Premier League legend reveals why transfer windows are “anxiety inducing” for players
There are three more weeks to go of the current transfer window, and that means there’s plenty of time for deals to still be done in the Premier League or elsewhere.
Ideally, transfers should be completed as quickly as practicable after a window opens in order for clubs and players to know exactly where they stand, and for all parties to move forward.
The reality is that there are almost always a number of hoops to jump through to get a deal done and that takes time.
Whether it’s agents demanding a bigger slice of the pie, a player wanting guaranteed match time, or a selling club wanting to ensure there’s a sell-on clause, a variety of separate issues can cause a delay.
Transfer windows remain “anxiety inducing” for players
Delays that can be a real problem for players waiting to move.
“Every transfer window is anxiety inducing for a player,” former English top-flight professional, Stan Collymore, told CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.
“Lots of dead ends… this club are interested in you, then they’re not, then they’ve dropped out of the race altogether and somebody else has come in.
“How it normally works is players basically have a meeting with the managers who are interested in them to talk about the football side, and then the agent sees what they’re prepared to do or not prepared to do, and there’s a hell of a lot of waiting involved.
“There isn’t enough done for players to be able to guide them through the process beyond just being a player.
“In all honesty, even with clubs nowadays, I speak to a lot of younger players and of course they’ve got agents around them and the clubs try their very best with liaison officers to help players settle in – perhaps a little bit more at a club than they used to – but it’s still not enough.
“That’s because there are a lot more countries to move to, players are being bombarded with all sorts of figures and money talks.
“Are they going to a club to be the best footballing version of themselves that they can be, because that should ultimately will guide everything, or are they going to the club that are going to offer them a few more zeros on their pay packet?
“They must do their due diligence.”
Younger players would clearly do well to take on board Collymore’s advice.
As a ex-player that’s been through it himself, the former Nottingham Forest and Liverpool legend speaks from a position of knowledge and authority.
Just because there’s unbelievable amounts of money involved – which could well sway a young man’s desire to move clubs – the process needs to be taken slowly, with accountability on clubs and agents at every step of the way.
The duty of care that doesn’t appear to be there, as Collymore highlights, and that surely has to be delivered as a formal part of the process.
That way, there’s likely to be less stress on the player and deals can be executed more smoothly as a result.
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