The head of Portugal’s Agents Association, Arturo Fernandes, has explained how he believes the summer transfer window will play out amid the global health crisis, as quoted by BBC Sport.
With football currently suspended across Europe and the status of many leagues as yet undetermined amid a pandemic, there’s a great deal of uncertainty surrounding player contracts and the summer transfer window.
Those in the industry believe that deals will eventually be possible but that the crisis will have an effect on the money clubs have to spend and the markets they will target.
“The clubs with bigger finances can do whatever they want but they will go very low (with fees) because they know everybody is in crisis,” said Fernandes, as quoted by BBC Sport.
“I believe this market will bring us swaps, loans and small transfers, and that there’ll be more inside the same country because we’ll be unable to know if everybody can travel.
“The UK, France and Spain will look inside mostly because it makes things easier for the players, their families, even for the agents, to travel around. Imagine if I bring one player to PSG and the same day I need to come back to London or Portugal and they obligate me to stay in quarantine.”
The agent goes on to suggest that financial concerns should ensure youth players get more opportunities next season.
Verdict
These are interesting points from Fernandes and if he’s right, we could see Rangers staying mainly local when it comes to recruitment this summer.
The Gers were never going to have a huge pot of money to spend but the pandemic is likely to reduce their ability to pay out considerable sums on tried and tested players, while recruiting from European sides would potentially be logistically challenging.
Instead, we could see more recruitment from the EFL and from rival Premiership clubs, with the likes of Kai Kennedy and Nathan Patterson perhaps gaining more prominent roles in the first-team squad.
Many Bears are hopeful that Ianis Hagi is snapped up on a permanent deal from Belgian club Genk and given that he’s already on loan with the Gers, that deal will likely depend solely on finances rather than the logistical considerations raised by Fernandes.
