Premier League transfer deadline needs to be be brought forward to avoid lengthy sagas that rob fans of watching their star players
The likes of Alexis Sanchez, Philippe Coutinho, Diego Costa and Gylfi Sigurdsson are all seeking moves away and missed the opening match of the season last weekend
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THEY were supposed to be at a ground near you.
Alexis Sanchez, Philippe Coutinho, Ross Barkley, Diego Costa, Virgil van Dijk, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Danny Drinkwater are some of the biggest names in the game.
Yet they all sat out the Premier League’s big kick-off.
Some are injured, but they are all angling for moves, with more than £450million of talent seemingly seduced by the prospect of pulling on the colours of Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, Atletico, Spurs or Chelsea.
Behind all this is the transfer deadline. By the time it passes at 11pm on August 31, those seven players will have cost their clubs more than £10m in wages since the end of last season, illness or not.
It is big money without any of them kicking a ball.
The fans are being robbed of watching them, buying up season tickets to watch the Premier League’s star names.
Instead they were all missing for the big kick-off, unlikely to play for their clubs again until the window closes.
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It is no way to run a big business. The clubs risk shredding the reputations of the players, dirtying their names as they wait for last-gasp moves.
Pre-transfer deadline standoffs are common. They become a battle of wills, with the clubs holding the whip hand when things start to get messy.
Every ploy in the book is used. Players are exiled, banished to the Under-23 squad, made to train with the reserves, forced to use another dressing room, have their squad number taken away.
It humiliates them, strips them of their dignity.
Nobody wins. There is just a lot of bad blood at the end of it all. Take Coutinho, left out of Liverpool’s Champions League tie at Hoffenheim with a back injury, who wanted to keep his special relationship with Liverpool’s supporters.
Instead it has been damaged beyond repair after owners FSG released a statement to say that he could not leave for the bright lights of Barcelona.
Southampton are playing hardball with Van Dijk, resisting the big bucks on offer from Liverpool and Chelsea.
The Dutchman, who has not played for Saints since January, claims he is not in the right frame of mind to play.
Saints insist the defender is not for sale, at any price.
Ugly stand-offs do nothing for the image of the game.
Does it need to come to this? Not really.
Only a couple of weeks ago Neymar made the case for freedom of movement after his world-record switch to PSG.
He claimed modern contracts protect clubs as much as the player. In his case, he is right.
Barcelona are using the £198m PSG paid for him to fund raids for Coutinho and Borussia Dortmund forward Ousmane Dembele.
In England, Premier League clubs are in a predicament.
By keeping the window open until September, it gives clubs the chance to bring in players if they make a poor start.
It also suits the European leagues to keep it open, with big money continuing to roll in from the rich English clubs.
The Premier League would benefit from a streamlined system to speed up some of these summer transfer sagas.
EFL clubs are meeting next month to discuss whether they should move their deadline.
A spokesman said: “The EFL board and clubs previously expressed the opinion that closing the summer transfer window ahead of the season would improve the current position.”
But until any change is made, some star names will always be off in August.
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