Premier League
ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE’S TRANSFER MARKET BUBBLE SET TO BURST
The financial squeeze put on English Premier League clubs by the coronavirus crisis could be felt across Europe in the coming months as the well to fund massive transfer fees runs dry.
For each of the past four summers, Premier League clubs have flexed their financial muscle to splurge over £1 billion (S$1.78 billion) on transfers.
That has helped spread the wealth of television contracts worth billions across Europe and crucially down the divisions to cash-strapped clubs in England.
Now, even the world’s richest league is facing economic meltdown.
Premier League matches have been suspended indefinitely with no return expected before mid-June at the earliest.
Broadcasters could be due a rebate worth a reported £762 million if the season is not completed and, even when the games do recommence, they are likely to be behind closed doors, quashing income from gate receipts.
Moreover, a number of major sponsors such as airlines and gambling companies have been just as badly hit by the Covid-19 shutdown, which is expected to lead to a curb on commercial revenue.
Rather than the usual arms race for talent, Premier League clubs are fretting about just meeting their wage bills for the next few months.
“Many clubs could be threatened by insolvency and transfer plans came to a standstill for most clubs because of the many uncertainties,” said Matthias Seidel, founder of Transfermarkt, a website specialising in transfer values.
According to Transfermarkt, €1.8 billion (S$2.78 billion) has already been wiped off the value of Premier League squads.
“There’s no doubt the actual value of players right now has gone down in all squads,” said Brighton owner Tony Bloom. “How much less, I have no idea. It depends on how the next few months play out.”
Such uncertainty has led for calls to do away with transfers entirely to avoid the unseemly sight of clubs, who have asked staff to take pay cuts and in some cases relied on government money, spending money on new players.
“If you’re trying to get 30 per cent pay cuts from existing players, you may have to put a transfer embargo in place,” former Manchester United captain Gary Neville told Sky Sports.
However, embargoes may only accelerate fears that clubs lower down the pyramid will not survive the crisis.
Proceeds from transfer sales are commonly used in the lower leagues to cover running costs and will be needed even more without the regular income of gate receipts to rely on.
“I think there will be significant transfer fee deflation,” football finance expert Kieran Maguire told AFP. “There will be a significant number of clubs that when some form of transfer market returns, they will be close to going out of business and therefore will accept fire-sale prices.
“The vultures and predators will pick off good players for very modest fees.”
The fear for those reliant on transfer fees, though, is that the damage has already been done.
Given the vast sums involved, transfer fees are very commonly paid over the course of a player’s contract.
Based on accounts published to the end of the 2018-19 season, Premier League clubs owed £1.6 billion in outstanding transfer payments, £900 million of which was to foreign clubs.
Maguire warns of the domino effect whereby if one club fails to meet its transfer debt, it could spark a series of defaulted payments on other deals or even worse, force clubs into insolvency.
“The concern is that financial problems in one league could spread throughout the industry, just like the pandemic,” he said.
Bundesliga chief executive Christian Seifert told the New York Times earlier this month that the transfer market will “collapse” and that “some leagues will understand that money is nothing that is coming automatically every month from heaven”. That may have been a slight on the Premier League’s overindulgence on transfer fees.
But as the biggest spender, the economic earthquake felt by English football will ripple across Europe for some time to come.
-AFP
Thomas Partey, who formerly played for English Premier League soccer club Arsenal, has been charged with rape and sexual assault, London’s Metropolitan Police said on Friday.
Partey, a Ghana international, was charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, with the charges relating to three women and the offences reported to have taken place between 2021 and 2022, the statement said.
Partey’s management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
He is due to appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Aug. 5.
Partey, 32, was signed by Arsenal from Atletico Madrid for 50 million euros ($59 million) in October 2020 and became a key member of Arsenal’s first team.
He was first arrested in July 2022, though he was not named at the time and continued to play for Arsenal while investigations were ongoing.
-Reuters
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Five players including England forward Marcus Rashford and Argentina winger Alejandro Garnacho have informed Manchester United that they wish to explore a future away from the Premier League side, a club source said on Friday.
Brazilian midfielder Antony, Dutch defender Tyrell Malacia and England international Jadon Sancho are also looking to leave the club, the source added.
Rashford, who has made more than 400 senior appearances for United, has fallen out of favour with manager Ruben Amorim, played for Aston Villa on loan while United had their worst-ever Premier League campaign, finishing 15th in the standings.
Amorim had called Rashford’s work rate into question, saying he would rather put a goalkeeper coach on the bench than a player not giving their all.
Rashford said he was feeling fitter and better since joining Villa, where he scored two goals in 10 league appearances.
United also failed to qualify for the Champions League as they lost the Europa League final 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur. Garnacho, who was a late substitute in the final, voiced his displeasure on social media after the loss.
“Up until the final, I played every round helping the team, and today I play 20 minutes, I don’t know,” he wrote in a post . “The final will influence (my decision), but the whole season, the situation of the club.”
Sancho was on loan at Chelsea, where he made 31 league appearances last season. Antony, who joined United from Ajax Amsterdam in 2022 for a reported initial transfer fee of more than $100 million, scored five goals in 17 LaLiga appearances on loan at Real Betis.
Malacia joined Dutch side PSV Eindhoven on loan in February.
-Reuters
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Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes turned down the opportunity to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal in order to keep playing “at the highest level”, he said on Tuesday.
The Portuguese midfielder admitted that he had considered the move, which media reports said was worth four times his current salary, after being contacted by Al-Hilal’s president.
“There was that possibility, the president of Al-Hilal called me a month ago to ask me about it,” Fernandes, who is preparing to face Germany with Portugal, told reporters on Tuesday.
“It was a big offer, very ambitious. There was a waiting period for me to think about the future.”
Fernandes ultimately decided to stay at United and said he was motivated by his desire to continue playing at the top level and encouraged by his family and the club’s coach Ruben Amorim.
“I would be willing to do it if Manchester United thought so,” Fernandes added. “I spoke to the coach Ruben Amorim who really tried to talk me out of it. The club said they would not be willing to sell me, only if I wanted to leave.
“I spoke to my wife and family, and she asked me what my personal goals were in my career.
“It would have been easy to move there but I want to keep myself at the highest level, playing in the big competitions and I feel capable of it. I am happy with my decision.”
The 30-year-old Fernandes scored 19 goals and provided 19 assists in 57 appearances across all competitions for United last season, winning the club’s Player of the Year award for the fourth time.
However, it was a season to forget for the team, as they finished 15th in the Premier League, their lowest league finish in half a century, and lost the Europa League final to Tottenham Hotspur.
-Reuters
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