14 last year) whilst there has been a small increase in loans to clubs outside England (28 compared to 23), including Anton Ferdinand going on loan to Bursapor and Ryan Mason going on loan to FC Lorient.
The trend of English clubs scouring the world for talent continues, with more players coming from France than in the last transfer window. This year 41 out of 190 players transferred in (compared with last year’s 35 of 225) came from non-English or Welsh clubs including from Belgium (2), Canada (2), Denmark, France (8), Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy (3), Korea Republic, Kuwait, Latvia, Netherlands, N. Ireland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland (2), Scotland (5), Spain (2), Sweden, Turkey, Russia and USA (4)
The percentage of the total transfers which are free has risen by 2% to 47%. Aside from the influence of the Fair Play regulations on some clubs, we may be seeing another manifestation of the “Barcelona effect” with an increased emphasis on team work and squad stability.
It is notable that Arsene Wenger called for an end to the January transfer window on grounds of fairness. Anyone playing Newcastle in the later stages of this season will certainly be playing a much changed side.
However, principle did not stand in the way of the French master-strategist as Arsenal picked up Spanish international Nacho Monreal for €10 million from troubled Malaga on the last day of the transfer window.
For more detail on all the transfers http://www.11v11.com/transfers/
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