In a bout no competitor fancies going into the contest with one hand tied behind his back, mainly because it puts them at a disadvantaged position and with the odds stacked against them the likelihood of being triumphant is remarkably reduced. Sadly with the motion passed across last year by majority of Premier League managers and clubs hierarchy for the English Premier League transfer window closing before the start of the new season, that is the situation English clubs finds themselves in.
As recently as last week Liverpool manager Jurgen klopp in a skysports interview spoke against the EPL transfer window shutting three weeks before the rest of the European transfer window, according to him
“I don’t care when it closes, I only think it must close at the same time (as the rest of Europe). “When they spoke about ‘Let’s finish it before the season starts then everyone knows their squad’ – that’s a good idea. But then the rest didn’t do it and that makes no sense.”
Basically stating that the idea of English clubs being unable to acquire replacements after losing key players to other European clubs is an unwise and a disadvantaged one and who could blame his thought process with emerging transfer developments as the European transfer window billed to close on the 2nd of September enters it’s final week.
Three major English Premier League(Arsenal, Tottenham, and Manchester United) find themselves subject of possible key player departures without any hope of finding replacements due to the end of the English transfer window.
Arsenal’s situation is milder compared to the other two, being a club in transition are in the process of pruning the crop so to speak, getting rid of deadwood players in the form of Nacho Monreal, and under-utilised players( Mohamed Elneny and Shkrodan Mustafi). After the deadline day signing of Celtic leftback Kieran Tierney and the availability of Kolasinac, the spaniard Monreal has obviously fallen even further in the clubs pecking order and a transfer is the only viable option for the left-back and with Real Sociedad of Spain interested, his impending departure is simply a matter of when not if. Elneny and Mustafi on the other hand has been informed by the Arsenal manager Unai Emery of their reduced role in the team and that any first team action desire will be better served elsewhere, with Turkish(Galatasaray) and French club(Bordeaux) reportedly interested.
Tottenham finds themselves in a precarious position though with the club’s best midfielder Christian Eriksen, a continued player of interest for Spanish heavyweights Real Madrid with the Tottenham club hierarchy reportedly wary of a tantalising last-minute offer and with the Danish international entering into the final year of his contract they stand a chance of losing him on a free next year if they don’t cash in on any transfer offer now.
Manchester United is another English side with this similar transfer conundrum with their much-maligned star player, Paul Pogba (who was recently subjected to social media racist remarks) another subject of a possible transfer to Real Madrid and with no hope of any replacements due to the closure of the English transfer window and their shockingly thin squad suffering from high profile departures (Lukaku to intermilan and a possible Sanchez exit) to no offensive additions in the transfer market, the United hierarchy cannot afford a Pogba exit and that is the situation they find themselves in heading in to the European transfer deadline day.
A successful transfer window more often than not translates to a successful season for major European clubs and with the English transfer window closing earlier than the rest of Europe, the English clubs are figuratively handicapped going into the new European season and ironically they’re seemingly the orchestrators of their own impending misfortunes.