An English auction is underpinned by the idea of symmetry. All buyers operate under identical conditions. In an auction room, everyone has to play by the same rules; the option of beating the highest bid is always available.
In theory the football transfer market operates on similar principles. There are no auctions, but clubs in the big European leagues have the same time restrictions on when they can buy players – and, though what each team can afford to bid differs hugely, should know what they need to do to beat the highest bid for a particular player.
Only this year is different. For the first time, the Premier League and Football League voted to move the transfer window forward to the start of the Premier League season, ahead of Fifa’s general Europe-wide deadline. This year the transfer window closes in England at 5pm on Thursday, 9 August, but clubs in Spain, Germany, France, Scotland and beyond will have another 22 days to buy players.
First-mover disadvantage
There are some excellent reasons to move the window forward. Finalising all squads before the season starts encourages forward-planning, and avoids the disruption of players moving between clubs in the same league once the season has begun. England will now be mercifully free of the transfer rumours and madcap spending that the end of August normally brings.
The trouble is, other European leagues have not done the same. English clubs have acted like dud negotiators.
“This season the rest of clubs in Europe do have an advantage,” says Jake Cohen, a sports lawyer who works extensively in the transfer market. “Whereas in a lot of industries there’s a first-mover advantage here there is a disadvantage to being the first to move the transfer window forward.”
When Premier League clubs have been negotiating with European sides this summer, they have done so with a hand that they have voluntarily made weaker, enforcing greater time pressure on themselves than everyone else in Europe. The timing to bring the transfer window forward was particularly unpropitious in a World Cup summer, which stalled the pace of transfer activity.
And so as European clubs know that English sides have less time to conduct transfers, Premier League teams are at risk of being exploited, and pushed into paying too much. “If Arsenal and AC Milan are both interested in a Bayern Munich player, Bayern would be able to exert far more pressure on Arsenal,” Cohen explains. Similarly, for English clubs who need to sell a player before raising the funds to buy anyone else, it could weaken their negotiating position, says Omar Chaudhuri from the football consultancy 21st Club.
Premier League clubs left powerless
The move to bring forward the end of the English transfer window is asymmetric: while Premier League clubs cannot buy players after the end of the window, they can still sell them. So if, say, a footballer suddenly demands to move to a European club, then their Premier League team will have no opportunity to replace them. If Spanish clubs suffer injuries in late August they are free to strengthen their squads by signing players from England, but the reverse does not apply.
Imagine, say, Liverpool want to sign Nabil Fekir from Lyon, as is rumoured, but Lyon declare that Fekir is not for sale for another 12 months, and the English transfer window closes with Fekir still at Lyon. Then, later in August, Real Madrid suffer an injury crisis and make an extravagant offer for Fekir, which Lyon accept, Liverpool have no opportunity to decide if they are prepared to match Real’s price. The player moves, and Liverpool are powerless to intervene.
Moving the transfer window forward has also weakened Premier League clubs in another way, Cohen believes. Players within the European Union or European Economic Area are able to move within the bloc as soon as they turn 16 – which means that European players who turn 16 between 9 and 31 August can move to other European countries, just not England, raising the risk of English clubs missing out on the best young European talent.
Advantage La Liga
There are glimpses that other leagues may follow the Premier League’s example: indeed, Italy has already moved its own transfer window forward, to 17 August, the day before Serie A begins.
Yet there is also recognition that, because the Premier League has acted unilaterally, it has created an opportunity for other leagues to gain a competitive advantage.
La Liga, the Premier League’s greatest global rival, has no intention of following England’s lead.
“We have no plans for any changes to the transfer window. We like it the way it is,” said a La Liga spokesperson. La Liga appears to view sticking to the existing transfer window as a means of getting an edge on the Premier League, however slight.
So Premier League clubs resemble poker players who have shown their hands too early. One of the most ruthless sports leagues in the world has imposed tougher rules on itself, handing its rivals an advantage while getting nothing in return.
More on the Premier League:
The circus is back at Newcastle – and Rafa Benitez looks tired of being the clown
Manchester United are at risk of falling further behind their Premier League rivals this season
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