English clubs are 'suffocating' in the transfer market
Arsène Wenger has warned English football that it risks “suffocating” itself amid a two-tiered transfer market where fees for Premier League clubs are as much as 10 times more than the rest of Europe.
The Daily Telegraph can also reveal that Premier League spending for one transfer window is now poised to reach £1 billion for the first time after Deloitte confirmed that the total outlay this summer had already passed £800 million.
A series of major deals is still expected in the remaining fortnight of the window and it is forecast that gross spending will smash all previous records.
Wenger is under intense pressure to add players in the final days of the window after searching all summer for a centre-back and a striker but, with the rest of Europe well aware that Premier League revenues are now more than the Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A combined, the English clubs are being treated differently.
“Today in Europe you have two markets,” said Wenger. “One for the English clubs and one for the rest of Europe. The danger of the English situation is that the English clubs can suffocate themselves in the long term. Why? Because they buy players at a very high price. That means there are very high wages linked with it and, if they are wrong, they will have these players with high wages who cannot move anywhere else.”
Of the fees that were now being demanded by the European clubs for “average players”, Wenger said: “I have told you before the criteria for the price of a player but you could add one more: the identity of the buyer. When the buyer is English, it is true that it multiplies the transfer by two or three or sometimes by 10. If an English club does not come in, he is worth £5 million but, if an English club comes for the same player, he is worth £35 million or 40 or 50.”
Wenger’s comments are likely to be influenced by frustrations in Arsenal’s current negotiations for Valencia defender Shkodran Mustafi and Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette.
It is understood that the deal for Mustafi has stalled after Valencia raised their asking price to £30 million. Lyon have already turned down a £30.9 million bid for Lacazette but the latest indications from France are that he would now cost almost £60 million.
Deloitte, which studies transfer trends across Europe, is expecting a flurry of further activity.
“The increase in central Premier League distributions for the 2016/17 season of around £30-50 million per club is likely to fuel a new record high of over £1 billion for gross player transfer spending in the 2016 summer transfer window,” said Alex Thorpe, senior manager at Deloitte Sports Business Group. “The majority of the big-money transfers will likely conclude in the second half of the window.”
Agents and senior recruitment staff at Premier League clubs both told The Telegraph that the English have long been forced to pay a premium but that they have noticed a definite inflation in prices even since the start of this transfer window.
“Clubs that got some of their deals done early are looking like they got better value even than a few weeks ago,” said a director of one leading club. “There has long been a price for Premier League clubs and a different one for others but there has been a noticeable jump this year.”
Manchester United’s spending has been the most eye-catching, notably their world-record £89 million deal for Paul Pogba, and it remains to be seen if Arsenal or Chelsea will attempt to compete. Chelsea are considering moves for Kalidou Koulibaly and Romelu Lukaku but have also been quoted huge fees.
Wenger believes that it will all end with Premier League clubs still paying a large proportion of the wages of some players even when they move on.
Wenger: We are ready to spend money on playersPlay! 01:31
“You start the first period now of English clubs having to pay massive wages,” he said. “Even when the players go out, they have to pay their wages. In the long term, that will mean that the financial advantage the English clubs have will drop because they will be on their wage list. They pay for 10 or 12 players who have gone somewhere else because the clubs they go to cannot pay their wages.”
Wenger, though, is still adamant that he wants to join the big spenders and said that he was confident of adding a centre-back this summer even though he says there is particularly fierce competition for this position.
Arsene Wenger has moved to reassure fans he will spend money in the current transfer window
“I would like to reassure you that we are ready to spend the money we have,” he said. “Buying calms the fans down. It is important to spend but even more important to spend it the right way. We have no limit in age. If it is a guy of 32 and we think he has the quality then we will do it. This club has been built around the quality of the signings. I have to make decisions that are right for the club.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/08/18/arsene-wenger-english-clubs-are-suffocating-in-the-transfer-mark/ Sounds like every club in Europe seek to cash in and get a piece of that EPL Money.
