During this January’s transfer window, you nearly could have heard a pin drop. A whisper here and there about a rumour of a guy who may have possibly thought about signing with a team somewhere, or something. That’s about all there was as far as legitimate stories went during this year’s first window.
Many are chalking this up to the new UEFA spending regulations. For one, I firmly support the idea of putting a hold on how clubs can spend, considering the fact that the enormous amounts of debt accrued by various clubs could be detrimental to the sport long-term. However, I think there is more to it than that.
I believe that owners and managers alike are scared, and for good reason. What if they shell out a bunch of money on the next Fernando Torres? Who, mind you, is not in a “slump.” The kid does not have it anymore, at least not while with Chelsea.Then, with these new regulations in place, they could severely hamper or even destroy their team’s chances over the next couple years. Or what if a team tries to buy a big-name player to fill the void of someone they have recently lost and gets a dud out of it, not unlike Liverpool signing Andy Carroll?
The risk vs. reward of some players is astronomical. No, I’m not talking about the Mario Balotellis of the world. From an objective standpoint, he is pretty much all reward with little risk. Sure, he is a circus act of a “professional” if I ever saw one, but he does not carry the same kind of baggage or hurt his team like a Carlos Teves does. Balotelli can make you shake your head, roll your eyes, and get distracted but he is still a more than adequate contributor and an overall help to the team. Tevez is on a whole separate level. He has all the skill in the world, and none of the motivation, especially considering he will not fulfill his role as a player by playing when he is told (see: Champions League vs. Bayern Munich).
Now while I think that is the primary reason, there could be other motivations to be sure. One possibility is that more teams are realizing the benefits of developing players through a strong youth system, and through scouts who can inexpensively pick up younger talent. For examples of this look at players like Jack Wilshire, Wojciech Szczesny, Lionel Messi and the many fantastic products of the renowned Ajax academy. Of course that’s not to say there is not large amounts of money that go into developing players, or that those players won’t end up moving to a different club after you developed them, like Ashley Cole did. But it is much cheaper than $80 million for a player who scores 3 goals in 32 league games (see: Fernando Torres).
The January transfer window is typically the quieter of the two, and this year proved that better than most. Perhaps that is due to owners and managers being afraid to get a bust...but I also would not mind a summer full of big moves for the likes of Tevez, Demba Ba, Didier Drogba or Honda.
Many are chalking this up to the new UEFA spending regulations. For one, I firmly support the idea of putting a hold on how clubs can spend, considering the fact that the enormous amounts of debt accrued by various clubs could be detrimental to the sport long-term. However, I think there is more to it than that.
I believe that owners and managers alike are scared, and for good reason. What if they shell out a bunch of money on the next Fernando Torres? Who, mind you, is not in a “slump.” The kid does not have it anymore, at least not while with Chelsea.Then, with these new regulations in place, they could severely hamper or even destroy their team’s chances over the next couple years. Or what if a team tries to buy a big-name player to fill the void of someone they have recently lost and gets a dud out of it, not unlike Liverpool signing Andy Carroll?
The risk vs. reward of some players is astronomical. No, I’m not talking about the Mario Balotellis of the world. From an objective standpoint, he is pretty much all reward with little risk. Sure, he is a circus act of a “professional” if I ever saw one, but he does not carry the same kind of baggage or hurt his team like a Carlos Teves does. Balotelli can make you shake your head, roll your eyes, and get distracted but he is still a more than adequate contributor and an overall help to the team. Tevez is on a whole separate level. He has all the skill in the world, and none of the motivation, especially considering he will not fulfill his role as a player by playing when he is told (see: Champions League vs. Bayern Munich).
Now while I think that is the primary reason, there could be other motivations to be sure. One possibility is that more teams are realizing the benefits of developing players through a strong youth system, and through scouts who can inexpensively pick up younger talent. For examples of this look at players like Jack Wilshire, Wojciech Szczesny, Lionel Messi and the many fantastic products of the renowned Ajax academy. Of course that’s not to say there is not large amounts of money that go into developing players, or that those players won’t end up moving to a different club after you developed them, like Ashley Cole did. But it is much cheaper than $80 million for a player who scores 3 goals in 32 league games (see: Fernando Torres).
The January transfer window is typically the quieter of the two, and this year proved that better than most. Perhaps that is due to owners and managers being afraid to get a bust...but I also would not mind a summer full of big moves for the likes of Tevez, Demba Ba, Didier Drogba or Honda.
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