Has the transfer pool ever been this shallow....?

Litch

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Might be me but can't remember a time when the pool of players available or potentially 'get-able' ones has been so shallow. No emerging new young superstars from the World Cup stage, only the ones we knew anyway. Still the same ones old ones from the last World Cup, just now in their 30's. Couldn't believe Modric is 33....

I think teams are struggling to improve their squads and it's questionable whether who you are bringing in is better than what you have already got.

With the lower teams with rich owners, they no longer need to buckle when the big teams come callin' for their best players.

Yes some teams have been more active like Liverpool but the nature of the market means the money they had to pay to fix their issues amount to the most expensive CB and GK in world football. These signings just meant DDG for example must be worth over 100m, and laid to rest any bid from RM.

Some might say it will help the young players come through but have you noticed the increase of good young players leaving clubs are going abroad anyway.....

The teams imo that are going to be successful over the next few years are those who bought well before this drought cause one thing is for sure, you can no longer buy the title in same way as previously cause where are you going to get the players from?
 
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Transfer fees have reached boiling point. Most owners have said enough is enough and they would rather make hay while the sun shines regarding sales.
In an ideal world, this point is where clubs start to invest more in youth...
 
The 20 teams in the PL have massive spending power across the world. Means it’s harder for the top clubs to buy players.

I read that Fulham have spent more money this window than ALL the promoted teams to a top division in Europe COMBINED. Thats insane.

It’s not that the pool of players is shallow, it’s that there is so much competition now, especially from the PL clubs - every team can easily spend £20m on a player, half could spend £50m on a player. It’s gone nuts.
 
ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg said:
The 20 teams in the PL have massive spending power across the world. Means it’s harder for the top clubs to buy players.

I read that Fulham have spent more money this window than ALL the promoted teams to a top division in Europe COMBINED. Thats insane.

It’s not that the pool of players is shallow, it’s that there is so much competition now, especially from the PL clubs - every team can easily spend £20m on a player, half could spend £50m on a player. It’s gone nuts.
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I know what you mean but that's my point, it's market forces. No players are available cause no ones under pressure to sell.
 
Probably yeah. The ridiculous clubs have done their spending (what more can City do to win everything?). The rest have had the prices raised too much. But there does seem to be a like a lack of real quality players (and therefore lack of quality available). I've said before that there's no where near as many icons in football these days, and that is surely a reflection of quality?
There's also way more competition now, meaning the clubs slightly lower down will do everything they can to keep their best players.
 
it's a sellers market all right

the winners in the transfer market had business done early and were realistic targets

it depends who Mourinho had on his list - if he had Bale it was a non-runner when Ronaldo left. Not sure what's happened with Sandro- if Maguire is a genuine target I think it's knee jerk... I doubt we'd have considered bidding after last season with Leicester.

Toby seems to be the one and I think we are playing a game of chicken with Spurs. I think we will sign him for 40m on the 8th or 9th August.

maybe teams are asking for extortionate fees but it's clear to me that something isn't right in our recruitment - City have stockpiled talent, Liverpool have strengthened and have great balance and that's why I think 3rd is our likely finish

it's clear we need a DoF to work between Jose and Ed
 
I think there are loads of talented players out there but the prices that you have to pay these days are insane. Just look at the Dembele deal to Barca, he had one really good season in the Bundesliga and was all of a sudden worth more than 100M €? Martial was the same, he cost us 50M+ € and might not work out after all, so I reckon that's why we see so little fresh blood coming to the big teams, the only ones who don't seem to be scared to invest in talented players atm seems to be Real who are happy to pay 40-50M for what might or might not be the next Brazilian superstar.
 
I don't think the pool of top players is any smaller. It's just that that same amount of top players are spread between a much, much, much larger amount of clubs that can a) afford them and b) offer what they want.

The prices are higher because obviously more money in the game and more competition for the top names. It will only get worse too.
 
Agreed, I think there's less "talented" players these days, most modern players have been modelled into efficient workhorses.

The truly talented ones can do all of that, which is why they're rare and worth so much.
 
i was expecting the Ronaldo transfer to start a merry-go-round of big transfers across Europe, but Ronaldo aside most of the big names available are the ones that their clubs don't want anymore (look at Bayern & Spurs).
 
Plenty of talents actually. Just requires proper scouting to find them which is something United seem to be fecking shit at.

We never take advantage of the South American market for example. I think our last signings from that continent were Fabio/Raphael and big hair kid (can't remember his name, or was he Portuguese?).
 
RedSky said:
Plenty of talents actually. Just requires proper scouting to find them which is something United seem to be fecking shit at.

We never take advantage of the South American market for example. I think our last signings from that continent were Fabio/Raphael and big hair kid (can't remember his name, or was he Portuguese?).
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Yeah pretty much this. Considering our supposedly vast scouting pool we have an absolutely shocking record with signing younger players. When the club's supposed targets this summer are the likes of Willian, Bale and Maguire you have to wonder what the feck is up.
 
It’s definitely a broken market.

People blame the likes of Neymar, Pogba and Coutinho but they actually were exceptional talents who would demand exceptional fees. Honestly the Premier League money that was spent on bang average players was out of control long before that and it’s just getting worse. City have been the worst culprits and it’s often forgotten just how much they spent on trash over the years. At the minute even Real Madrid are struggling to dictate terms.
 
The well in general seems dry now, it's not some golden age of football right now tbh so don't see why it is surprising even when the transfer fees and wages have become ridiculous. Is any position in any part of the pitch right now flush with unreal talent or world class ability compared to 15 or 2- years ago? The world cup highlighted that quite a bit.
 
Irish Jet said:
It’s definitely a broken market.

People blame the likes of Neymar, Pogba and Coutinho but they actually were exceptional talents who would demand exceptional fees. Honestly the Premier League money that was spent on bang average players was out of control long before that and it’s just getting worse. City have been the worst culprits and it’s often forgotten just how much they spent on trash over the years. At the minute even Real Madrid are struggling to dictate terms.
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Madrid must be in financial problems though based on their net spend. If they don't sign anyone else this window it'll be the 4th season in a row they haven't spent more than 100m euros.

In the last 5 seasons they've:

Bought: €363,750,000
Sold: €321,550,000
Net Spend: €42,200,000

That's not normal Real Madrid.
 
I’m not sure this is entirely true, but it is a very Man Utd-centric view.

The money in the transfer market is madness at the moment, and it’s particularly frustrating for us because we seem to have lost the art of improving the players we have.

The market can’t continue in this vein, because in the real world, £1m is still a heck of a lot of money, but in the transfer market it’s nothing.
 
It does appear to be extremely difficult to get any value in the current market - this and the shortening of the window in England has screwed things up badly. Shooting themselves in the foot.
 
RedSky said:
Madrid must be in financial problems though based on their net spend. If they don't sign anyone else this window it'll be the 4th season in a row they haven't spent more than 100m euros.

In the last 5 seasons they've:

Bought: €363,750,000
Sold: €321,550,000
Net Spend: €42,200,000

That's not normal Real Madrid.
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Yeah but an armful of European Cups in that period would suggest that they had no need to splash that type of cash about.
Maybe they've just been a bit more sensible and concluded there isn't anywhere that they desperately needed to improve.
 
Ikon said:
Yeah but an armful of European Cups in that period would suggest that they had no need to splash that type of cash about.
Maybe they've just been a bit more sensible and concluded there isn't anywhere that they desperately needed to improve.
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Perhaps, but that's a very dangerous move long term.
 
RedSky said:
Madrid must be in financial problems though based on their net spend. If they don't sign anyone else this window it'll be the 4th season in a row they haven't spent more than 100m euros.

In the last 5 seasons they've:

Bought: €363,750,000
Sold: €321,550,000
Net Spend: €42,200,000

That's not normal Real Madrid.
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Are they doing or planning to do a large stadium revamp? Otherwise, it hardly makes sense considering that they are filthy rich.
 
Revan said:
Are they doing or planning to do a large stadium revamp? Otherwise, it hardly makes sense considering that they are filthy rich.
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I don't believe they are. It might be delayed, because I do remember reading something about it a few years ago. Seems to have gone cold though.

Barcelona are doing a stadium revamp though.

Real's lack of spending is definitely weird though. I thought they would have gone ballistic after selling Ronaldo, but their window isn't much different from ours when we lost Ronaldo to them. Ironic.
 
plenty talent around, just most clubs make you pay top money for it. got to say I think some teams have got players at very good prices as well, Fulham with Sari, West Ham with Yarmalenko, Inter with Vrsaljko, Mahrez to City Fabinho to pool yet I look at some deals as well and think wow Alisson at Pool for example was way over the top. if teams no you are desperate to sign a certain position then ur screwed like us with a CB, almost every player has a price, lets be honest no one for a minute really believe Ronaldo would leave Madrid let along go to Italy and bloody hell Rojo getting linked for 30m is Ludacris obviously not from our point of view.
 
OldSchoolManc said:
Transfer fees have reached boiling point. Most owners have said enough is enough and they would rather make hay while the sun shines regarding sales.
In an ideal world, this point is where clubs start to invest more in youth...
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It is actually the other way around. Player valuations have gone up because clubs have shitloads to spend. As a selling club you will definitely look to get the maximum price when you know the buyers are operating on a huge budget.
 
City and PSG skewed everything, like Rummenigge yesteray they are the great inflators
 
There are loads of good players out there - our management/board just won't take a risk.

Look at RW, we've apparently chased Bale (who has been unatainable after the Ronaldo deal), then we've also looked at Willian and Perisic, but Juve wrapped up Costa quickly, Barca have signed Malcom, Pulisic is up for sale, Chelsea might sign Zaha.

Look at left back, I could probably think of a dozen players off the top of my head who'd improve us in that position, but we've made no moves whatsoever. I think if Sandro came off the table, we should have persued someone else.

I agree with other people saying it's a sellers market and the talent is expensive, but I think there has also bee a fear of failure in our club which has paralysed them. I don't think Malcom and Tierney would have been that expensive, and i'm pretty sure they'd improve our team right now. They're not the slam dunk options like Sandro and Bale, but they might be in a year or so's time. We know Mata and Shaw/Young are definitely not the answer.
 
Eddy_JukeZ said:
I don't believe they are. It might be delayed, because I do remember reading something about it a few years ago. Seems to have gone cold though.

Barcelona are doing a stadium revamp though.

Real's lack of spending is definitely weird though. I thought they would have gone ballistic after selling Ronaldo, but their window isn't much different from ours when we lost Ronaldo to them. Ironic.
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They are doing a stadium revamp. It was put on hold for a while because the sponsor pulled out but they’re doing themselves now. I read that it should start later this year.
That explains their restraint in the transfer market. Not a lot liquidity after remodeling the Bernabéu.
 
RedSky said:
Plenty of talents actually. Just requires proper scouting to find them which is something United seem to be fecking shit at.

We never take advantage of the South American market for example. I think our last signings from that continent were Fabio/Raphael and big hair kid (can't remember his name, or was he Portuguese?).
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This. There's plenty of talent out there but we seem to miss out and then ask ourselves why we never in for such and such player. It's not just young players only. In the past year or so we've missed out on players like Salah, D Costa, Mahrez, Malcolm, Shaqiri to plug the gaping hole on the RW but instead we spend every summer chasing the pipe dream that is Gareth Bale when it's been clear for some time he has no interest in moving to us.
 
buckooo1978 said:
it's a sellers market all right

the winners in the transfer market had business done early and were realistic targets

it depends who Mourinho had on his list - if he had Bale it was a non-runner when Ronaldo left. Not sure what's happened with Sandro- if Maguire is a genuine target I think it's knee jerk... I doubt we'd have considered bidding after last season with Leicester.

Toby seems to be the one and I think we are playing a game of chicken with Spurs. I think we will sign him for 40m on the 8th or 9th August.

maybe teams are asking for extortionate fees but it's clear to me that something isn't right in our recruitment - City have stockpiled talent, Liverpool have strengthened and have great balance and that's why I think 3rd is our likely finish

it's clear we need a DoF to work between Jose and Ed
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I thought he looked decent for Leicester and for Hull before. There's a reason why he was selected for England over Smalling. Still not sure I'd rather have him over Alderweireld, but would have him over the definitely knee-jerk signing of Mina.
 
The transfer pool is indeed more like a transfer puddle at the moment. I was disappointed that we didn't move for Shaqiri who would have been a decent squad addition - IMHO we already have all the superstars we need and could really use more strength in squad depth. It is also sad to think that our main rivals LFC and City got their transfer business done earlier and far more professionally that we seem to have done. Perhaps it is that we seem to be less of a 'marguee club' for potential new players. There was a time when players would 'always dream' of going to OT but that is much less the case now.
 
RedSky said:
Plenty of talents actually. Just requires proper scouting to find them which is something United seem to be fecking shit at.

We never take advantage of the South American market for example. I think our last signings from that continent were Fabio/Raphael and big hair kid (can't remember his name, or was he Portuguese?).
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As I understand, unless they are on a Portuguese passport then united would have to buy them then send them to a feeder club until they get enough caps to qualify for a work visa. Things are only going to get harder for work visas all round once brexit kicks in and the government start ‘putting British first’

On top of that most kids there dream of the 2 big Spanish clubs

Hence it’s a challenge
 
Davs said:
If true, that is absolutely bonkers.
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Teams in England are becoming richer and richer, even in the Championship. Championship clubs are buying players from our (Belgium, Holland...) top clubs. The budget of the average team in Belgium (top league) is 25 million €. That's not the transfer budget, it's the entire budget! Teams that have been in the top flight for 20 years are breaking club records, doing signings of 300.000€ :lol: In Holland they have the same average budget.

The system is skewed, and it will become even worse. Luckily it seems even the rich teams are having trouble signing players, they might start to need focusing on youth again.
 
Barry Red said:
The transfer pool is indeed more like a transfer puddle at the moment. I was disappointed that we didn't move for Shaqiri who would have been a decent squad addition - IMHO we already have all the superstars we need and could really use more strength in squad depth. It is also sad to think that our main rivals LFC and City got their transfer business done earlier and far more professionally that we seem to have done. Perhaps it is that we seem to be less of a 'marguee club' for potential new players. There was a time when players would 'always dream' of going to OT but that is much less the case now.
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How did City got their business done more professionally? They only signed Mahrez who is a good player no doubt but I am not convinced that he will improve them much. They failed to get Jorginho, Fred and maybe a few others I forgot. This reminds me of someone saying Spurs had a good transfer window because they didn't sell anyone :lol:
 
I think what fans need to accept is that we should start taking more punts on lesser known players rather than buying ‘superstars’ and accepting that it may mean that it’s not immediately important impacting the team but within a few years these players may be superstars themselves (eg. Dalot)
 
golden_blunder said:
I think what fans need to accept is that we should start taking more punts on lesser known players rather than buying ‘superstars’ and accepting that it may mean that it’s not immediately important impacting the team but within a few years these players may be superstars themselves (eg. Dalot)
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We don't do this enough IMO.
 
golden_blunder said:
As I understand, unless they are on a Portuguese passport then united would have to buy them then send them to a feeder club until they get enough caps to qualify for a work visa. Things are only going to get harder for work visas all round once brexit kicks in and the government start ‘putting British first’

On top of that most kids there dream of the 2 big Spanish clubs

Hence it’s a challenge
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Jesus went to City
Paulinho has gone to Leverkusen

Both highly rated young players. I'm sure i've missed a few as well. There's more Brazilians coming through and Argentina has a fair number of young players. I agree it's a challenge, but completely avoiding that market seems like a missed opportunity. Granted even if we did sign some talented players we'd probably not play them anyway. :lol:

Bit of a shit show all things considered.
 
The transfer market has always been a sellers market. I don't understand why clubs are surprised that transfer fees have gone up, did they think the new TV deal was a secret or were greedy chairmen just hoping to cash out the difference and carry on as normal?

The markets inflated but that's how these things work. If everyone in the village becomes a billionaire overnight, do you think the price of bread would be the same in the morning?
 
The football market nowadays is insane and it doesn't look like it is slowing down. For me, something needs to be done to regulate how much money can be spent on a footballer, and wages etc otherwise it is just going to continue to spiral out of control. There should definately be a wage cap. This would at the very least ensure you are getting players who are attracted to your club and not just because you can offer £400k a week. Cap transfer fees aswell, stop sugar daddy run clubs ruining the market. They say a players is worth what the buying club is willing to spend, but this is skewed when the finances of some clubs aren't even self generated. There needs to be regulation. Cap wages, Cap transfer fees...fix football
 
golden_blunder said:
I think what fans need to accept is that we should start taking more punts on lesser known players rather than buying ‘superstars’ and accepting that it may mean that it’s not immediately important impacting the team but within a few years these players may be superstars themselves (eg. Dalot)
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It's a fair point, but fans would need to be forgiving of the fact we'd inevitably sign our fair share of Depay's, Zaha's and Kagawa's with this model - talented players for sure, but for whatever reason not able to make the step up at United.
 
The reason is simple. Most players are off tthe market.
 
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