Summer Transfer Window 2019

[philipl]

Seeking Soccer Talent, Club Executives Turn to Speed Dating

 

Paul Konchesky, a scout with West Ham United of the Premier League, was among the soccer executives who took part in a series of 15-minute meetings at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.CreditVitalij Sidorovic

 

 

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Paul Konchesky, a scout with West Ham United of the Premier League, was among the soccer executives who took part in a series of 15-minute meetings at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.CreditCreditVitalij Sidorovic

By Tariq Panja

• July 18, 2019
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LONDON — It had all the hallmarks of an afternoon of speed dating. Strangers hoping to find that right match.

On a gloriously warm Tuesday this week, a group of soccer executives, from clubs large and small from across Europe and even as far afield as Brazil and the United States, were getting to know each other at 15-minute intervals inside a banquet hall at Stamford Bridge, the West London home of Premier League giant Chelsea.

Outside, tourists visiting the stadium frolicked in the sunshine of the stands. Inside the cloistered, carpeted Centenary Lounge, executives were getting down to the serious business of negotiating player trades as the summer transfer window, an annual multibillion-dollar marketplace, reaches its climactic rush to fill rosters or find new or temporary homes for unwanted or untested talent before the window slams shut in a matter of weeks.

With tables numbered and organized in rows, executives wielding brochures and tablets showed off their inventory in short introductory meetings that ended with the sound of a bell and the appearance of two women armed with boxing-style cards announcing the start of the next round of talks.

 

The event, a novelty in the often opaque and secretive world of soccer player trading, is the brainchild of Jonas Ankersen, 33, of Denmark, who launched a player trading platform called Transfer Room two years ago. The idea was to wean clubs off the largely inefficient and long-held practice of sourcing and selling players via the closely guarded networks of agents or intermediaries, some who can take a multimillion-dollar cut in the biggest deals.

“I wanted to give the clubs a chance to take back control of the transfer market,” Ankersen said as snippets of negotiations started to fill the air following a break for lunch.

To be sure, this is not the place where Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi will move from one club to another, but rather where useful, reasonably priced players change teams. The most expensive player on Ankersen’s platform is valued at around £20 million, or roughly $25 million, he said.

“That’s just a little bit out of our price range,” said Mick Harford, the director of football at Luton Town, a team from just outside London that was promoted last season to the second tier Championship division. Harford spoke as he pored over a list of young players being made available for loan by Paul Konchesky, loan manager at the middling Premier League club West Ham.

Harford, a towering former striker, was in the market for players elite teams were looking to loan out — either young players needing the experience of first team soccer or older athletes who were unlikely to make the roster this season. The loan market is a backbone for clubs like his, Harford said.

Executives in the room included representatives of Manchester City, last season’s Premier League champion, and Italian champion Juventus, which each summer is among soccer’s biggest buyers of talent. Juventus is also known to send more players out on loan than almost any other rival in European soccer. They were joined by a dozen other Premier League clubs and a bevy of others from across soccer’s global pyramid, including Internacional, a stalwart of Brazil’s top league, known for creating the type of talent suited to European soccer.

 

 

What it looks like when soccer executives take part in player loan discussions that resemble speed dating.CreditVitalij Sidorovic

 

 

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What it looks like when soccer executives take part in player loan discussions that resemble speed dating.CreditVitalij Sidorovic

While the executives ranged in seniority and function, they were all club employees. They shared a mutual frustration, bordering on antipathy, for another critical cog in the wheels of the soccer market: agents.

“If you can progress talks with the two clubs then you’re in a stronger position than an agent trying to broker deals, getting in this, getting that,” said Tony Coton, head of recruitment at Sunderland, a third-tier English team that was previously in the Premier League but was demoted twice.

“Here I will hear it from the horse’s mouth now,” he continued, “exactly how much the player’s earning at that club and I can say, ‘Yes we can go to that,’ or ‘No we can’t go to that,’ without the agent getting involved because invariably the agent will inflate what he’s on to try and increase his wages and for a loan I don’t think that’s right.”

Coton, a former goalkeeper for Manchester City, was in town like Harford to pick up a few loan players and to try to find buyers for two players from Sunderland’s Premier League days whose wages the club can no longer afford to finance.

Fueled by an explosion in television rights revenue, the player trading market globally has doubled to $7 billion annually since 2014, according to FIFA, a rise that requires a more organized and serious approach than the relationship-based business that has historically existed, according to Rasmus Ankersen, Jonas’s brother, and the director of football at Brentford, which plays in England’s second-tier Championship division.

 

 

That informal structure has led to waste of as much as 10 percent, Rasmus Ankersen said, which would represent as much as $700 million based on FIFA’s total figures. The savings, he said, could come with more transparency in the marketplace, with clubs more easily knowing which players are available and the needs of other teams.

“There will always be a need for someone to represent the player, an agent, and who can market the player, negotiate his contract. Where the waste in football is, is in what we call ‘club intermediaries’ — these guys that are in the middle, connecting clubs, holding the information, brokering the deals, that is in many cases an unnecessary cost,” Rasmus Ankersen said.

Club-to-club meetings on a global scale like the one held in London remain uncommon. The scarcity is related to the baked-in paranoia of the soccer world, where clubs eye rivals’ motivations with great suspicion.

“If you stick a for sale sign up, you can weaken your stance in the market,” said Dan Ashworth, director of football at Brighton, a small club that will compete in the Premier League for the third straight season.

Ashworth has recently returned to club soccer after six years with England’s national federation. His club hired a new coach, Graham Potter, at the start of the season, and that’s likely to mean more changes than usual as Brighton tries to build a squad matching Potter’s preferences. When such changes occur, players who would once have been seen as indispensable may no longer fit. Such conversations can be delicate, requiring careful handling before a player’s availability for transfer can be communicated to the market, said Ashworth.

“You are dealing with human beings, it’s not a product,” he said, sitting in the calm of a quiet corner of Stamford Bridge, during a rare lull in a full day. “So when you put a for-sale sign up for a person, that person might not know they’re for sale, might not know that you’re looking to move them on, might not agree to move away. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.”

A short while later, the bell sounded and Ashworth jumped to his feet. He had another date.

[AJW]

I remember debating 5 at the back last summer when England were using it during the World Cup , using Nyambe's in the right sided c/b role in the same way Southgate used Kyle Walker and with Lenighan centre and Mulgrea left , Bennett and Bell wing backs ... 12 months later and that could very well end up being the starting line up against charlton ... Williams in for Mulgrew maybe 

[CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber]

Sounds like the keeper could be coming in today or tomorrow, any ITK'ers know who it is? 

[Paul Mani]

1 hour ago, neophox said:

Isnt Foderinghams contract running out 2019? Cant be the main nr 1 gk we are chasing..

Sounds like Foderingham is the ‘younger’ one coming in so expect another - maybe Carson as well. Would certainly strengthen our options from last season. GK department ✅

[ChrisPriceBaldSpot]

11 hours ago, MarkBRFC said:

Even more convinced it's Carson now ?

Has there ever been a link to Carson. I think it is him but can't recall seeing a serious link. 

[Beanie01289]

3 hours ago, JacknOry said:

Tuanzebe? The player Villa are trying to sign and Manchester United just a day ago said has a good chance of being part of their first team plans this season? Nah, we wont be getting him.

 

Villa have signed hause, mings, engels and konsa who along with Chester means they are relatively well stocked with cbs. The more likely thing standing in the way is man u wanting to keep him tho this might change if they land slab head. 

[BlackburnEnd75]

3 hours ago, Fraserkirky said:

Looks like Magloire, Buckley, Rankin Costello and Butterworth are all going to be in and around the 1st team. Academy paying off. Apparently they were all excellent in the friendly match. 

I don’t expect much in’s:

Joe Hart GK minimal transfer fee and Adam CM on free.

Taunzabe CH and Chong RW on loan for Man Utd.

 

I disagree, doesn't matter how well they do in pre-season they won't be in the 18 for the 1st game of the season. We've got good numbers in midfield/attack so the easy thing to do would be to play the regulars, which is what Mowbray will do.

[SBlue]

They’d be benefit more from being on loan imo

[MarkBRFC]

Just now, ChrisPriceBaldSpot said:

Has there ever been a link to Carson. I think it is him but can't recall seeing a serious link. 

Rich Sharpe has tweeted several times that Carson is on the radar, but nothing in national press as far as I'm aware.

[JacknOry]

Just now, S8 & Blue said:

They’d be benefit more from being on loan imo

Yup apart from Magloire and maybe Rankin-Costello if he is being primed for RB/RWB right now, the others will be so far down the pecking order due to our other options in their positions.

I would definitely be thinking about getting them half a season initially in League 1 or 2 then taking it from there in January. 

[BlackburnEnd75]

Just now, JacknOry said:

Yup apart from Magloire and maybe Rankin-Costello if he is being primed for RB/RWB right now, the others will be so far down the pecking order due to our other options in their positions.

I would definitely be thinking about getting them half a season initially in League 1 or 2 then taking it from there in January. 

Downing    Travis   Johnson     Rothwell   - team 1 

                         Dack

                        Graham

 

Bennett   Smallwood  Evans   Armstrong       - team 2

                 Gallagher    Brereton

 

Plus Davenport, Chapman, Nuttall.

Might as well start finding a loan move for the under 23 lads as the are way down the pecking order rightly or wrongly.

[BankEnd Rover]

Just now, BlackburnEnd75 said:

Downing    Travis   Johnson     Rothwell   - team 1 

                         Dack

                        Graham

 

Bennett   Smallwood  Evans   Armstrong       - team 2

                 Gallagher    Brereton

 

Plus Davenport, Chapman, Nuttall.

Might as well start finding a loan move for the under 23 lads as the are way down the pecking order rightly or wrongly.

Team one is just power! Would love that to start with Butterworth/Buckly & Gallagher on as subs.

[islander200]

8 minutes ago, ChrisPriceBaldSpot said:

Has there ever been a link to Carson. I think it is him but can't recall seeing a serious link. 

Nixon had a story early in the summer,saying Carson was Monday's alternative to Hart 

[roversfan99]

6 hours ago, Paul Mani said:

Don’t blow yer load too soon pal. In that passage he also spoke about continuing to strengthen in future windows.

Sounds like two keepers (which makes sense as he wanted one plus Raya when he first spoke about the GK department) and a defender to me. I’m certainly not expecting a CB (or two), a lb and a rb as well as two keepers. Are you expecting five to six more signings? Nah, because that my friend is unrealistic! ?

Hes said defenders there, plural, he also said "defenders are coming" a mere 2 months ago. I stil totally disagree with the assertion that people are only asking for more than one defender to make it unobtainable for the manager so that they can have a go at him after the window shuts. Not for conspiracies like that. Our defence was woeful last season and needed more than tweaking 

We need full backs far more urgently than a sub keeper. Full back is a major weakness in our side, both in terms of quality and quantity.

[Madon]

Whoever this keeper is they've done well to keep it under wraps until now if the announcement is imminent. 

The guy I usually get the info off has heard zilch.

[JacknOry]

Just now, Madon said:

Whoever this keeper is they've done well to keep it under wraps until now if the announcement is imminent. 

The guy I usually get the info off has heard zilch.

Or perhaps he doesnt want to tell you anymore lol

[Madon]

Just now, JacknOry said:

Or perhaps he doesnt want to tell you anymore lol

Yeah or that ?

[rovers11]

So it looks as if Carson will be the keeper we’re signing. Good pedigree and good age for a GK. 

[CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber]

Just now, rovers11 said:

So it looks as if Carson will be the keeper we’re signing. Good pedigree and good age for a GK. 

Source?

[47er]

5 hours ago, philipl said:

 21 days until the window closes.

Any bets on the number of ins and outs in total between now and 8 August.

I would guess 5 permanent movements and 5 loan movements yet to happen.

I've been told on very high authority that that is completely unrealistic! Far be it from me to suggest that you are setting up TM to fail. 

Edited July 18, 2019 by 47er

[rovers11]

Just now, CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber said:

Source?

Just a hunch. 

We’ll find out in the next 48 hours. 

[CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber]

Just now, rovers11 said:

Just a hunch. 

We’ll find out in the next 48 hours. 

Fair. I also have a feeling it's Carson rather than Hart. Happy with either 

[OssyLad]

Wonder if this is us ? could send Smallwood otherway 

[Bigdoggsteel]

On 16/07/2019 at 19:59, JHRover said:

Don't recall saying we wouldn't spend this summer. Either way it doesn't look like we have spent this summer given the figures quoted on here with Raya.

You said exactly this in a post on page 436. I can't quote both posts for some reason. You actually say it regularly enough to be fair. Hence why a few posters have pulled you up on it! 

Edited July 18, 2019 by Bigdoggsteel

[Bigdoggsteel]

Going off twitter it is Carson and Foderingham we are signing. Could be speculation, but if not I don't think anyone could say we haven't improved our goalkeeper situation.