The latest transfer window was a record-breaker for the Premier League: not only did it obliterate the previous season’s spending but the reported £150 million outlay on new signings was more than the rest of Europe’s top leagues combined.
It’s a huge sum of money, so big that after seeing it written down I went back and rechecked the list of transfers to see where all the cash went. Just where are all the big names?
Admittedly you’ve got Nicolas Anelka, Jonathan Woodgate, Jermaine Defoe and, at a push, Alan Hutton, but those players between them cost around £42 million. Then there’s a player like Afonso Alves, signed by Middlesbrough for a club record fee of around £12 million. He’s a gamble, certainly, but with such a spectacular goalscoring record it was surely only a matter of time before someone came in for him.
What about the rest of the money?
You could look at this year’s spending spree as further evidence of Premier League superiority, but I suspect many of the new recruits may well have gone for a lot less had they been signed by clubs in Germany or France.
That’s a shame because high transfer fees for players who still have plenty to prove don’t do anything to help them settle.
Jean-Alain Boumsong, Stephane Guivarc’h, Ousmane Dabo, Tiago, Mario Stanic, Savo Milosevic, Bosko Balaban, Massimo Taibi — remember them?
Neil Maidment works on the Reuters sports desk in London
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7 comments so far
Some of the pricetags on the signings were a bit eyebrow raising. I sometimes think European clubs must hear the jangle of Premier League pockets when they come calling…
- Posted by Kevin FylanContrast English signings with Eintracht Frankfurt’s capture of Martin Fenin from Teplice for around 2.5 million quid. He scored a hat-trick on debut and could turn out to be an amazing bargain.
Tha answer is yes, they were. Hence the reason my team Blackburn didn’t sign anyone!
- Posted by Dan CloughWhere English clubs ripped off ? …Hell No ….they paid what they wanted to pay for some questionable quality.
The English Premiership is just over hyped and it seems the clubs are much too eager to show their financial clout with due regard to how much business sense some purchases make.
- Posted by Mako GoldEnglish clubs definitely overpaid for players. But even if all players are just worth half of what the clubs paid, the EPL will still have added more value and quality to their squads than any other league, who probably even have overpaid in some cases as well. That’s a bit scary, if this trend continues over the next couple of years. The money will be there.
Though it could turn from scary to funny if Sepp Blatter has his way with the 6+5 rule.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/footballNe ws/idUKL3191697420080131
This rule would guarantee, that the prices for talented local players in the big European leagues would rise significantly, but in case of the EPL, I can imagine this price to climb to ridiculous heights, given the current amount of foreign players vs. the availability of local talent in the EPL.
- Posted by JanHi Jan. Yeah, I see that Blatter is pressing ahead with that: http://fifa.com/aboutfifa/federation/bod ies/media/newsid=684707.html#yes+princip le+rule
You’re right: I think that the inflation over home grown players would be huge, and not just in England (where already the prices are sky high).
- Posted by Kevin Fylan[...] Otherwise, who do you think will turn out to be the next Javier Mascherano, Nemanja Vidic or Emmanuel Adebayor? And who will be the next Jean-Alain Boumsong? [...]
- Posted by Arshavin: the last man through the window may be slow to adapt | Soccer News InfoSometimes if you want your sandwitch to be juicy you’ve got to spend some good money on your fillings .
Blackburn did not spend during the january transfer window probably because they dont have adequate budget to support that. And thats why find them in the position where they are.
Please tell your chairman to do something about it before its too late.
- Posted by George Manu