Throughout the endless speculation over Harry Kane’s future, there’s been a recurring narrative that somehow the flat nature of the COVID-19 transfer market will come to Tottenham’s rescue. That whichever club Kane plumps for will be denied because they are incapable of matching Levy’s price. This vacuous nonsense needs to be addressed and put to bed before any more fans a subject to false hope.
Yes, the market is flat and the losses suffered by Premier League sides have been hinted at thus far, but just like catastrophic costs incurred by conventional businesses, they will not be fully understood until long after we’re through with most of these pandemic protocols, and the size of that damage will be nothing shy of terrifying.
The transfer market for top-flight footballers has been understandably muted for the last two windows, and this is not something that is likely to suddenly improve. The commercial activity of all clubs has been critically damaged in multiple ways since the Coronavirus arrived. The knock-on effect off of where society is outside of football has also played a significant part. Even if clubs were allowed to fling open their doors tomorrow, how many would feel comfortable jumping on a bus or a tube train? How many would be just fine with having to wear a face-covering for 90-minutes? What broader appetite is there for a COVID-19 Passport or similar? Nothing is clear. Worse yet, how many fans have found themselves economically savaged by the lockdowns? When the furloughs are withdrawn, how many fans will still be in a position to buy tickets to football matches?
If Daniel Levy was in no position to deny the sales of Michael Carrick, Dimitar Berbatov, Luka Modric, and Gareth Bale when things were good, and make no mistake, all of those players politely or otherwise demanded to leave… then what might the same man do when things are terrible, and he has, give or take, a billion pounds of debt already weighted about his shoulders?
Professional footballers are not slaves, thankfully there are laws against that sort of thing these days, and so if a boy wants to move then the boy moves. Some will opine the old ‘ah but yeah, but if Daniel demands…’ line. Demands what precisely? Does anyone genuinely believe that Southampton wanted so little for Hojbjerg or that Wolves were ecstatic to receive so little for Doherty? The absence of money will not make one iota of difference to club transfer activity. Markets operate based upon what the market will stand. So if you’re seeking to sell your house, you can demand what was worth during a previous boom period, but it will be valued today on today’s market price.
If you have a counter view that you can substantiate, I’d be delighted to hear it – if and only if – it is based upon something a tad more tangible than yeah, but he’s one of our own.
The pull of the stadium etc means very little to footballers. We’ve only seen a deterioration in many of our players since it was built, one that predated the current coach’s arrival. This was also incidentally why the last man was fired. Ironically enough it was Kyle Walker that set the tone by fleeing N17 before it was even opened – a decision which has been proved to be the correct one.
With any good fortune, Spurs can secure Champions League football (if that is indeed the 27-year-old’s only criteria) and Kane will remain. But please don’t mistake this good fortune for anything other than what it is – luck.
Without this, Levy will be well and truly snookered, just as he has been so many times before and just as every other football club owner will be. The only change is the state of the economy, and that’s all the market ever cares about.
The only real sadness in all of this is that had Pochettino been backed, as I think most of us begged for, then it is extremely debatable that we’d be watching this continued demise of Spurs play out now.