How English clubs weigh up French clubs’ transfer window

A number of French clubs hoping to complete the recruitment have recently been overtaken by English teams. Several examples confirm the trend: The Premier League is currently cannibalizing the winter transfer window. And the numbers speak for themselves.

It is undoubtedly a chairman or sporting director’s biggest dream: to see an English club enter negotiations. At the heart of the winter transfer window, leaders are working to strengthen their staff, and in this arms race, facing competition is part of the game.

>> All live transfer window info and rumours

Most recently, Pablo Longoria and Florian Maurice, president of Olympique de Marseille and sporting director of Stade Rennais, had a bitter experience of this. In the case of Leandro Trassart (Brighton) was overtaken by Arsene. Second, Arnaud Danjuma (Villarreal) is going to meet the same fate as Everton’s executioner this time. Each time, the reason was the same: it was impossible to compete with the financial power of the English clubs.

For example, Arsenal could pay between 20 and 25 million pounds (between 22.7 and 28.5 million euros) to acquire the services of Trossard. An amount unattainable for OM, who have only spent this amount twice in its history: Dimitri Payet (29 million euros) in 2017 and Kevin Stroudmann (25 million) in 2018. A completely different era, Longoria and its recruiting model landed at Canipere based on “good looks.”

Since January 1, the UK has made nine of the ten most expensive purchases

The misadventures of OM and Rennes during this winter transfer window are two examples that reflect a reality: the Premier League leaves only one for the other championships. Since the transfer window opened on January 1, England have made nine of their ten most expensive purchases. Mykhailo Mudryk and Benoît Badiashile at Chelsea (70 and 38 million euros), Cody Kakpo at Liverpool (42 million), Georginio Rutter at Leeds (28 million) or Tango Ouattara at Bournemouth (27.5 million euros) between English clubs, pick up a checkbook and make a transfer this window. Cannibalize.

Clubs like Nottingham Forest (13th in the Premier League), Bournemouth (17th) or Everton (19th) have dropped more than €20m on players, even the top French clubs (excluding PSG) are paying huge sums. The gap between the English Championship and our League 1.

According to our calculations, based on statistics compiled by a specialized site relocation, the Premier League has spent around 335 million euros since January 1. This is 4.5 times more than the other major European championships (Ligue 1, Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga), which spent just €80 million between them. This poor disparity is explained by the fact that the biggest German (Bayern Munich), Spanish (Real Madrid, FC Barcelona), Italian (Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan) or French (PSG) clubs are currently very quiet. .

The trend is not new… and should not be reversed

But the trend is not new. Last summer, the 20 Premier League clubs set a new record spending of €2.24 billion, more than three times that of Serie A, the second most out-of-season league. Eight of the ten biggest purchases have come from English clubs. Anthony signed for Manchester United for 95 million euros, ahead of Wesley Fobana (Chelsea, 80 million), Darvin Nunes (Liverpool, 75 million), Casemiro (Manchester United, 70 million) and Alexander Isak (Newcastle,). 70 million), Mark Gugurella (Chelsea, 65 million), Erling Holland (Manchester City, 60 million) and Richarlison (Tottenham, 58 million).

How to explain such a gap between the Premier League and its rivals? The main reason for this disparity is the size of television rights. With 3.5 billion euros affected last season for the rescheduling of its matches, the English Championship is ahead of La Liga (2 billion). Then comes the Bundesliga (1.4 billion), Serie A (1.1 billion), Ligue 1 (687 million) and the Eredivisie (Netherlands, 94 million). mostly, As the Sports Trade Watch pointed out last June, the Premier League is the only major league not to curtail its TV rights due to Covid-19. Leaders of French clubs are not done getting white hair during transfer window periods.