January Transfer Blunder

Officially it's just under an hour to the end of the January transfer window, which may or may not be extended due to the heavy snow which has engulfed England.

Quite frankly, who cares? The transfer window has come to epitomise everything rotten in the state of football today. Player power, agents' greed, "sources" creating rumours of interest in order to engineer a move for their players, and clubs publicly announcing nothing is happening whilst attempting to unsettle their targets in order to pull off "a major coup".

The transfer window was intended to provide a levelling of the playing field, but has only succeeded in forcing clubs to pay overinflated fees and wages for the players they think will help them retain premiership status. In real terms this means mortgaging the future income of the club - TV rights or parachute payments (for those unlucky few). I remember that Derby County's signing of Fabrizio Ravanelli prior to our initial relegation in 2001/2 put the club in hock for his wages for 2 years after he left, and Paul Jewell's signing of Robbie Savage in the transfer window last season on vastly inflated wages has meant it's impossible to get him off the wage bill.

I'd like to return to the old days of the transfer "market" rather than the fire-sale it has become. Clubs could structure their purchases rather than panic buying which can cripple clubs for years. It would also mean that richer club wouldn't find it as easy to hold a smaller club to ransom by making an offer and waiting them out (see dealings between Manchester City and Blackburn over Roque Santa Cruz).

I'm sure in years past, when a club wanted to sign a player, they made an approach to his club and were either granted permission to talk to him or not. End of story. Now we have rumours that players have threatened to strike if not allowed to move (Bellamy at West Ham allegedly), agents concocting fantastic "stories" in order to stimulate movement such as Newcastle wanting to swap Martins for Bent at Spurs, and massively over-priced players being held in virtual tug of wars as the rumours start (Wigan's Antonio Valencia).

Tottenham would appear to be the most active club in this window, in an attempt to repair the damage inflicted by Juande Ramos' ill-fated reign. The presumed re-signing of Robbie Keane from Liverpool (for £5million less than they sold him for) is one of the most well reported yet now most annoying stories. Likewise the Arshavin to Arsenal tale. Both clubs initially declared nothing was happening whilst they discuss terms with the agent of the players involved, and they similarly play a game of brinkmanship, playing current and prospective clubs against each other to fatten their own slice of the transfer pie.

So far, the one club in the Premier League who could be satisfied with their activity so far should be Wigan. If they get £15million for the wantaway Valencia, as well as sealing deals for the talented N'Zogbia and Rodallega, then I would consider Steve Bruce's work well done. And Mido seems like he can do the Heskey role in the short term, which means the £3.5million from Villa should be an added bonus on someone who was out of contract in the summer.

Watching the news tickers revealing the latest denials and non-stories has become all too monotonous a pursuit - the initial optimism has been tempered by loan deal after loan deal in order to bring in ANY player. Come on FIFA and Premier League, let's go back to the better old days, where you could get genuinely excited by the sniff of a transfer deal rather than wishing it would all end asap!