FIFA officials have been in discussion over the past month to change the summer transfer window dates with the current campaign suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. At the moment, the window officially opens on June 10, although that is likely to be moved back.
Signs are indicating that the summer transfer window is most likely to be not as busy as past years due to the corrosive financial impact the coronavirus outbreak is having on clubs.
Former Liverpool and Tottenham director of football Damien Comolli has been told that only three Premier League clubs could viably still have the financial hutzpah to make transfers this summer, with one of his old employers almost certainly unable to sign any new recruits.
Manchester United are just one of the clubs linked with big-money moves, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer targeting Jadon Sancho while Harry Kane is touted to leave Tottenham.
But those plans may well have to be adapted with all teams now closely monitoring their finances ahead of the summer window.
Comolli believes that realistically only a handful of clubs may be able to make signings when the window eventually opens.
“An agent was telling me the other day, that there are actually only three clubs in the Premier League will be able to spend money next summer in the transfer window,” Comolli said on Sky Sports.
“I don’t know if this is correct but usually when agents tell you things like this, they usually get intel.
“We might see very little transfer activity, we might see swaps, we might see loans and I think we are going to see a massive decrease in transfer fees and transfer activity, at least transfers involving money.
“The longer this crisis goes on, more clubs are going to be in a financially difficult situation. The first thing that will be impacted will be player remuneration, the second thing will be transfer fees.”
Tottenham spent big last summer with a club-record fee spent on Tanguy Ndombele despite having just moved into their new stadium. Jose Mourinho has indicated in previous months that he wants to begin building his own squad at Spurs. But Comolli claims the current financial climate could put the north London club in a similar situation to that of Arsenal when they first moved into the Emirates.
“People should understand that they have to be very, very cautious,” he added.
“Remember the whole debate where Arsenal had to pay for the Emirates and people were criticising that they weren’t spending money, but they didn’t have money to spend.
“It was very simple, and I think Tottenham are in a situation where they have money to spend I’m sure – or they would have without the coronavirus [outbreak].
“That virus though will create a situation for them because they’ve got this huge debt.
“It’s ‘healthy’ debt because they’ve built a stadium and they’ve got an incredible asset but they still have to pay for it.”