Should the transfer window continue into the season?

Yohan Cabaye was said to be unsettled before Newcastle’s game on Monday

As Arsenal have failed to make any “big name signing” before the start of the season, the fury of the fans and a long running injury list prompted the club to make last ditch bids for various players fitting the bill.

Five days into the start of the season, the North Londoners are yet to make a signing. Arsenal made as many as 12 enquiries in the window. Having already been beaten to seven of them, the Champions League spot vying club made three more on the opening day of the season. Though, they are yet to scalp a target, they have successfully sparked a debate – Should the transfer window be open as we enter the season or should it be slammed shut before the start of it?

On Saturday, as Swansea went into the match, there were rumours flying around of Arsenal reportedly having made a bid for Ashley Williams and Michu. Though the rumours had little weight, it was enough to agitate the Swans coach Michael Laudrup, who was quoted while speaking to a set of reporters:

“I accept the rumours are part of the game but, while they don’t affect me, they can affect the players.

“I was at the meeting of Premier League managers in London before the season started, and one of the questions we asked was why we can’t move the transfer deadline to before the season starts.

“The big leagues have all started already so it would suit all of us, but we were told there’s not a lot of interest in moving the deadline forward.

“I can’t understand why that is because I think every manager would be interested in having the window closed by the time the first game starts.”

“Because if I sell someone and try to buy someone else the next day, the price of your replacement goes higher, it’s inevitable.

“But it’s very close to this club’s deadline as far as selling anybody goes.”

Two days later on Monday morning, Arsenal go ahead and launch a bid for Newcastle’s pivotal figure in Yohan Cabaye. This unsettles the player and the manager Alan Pardew, as a result has no option but to leave the Frenchman from the matchday squad. The headlines next day read: “Alan Pardew unhappy at timing of Arsenal bid,”

“You prepare for three days with a player of that talent and that was taken away from us. It had a huge bearing on the result as well,” Alan Pardew claimed following a 4-0 loss at the hands of one of the title favourites Manchester City.

This brings to light the fact how these post-season, within-transfer-window bids unstettle teams, especially the likes of mediocre teams, having to lose their pivotal figure.

The transfer season has always overshadowed the start of the season with the fans craving to see a name coming in rather than concentrating on the league and results alike.

There have been a huge brouhaha and hoopla over the duration of the league. While a set of critics have advocated slamming the window shut before the season started, many are in favour of the current window, claiming it to allow teams to gauge the results and performance and then look for a perfect match.

As recently happened, the team which made the unsettling bids were who? Arsenal. The team which is yet to sign any players, have lost points, have a long injury list going. The bids were understandable and desperate. So while keeping the window as it is makes sense in this regard, to be honest, most of the business is done in the early phase of the summer, leaving only a handful of players in the transfer scene which are more fitting the demand-supply theory rather than being an ideal fit.

Change of transfer rules could help smaller clubs

So if the European leagues can unanimously decide on cutting short the transfer period to before the start of season, say July 31^st, the clubs could be more at ease and be confident of the crop of players at their disposal and plan accordingly rather than living in the fear of losing on their starlets three or four games into the season.

Although agreed the transfer window running a month into the start of the season provides a sort of cushion to the teams with them being able to gauge the voids in the sides and still leaving them with time to make additions. But while this may still be viable for the top clubs, mediocre and low lying clubs suffer losing their players to the teams above, leaving them in dire need to buy to stay afloat. And it cannot be denied, once you lose a player and are in the market to buy a replacement, it becomes much more costlier.

Even cutting the window shot isn’t the ideal solution. Say the window runs until 31 July and a top club signs a inferior team’s star on 30 July or 31 July, they are still in deep trouble with the only meagre relief coming in the form of additional time to mentally prepare for life without the player.

But to keep all these out of perspective and shun any chances of controversy or the decreased competitiveness of the league, why not go back to the old system where the transfer window ran up until March.

Though great philosophers ask not to turn your back or live in the past, the philosophy of going back here makes sense and there is no embarrassment in going back to a better system. Everybody tries, some things work out, some fail.

The transfer window running until March evens up the league a lot more and gives chances to the teams outside the Europa League slots and the bottom half to come back and not overspend.

Recent times has seen clubs in financial crunch, being forced to transfer their player in hurry and for a lower price. But with time at their hands, they can weigh and assess their options much better without losing out on much.

In a nutshell everything has pros and cons, but it is upto the judge to see which overceeds the other and would be more beneficial in the holistic sense.