It Doesn't Have To Be This Way!

Luciano Narsingh is a 16 times capped Dutch International winger. He has played in over 200 matches in Holland's top flight and has just signed for Swansea City for the now mediocre sum of £4m. This transfer struck me as decent business. Who knows, in time, it might even turn into brilliant business. We'll see. The Narsingh deal got me thinking. We all talk about the massive deals in each transfer window. The big players who make a move, particularly in January. Berbatov. Suarez. Torres. Of course, that is all natural. The stars get talked about more than other players. But what of the bargains? Believe it or not they are out there, and more often than not they pass under the radar as the bigger deals grab all the press attention, fans of every club eager to lap up every smidgen of info.

My own club Sunderland AFC are at the moment shopping in Lidl as opposed to Harrods if you get my meaning. With an owner looking to sell, money is tight. The club's debt is now the 11th largest in Europe according to a recent UEFA study. With FFP now a big factor when dealing with transfers, Sunderland are really stretched in terms of incomings. Players need moving on and wages need freeing up before any signings can be made. Manager David Moyes really does have a lot on his plate currently, and I can only imagine that he has started to realise the extent of damage caused by previous regimes and their continued systematic failure to bring in the right signings window after window. Hence why Moyes will be looking for a bargain, if he even has the maneuverability to do so. But it doesn't have to be this way.

Gus Poyet brought Jermain Defoe to Sunderland in the January window of 2014. Defoe wanted to return to England after a spell in the MLS with Toronto. Poyet somehow managed to convince Toronto to part with Defoe and take perennial Premier League flop Jozy Altidore as part of the deal. Swapping a guy who cannot score goals no matter how hard he tries, for one who is a proven goalscorer is any manager and football fan's dream. Sunderland took a punt on Defoe when no other club would and after some 33 goals in 74 matches, we can safely say that this was indeed a bargain! John Stones cost Everton £3m when they plucked him from Barnsley, and Spurs paid only £5m for Dele Alli. Both of those deals were done in January windows. 

Top clubs are looking for the finished article, we understand that. Manchester United wouldn't necessarily look into the Football League for a rough diamond to polish and I suppose, why should they? They have the pull and the muscle to go out and buy the very best and that is what they tend to do. City and Chelsea do the same, blocking youngsters' routes into the first team in the process as well. It is only a matter of time before we see a £100m player and dare I say it the way China are going, the first player to earn £1m a week. But I think that this window could be the start of something else. Another different type of change, but I of course could be wrong. I think the bottom tier of clubs are becoming a little more savvy with their money. That might sound ridiculous to some when we see the likes of West Ham trying to buy half the league in the first week of the window, but I'll go back to the Narsingh deal as a point of reference. Rather than chucking money at the situation and realising six months later that actually, that player was the wrong signing, a more measured approach would be a welcome sight to see in the money-saturated Barclays Premier League. Burnley gained promotion under Sean Dyche, went back down but came back stronger without breaking the bank, securing the club's long term future, all with the same manager too I might add. Brian Clough and Peter Taylor were the masters at polishing diamonds or rejuvenating a player who was out of sorts or had lost his way. I rejoiced when I saw that Arsenal had signed Cohen Bramall from Hednesford Town. Obviously there were plenty who showed their displeasure but I think it is refreshing to see. Despite the megabucks on offer now, that can and should still happen. It has to happen, otherwise the game will implode. Teams in the league cannot continue to risk financial ruin in pursuit of living the dream for a season or two. Leicester City are testament to the fact that you don't need to spend hundreds of millions on players to create history. You just need to sign the right players, for the right amount of money. Who knows, in a year or so, we might even be talking about the next January Jamie Vardy rather than the next January Fernando Torres. Here's hoping!

Michael