Logic flying out of the window

Accountants will be working behind the scenes in Barcelona and others elsewhere will be doing overtime

Rob Palmer commentator, ESPN

Friday, 9 August 2024, 16:52

The panic button is getting pressed - and logic flying out of the window - as the new season nears and clubs try to appease their frustrated ... fans.

Rationality is cast aside as managers and accountants go head-to-head to balance squads and the books, with some very odd deals being done.

I did tweet last week that there was more chance of me signing for Barcelona than Dani Olmo given their financial woes and inability to register players already on their roster. It appears that I will have to dust off my goalkeeping gloves as Olmo unpacks his kitbag in Catalonia. Somehow Barça have managed to find 60 million euros to convince RB Leipzig to do a deal.

This is only the start of the issue. It has been well reported that the club are having trouble re-registering last season's recruits Iñigo Martínez and Vítor Roque due to the strict financial rules in La Liga. They need to offload players and lighten the payroll before the authorities will allow him to play next season.

The accountants will be working behind the scenes to make this happen in Barcelona and their counterparts will also be working overtime elsewhere.

In Madrid, Atlético's bean-counters are the most overworked staff at the club. They've authorised the 45-million-euro signing of England international Conor Gallagher from Chelsea and 95-million-euros to be spent on Manchester City's Julian Álvarez.

The Gallagher deal is offset by selling Samu Omorodion to the London club for the same price. Chelsea make pure profit on youth product Gallagher and spread the depreciation of Samu over his eight-year contract. This is what happens when hedge funders take charge of a Premier League club. They are ahead of the game in dealing with Financial Fair Play rules.

It did appear that Atlético had played a blinder by swapping a young striker who never kicked a ball for them after a 6-million-euro investment twelve months ago for an international in his prime. They loaned Samu to Alavés where he scored eight goals and increased his value six-fold.

Atlético's early summer business had also been impressive when signing Spain international Robin Le Normand and Villarreal star Alexander Sorloth. Le Normand was an upgrade on departing defenders and Sorloth scored an impressive 26 goals last season.

All was rational until news broke that they'd bid 95 million for Julian Álvarez. It must have taken Manchester City just seconds to accept the deal for a back-up striker. Álvarez was a handy alternative to Erling Haaland and weighed in with 19 goals last season, but the fee was crazily inflated. Yes, the Argentinian is a World Cup winner which adds a premium, but the figure seems to be inflated beyond belief.

The one transfer that does appear to make sense is Martín Zubimendi to Livepool FC. The Premier League club are using their unused kitty to meet the reported 55-million-euro buy-out figure and the Real Sociedad star gets his move to a bigger club. When Xavi was manager at Barça he made no secret of his admiration for the young man who plays the Busquets role for club and country.

At that point making a bid didn't seem logical, as Barça were broke; but as this article points out, logic has taken a summer holiday.

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