There has been a lot of conjecture about what this summer’s transfer window will look like, and Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho confirmed that Spurs will not be splashing the cash this summer.
COVID-19 has devastated the balance sheet of many clubs and Mourinho admits he is prepared for a changed market once new dates are announced with huge sums for players not expected to be the norm.
Chelsea are reportedly in the hunt for Mauro Icardi, as PSG struggle to agree a permanent transfer for the on loan striker with his parent club Inter Milan.
The Argentina international joined the Ligue 1 champions, awarded the 2019-20 title after the season in France was cancelled last month, on a season-long-loan at a cost of €13m, scoring 20 goals in 31 competitive games. PSG had an option to make the loan permanent for €70m.
With Edinson Cavani leaving on a free transfer, PSG are keen to do a deal but don’t want to pay the full price, and had an offer of €50m plus €10m in bonuses rejected by Inter last week, who want the full price for the Argentina international.
Manchester United’s executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, addressed the club’s investors on Thursday to discuss the club’s latest set of financial results, the numbers sounded bleak.
Over a 40 per cent increase in net debt, revenues down and an estimated £23 million ($28m) already lost due to Covid-19 made up the headlines, and the worst is yet to come as these numbers are through only the end of March.
Games behind closed doors, the club’s shop and museum remaining closed and a huge reduction in broadcast revenue will ensure the next quarter’s results have a similarly negative impact.
Manchester United CEO Ed Woodward is the latest executive to tell fans that this will be a quiet transfer window saying “It may not be ‘business as usual’ for any clubs, including ourselves, in the transfer market.”
We have heard the same from Barcelona and Inter Milan, but United have been strongly linked with a €100m+ deal for Borussia Dortmund attacker Jadon Sancho as well as a €200m deal for Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane.
But Woodward seemingly has thrown cold water on these deal saying on a videoconference call with Manchester United fans.
Gary Neville has slammed the Chelsea board for pursuing £75 million Philippe Coutinho amid the coronavirus crisis.
Barcelona have reportedly offered Chelsea the chance to sign former Liverpool playmaker Coutinho this summer. But Manchester United legend Neville says it is ‘illogical’ for Chelsea to even be considering transfer moves at a time when their current players could well be set to take pay cuts.
This week, it was reported that Chelsea players have agreed to take a 10 per cent pay cut as the club look to cut losses from lack of revenue during the coronavirus pandemic.
French politician Daniel Cohn-Bendi started off making sense when he said that the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic will cause transfer values to plummet. I think everyone agrees with that statement. Then he showed his naivety when he tried to use PSG forward Kylian Mbappe as an example of the impending price drop.
“Tomorrow, Mbappe will cost around €35-40M at most, not €200M, he told an interview with French outlet Ouest-France, reported via the Evening Standard.
“Who is going to be able to buy him?
“There is going to be new regulations, and this will affect wages and image rights.”
It looks like Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud is going to get his wish and finally complete a move to Inter Milan in the summer as a free agent.
Giroud tried to push through a move to Inter in January after a frustrating first half of the season with Frank Lampard’s side, but Chelsea blocked the move due to a lack of alternative options up front at Stamford Bridge.
Giroud is desperate to play regular first team football next season as he wants to be part of the French side at the Euro’s next summer.
Brighton owner Tony Bloom says he cannot see how clubs can be relegated from the Premier League if the season is not completed.
On Friday, the Premier League met to go through several scenarios to finish the campaign, but uncertainty still hangs over a season that has nine rounds to go.
“It would be very difficult to relegate somebody, particularly from the Premier League, if the season hasn’t played out,” said Bloom.
In the ‘scheduling model’ possibilities looked at on Friday, the earliest would start on 8 June. While it was not discussed as expected at that meeting, there are clubs who think 30 June should be the cut-off date for the season to end for contractual reasons.
This summer’s International Champions Cup was supposed to include an El Clasico match between La Liga rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona. But unfortunately, due to the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak in the United States, not aonluy this event, but all international soccer games in USA in 2020 have been cancelled.
Without the lucrative preseason tournament, Real Madrid and Barcelona are expected up lose around €15M in revenue. That is a huge hit for clubs that are all facing the financial implications of the Coronavirus which has halted football across Europe, forcing clubs to lay off non-playing staff and asking players to take hefty pay cuts. Barcelona players for example, took a 70% pay cut.
Philippe Coutinho “would love a return to the Premier League” one day, but his agent insists everything remains a possibility when it comes to the future of the Brazil midfielder.
Coutinho is currently on loan at Bayern Munich from Barcelona, although the German club are not expected to make the deal permanent despite him contributing nine goals in 32 matches prior to the suspension of the Bundesliga due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The 27-year-old is relaxed about his future and has already attracted interest from the Premier League as his loan nears its end, with Chelsea, Everton and Arsenal among the clubs interested in the former Liverpool star.