Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho has become the latest individual to have his say on the impact of Covid19 on football.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced leagues across the world to be suspended and some have already been abandoned or finished prematurely.
The Premier League is looking to return next month as they cannot afford the cost of not finishing a campaign.
The transfer window, which traditionally opens around July and teams are allowed to buy players until September, is also set to be affected.
Transfer fees have gone through the roof in recent transfer windows, but this coronavirus pandemic is set to curtail how teams spend, at least in the next window.
Mourinho has admitted that his team would be focused on making reasonable spending when the transfer window reopens before predicting that he expects the date of the transfer window to also be shifted this year because of the impact of the pandemic.
‘To be honest in this moment I think it is the last thing that we are thinking about. In the club we are not thinking about it,’ Mourinho said on Sky Sports’ The Football Show on Wednesday as quoted by the Metro.
‘I can read a few things but no talks about it, because it is the last thing we think about in this moment. In this moment we think about safety, following every rule inside the training ground, we are trying to be perfect, it’s not just about the testing it’s about everything. We are trying just to be perfect in the club and we don’t think about it.
‘But you ask me and I’m not going to run away, I think it’s normal that we are going to have a different market.
‘I don’t see the world and especially the football world, ready for some crazy numbers that we are used to have and some crazy investments that sometimes some clubs, especially some clubs or some leagues, are used to do.
‘But to be honest, the first question after that will be when will the transfer window be? Of course I don’t think it will be anymore July and August. I think it has obviously to go further than that.
‘But if you ask me my club, what I would like in my club, I would like my club to be what I know it is going to be. It is going to be sensible, balanced, we are not going to spend rivers of money and we are trying to respect the situation. Not just of football, but the situation of the world and society overall.’
OK, so we know what Mourinho is saying and on the face of it, it is reasonable, however, I am not so sure about the veracity of what he is saying.
This is Mourinho we are talking about, he loves to spend big money but more than that, he is renowned for BS, just because he says something publicly does not make it true.
I simply do not believe that he is not looking at potential transfers and that Daniel Levy is not already trying to do some business.
I do expect Spurs to spend money in this transfer window, I also expect players to be sold and if things do not go well I fully expect Mourinho to blame the pandemic in some form or the other.
The bottom line for me is that I am taking what he is saying with a large amount of salt and truth be told, pandemic or not, Levy would be a tight sod anyway.
The best players will still go to the clubs with the most money, no matter if fees come down. All clubs will have less, but the City’s and Utd’s of this world will have more than the rest. If Jose hasn’t thought of potential targets and discussed with his staff he should not be our manager. Safety is important but if we lose 3 on the spin and he starts saying “we are disappointed with results, but at least no one died” I will not be happy!