The Transfer Window: James Savundra’s Take
A few weeks back we brought you up to speed with everything you need to know about the upcoming Premier League season. This week we’re delving deeper into a continually evolving aspect of the modern game which has become especially relevant to clubs, players, agents and supporters alike since its introduction in 2002 – the transfer window.
For some expert insight into the subject, we spoke with Sky Sports News reporter, James Savundra, who’s across all things transfer-related. A seasoned broadcast journalist, James plied his trade at talkSPORT, where he interviewed names including Pep Guardiola, Harry Kane and Arsene Wenger, before joining the Sky Sports team.
Here’s what he had to say.
As the summer window draws to a close, which incoming PL players do you think will have the biggest impact next season and what high profile deals do you think are likely to cross the line before the end of next month?
As we saw last summer, Premier League clubs have been busy attempting to improve their squads early in this window. The benefit of signing players in time to take a full part in pre-season means they’ll have a real chance of hitting the ground running when the season kicks off in the middle of August.
It’s going to be fascinating to see what impact Joshua Zirkzee has at Manchester United. Several clubs across Europe were interested in the youngster who had a brilliant campaign for Bologna last season. United are in real need of adding goals to their team and the hope will be that the Dutchman will help with that.
Brighton spent an eye-catching amount on Yankuba Minteh from Newcastle – who never actually featured for Eddie Howe’s side. However, he impressed hugely last season on loan at Feyenoord, where interestingly he worked under the incoming Liverpool head coach Arne Slot.
Speaking of Liverpool, you’d expect them to make some additions as they enter a new era without Jurgen Klopp at the helm – albeit their squad is still incredibly strong. Arsenal are keen on signing a striker but somebody who will guarantee you 20 goals a season won’t come cheap and there are not many Erling Haalands available! Ivan Toney is a player to watch in the final weeks of the window.
We’ve been entertained by the Euros this summer and some players have emerged as real stars. What are your thoughts on signing players off the back of a good international tournament?
In previous decades, we’ve seen clubs snap up talent from some of the lesser-known nations following eye-catching displays – particularly at World Cups. Think of some of the Senegal stars from 2002. However, the scouting systems at clubs are so sophisticated now that they are unlikely to be swayed by the small sample size of performances at a tournament.
With clubs increasingly aware of the financial constraints and with inflated transfer fees, you are less likely to see them take punts on players. It was an interesting European Championships where Spain were the only major powerhouse that enhanced their reputation with their performances. In terms of individuals, Marc Guehi excelled for England. Clubs will already be well aware of his ability and qualities. So, the only thing the tournament will have done is add a few more million to his asking price!
The 30th of June was clearly a significant date in this year’s window, more so than ever it felt. Does it almost feel like there are now two summer deadline days for you to report on?
Yes – this summer more than ever! We were describing 30 June as a mini-deadline day for some of the Premier League clubs battling to ensure they remained compliant with the financial rules to which they all signed up.
Last season we saw Everton and Nottingham Forest receive points deductions for breaching the Profit & Sustainability rules and therefore clubs know they cannot fall foul of the rules. Therefore, we saw a hive of activity in the final days of the month and gained a concrete understanding of which clubs were battling to remain compliant.
We also saw clubs being increasingly creative with their player trading – whilst not breaking any rules. From our perspective as journalists, it certainly made the early part of the transfer window thrilling as there were a huge number of deals which got done and some which came out of nowhere!
Looking to the future, how do you think the increase in stringency of PSR is going to affect spending across the windows?
This year is likely to be the final year of the current PSR regulations which I think many clubs will be extremely relieved about. So many have really had to tighten their purse strings in the last 18 months to ensure that they didn’t get hit with points deductions.
There are plenty of good reasons for having financial control measures to ensure the competitive balance of the league remains and to prevent clubs from splurging on transfers at the risk of their long-term health.
We’ve seen clubs spend more than £100m on individual players in the last two seasons which shows that we’ll still see massive transfer fees. However, these clubs – who are very well financially placed – still need to ensure they are trading their own players to balance the books.
It’s easy to see why the likes of Newcastle and Aston Villa are frustrated with current rules as they attempt to close the gap on the likes of Manchester City at the top.
What are the likely implications of the upcoming rule changes?
If Premier League clubs agree on new financial rules to bring them in line with UEFA, then they may actually have a bit more flexibility when it comes to being able to sign players. The current PSR constraints have felt too restrictive at times and led to an incredibly quiet January window. It was strange seeing some of the richest clubs in world football unable to go out and buy who they wanted.
Working at Sky Sports News, the transfer windows are arguably the most important periods in our year. So many turn to us for accurate, reliable, up-to-date information on potential incomings and outgoings. A real lack of business is bad news for everybody!
Best signing and biggest flop since you’ve been covering the game?
It’s hard to look past Erling Haaland considering what he has been able to achieve in his first two seasons at Manchester City. The number of records he has broken has been truly stunning at such a young age.
Little was expected of Kevin De Bruyne and Mohammed Salah following underwhelming spells at Chelsea as youngsters. However, their achievements at their respective clubs have been phenomenal. Both players will go down as two of the greatest the Premier League has ever seen.
Unfortunately, when it comes to transfers, so many of them fail to work out for several different factors. There’s no guarantee with any transfer. You could probably argue that 50% can be qualified as successful and the other 50% as unsuccessful. It’s fair to say that Donny van de Beek, Romelu Lukaku (back to Chelsea) and Nicolas Pepe have been huge disappointments.
Back to the Euros, what are your thoughts on Gareth Southgate’s decision to step down as England manager? Who would you like to see him replaced with?
I have mixed feelings about Gareth Southgate’s departure. All signs seemed to point towards this being his final tournament but there’s still a certain sadness at how things ended and the negativity which seemed to surround the last chapter of his tenure.
Southgate did an incredible job for English football and has left the team in a much better place than when he took over. However, there will always be a nagging feeling that England should have won one of the finals they reached – 2021, in particular.
In terms of his successor, there’s a feeling that it should be an Englishman but fans want somebody who can unlock the immense attacking potential in the squad, win matches and ultimately tournaments. It’s a huge job as the next person would need to take England as far as Southgate and then get them over the line. Jurgen Klopp would be the dream appointment but it doesn’t feel realistic. Mauricio Pochettino has his strengths but hasn’t got a track record of winning tournaments.
Of the English candidates, Eddie Howe feels like the most enticing option – albeit Newcastle wouldn’t want to let him go!
Our sincerest thanks to James for his insightful thoughts – we’re excited to see what happens in the remainder of the window. If you’d like to speak to us about booking a Premier League experience for the 2024/25 season, we’d love to hear from you here.
