Summer Transfer Window – Was it opened far enough for the English clubs?

This summer’s transfer window was, despite the efforts of Manchester City and its attempted charge towards the Top Four, arguably quite tedious in comparison to previous years. This conclusion is borne out by the figures, with Premier League transfer revenue falling by 10% from £500 million in 2008 to £450 million. Whilst the concept of a ‘marquee signing’ may be rather more suited to Major League Soccer, it is undeniable that Real Madrid has generated considerable interest and excitement with the arrivals of Kaká and Cristiano Ronaldo. Both of these can be called, with strong justification, marquee signings, whereas Liverpool’s acquisition of Alberto Aquilani cannot be classified as such, despite having shelled out £17 million. This is because Liverpool has lost a player of both superior quality and reputation in Xabi Alonso to big-spending Real Madrid.

It speaks volumes for the lack of high-profile transfer activity in the English game that four of the five largest fees have been for players arriving at Manchester City, somewhat an anomaly given the presence of their multi-billionaire benefactors, the Abu Dhabi United Group. It remains to be seen whether or not City will be able to dislodge one of the current Premier League top four, yet in terms of transfer activity they are already streets ahead. Champions Manchester United has set about replacing last year’s top scorer of twenty six goals, Cristiano Ronaldo, with Antonio Valencia. Whilst Valencia is a talented and improving player, his total of three goals means the void left by Ronaldo very much remains. Whilst the signing of Michael Owen isn't a gamble in financial terms thanks to a £70,000 a week 'pay-as-you-play' contract, he is very much an unknown quantity with regards to fitness, pace and goal scoring potential. Certainly it is not clear whether or not Owen will prove a worthy replacement for the departed Carlos Tevez in terms of goals, appearances or work-rate. Third-placed Chelsea have made an intelligent signing in the shape of Yuri Zhirkov, for a fee in the region of £17 million, yet he still lacks the star quotient of even a player such as Diego, signed by Juventus this summer from Werder Bremen. In addition it appears that Arsenal is far weaker than last season, having lost Kolo Touré and Emmanuel Adebayor to Manchester City.

Judging by the evidence it seems that some English clubs may struggle to reach the same heights as they have managed in the last few years. We shouldn’t be surprised to see the last four places in the Champions League occupied by teams such as last year’s winners Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan. This summer’s transfer deadline day was indicative of the window as a whole, with only a handful of notable transfers completed. These included Niko Kranjcar’s move from Portsmouth to Tottenham that will reunite him with former boss Harry Redknapp, Richard Dunne’s acquisition by Aston Villa, and Jonny Heitinga arriving at Everton from Atlético Madrid. Last year the world was marvelling at Manchester City’s attempts to hijack Manchester United’s bid to sign Dimitar Berbatov, and their eventual swoop for Brazil international Robinho for a record £32 million.

However the lack of signings amongst the top four this summer does mean that the Premier League avoids the type of situation seen in La Liga, whereby transfer spending has been essentially monopolised by Barcelona and Real Madrid, with only three other clubs having spent more than €5 million on a single player. Real’s summer spending stands at €268 million, Barcelona’s at just under €125 million. This means of Spain’s headline-grabbing summer expenditure of €472 million, just €79 million of this was spent by clubs outside the ‘big two’. In England clubs such as Sunderland have splashed out over £30 million on several players, despite finishing 16th last season. Others such as Tottenham have been able to spend a similar amount, albeit with aspirations to finish in the top six.

There is no guarantee that money will provide success, and there will be many clubs in Europe hoping that Real Madrid’s stars fail to gel and underperform in the Champions League, yet the view that English clubs have slightly ‘missed out’ this summer prevails. Arsenal star Andrey Arshavin has warned of an “exodus” from the Premier League, and whilst there is currently no evidence to support this assertion, it is clear that the Premier League has lost out to La Liga in the transfer race. The question remains as to whether English clubs will lose out to their Spanish counterparts in European competitions.