The Premier League clubs have lost £500m in transfer revenue because players are reluctant to relocate during the pandemic.
Topping the lists of highest losers are Arsenal and Manchester clubs because they were unable to shift unwanted stars. For instance, Mesut Ozil has said he will prove to be an important player for the team and he is ready to run down his lucrative contract.
Meanwhile, top-flight clubs have recouped £209million compared to £650m last year. The COVID-19 pandemic led to an uncertain future across Europe. This has made top-flight clubs so far to recoup less than 50 percent of the amount from straight player sales compared to £650m last year.
For instance, Wolves is one of the few clubs to have earned more than £25million in transfer revenue.
‘Complicated deals’
According to sources, part of the reasons for the stalled transfer deals was because some players under contract are unwilling to change clubs due to the upheaval it would involve.
‘It depends on lots of other things than just money. If you’re settled in a place at the moment, it probably feels easier to just stay put. Why would you change?,” a source told Daily Mail.
The likes of Arsenal, West Ham, Manchester City and Manchester United are trying to shift players off their books.
“Moving to the other side of the country or somewhere abroad you’ve never been before is definitely a factor players are thinking about this summer,’ said one agent.
This is therefore another headache for recruitment teams, as they are trying to deal with an increased strain on finances as matches continue behind closed doors.
Only eleven clubs earned above £25m each in trading players out in 2019 — a stark contrast to this term. So far, only Wolves, Leicester City, and Manchester City have broken that barrier so far. The crossed the barrier with the sales of Diogo Jota, Ben Chilwell and Leroy Sane to Liverpool, Chelsea and Bayern Munich respectively.
However, ten teams are yet to sell a player for a fee to a new club, as most of their deals involved the conversion of loan moves to permanent transfers. There are eight such clubs across the top tier. Those have proved more palatable for players, who were not stepping into the unknown.
