What's The Point Of The January Transfer Window?

So, how was your transfer window? Get that Fancy Dan foreign left-back you’ve always dreamt of? Maybe that promising false nine who Barcelona were rumoured to be running the rule over?

Or maybe you had to make do with a gnarled old journeyman on a loan deal to tide you over til the summer? Yup, I’m guessing it’s probably more the latter… 

Since it’s first inception during the 2003-04 season, in those far off cash rich days of long, hot summers and free Champagne for all, the January transfer window has gone from bright shiny money go round to a tedious, stretched out exercise loved only by yelping Sky Sports 24 presenters and tabloid journalists (Harry Redknapp too, but he’s been a touch busy elsewhere of late). 

The original thinking was that concentrating all the transfer activity in the summer was too much of a stretch; allowing a quick burst of mid-season hype and hope and media-grabbing headlines would give clubs – and fans – a bit of excitement, before getting back to the grind of a cold Tuesday night in Blackburn. 

However, most big names are cup-tied (and not just in this country, but right across Europe, if you’re still in the Champions or Europa League hunt), while the ones that aren’t, are either off-the-pace journeymen coming to the end of their careers (wanting “one last big contract”), unwanted fringe players or potential troublemakers (yes, we’re talking about Carlos Tevez here).

Increasingly, these days, as a general rule of thumb, any player available in the January market is probably not worth the bother.

One of the knock on effects of the Bosman Ruling was that players (or rather their agents) now enjoy a lot more power as they edge closer to the end of a contract. So, the New Year is normally the time for a “tense”, drawn-out a face-off between club suits and talent, which either ends with a handsome pay rise or an inevitable summer move. 

As a result, the loan agreement has become the most popular outcome of winter wheeling and dealing. It also allows clubs to swerve those pesky accounts too (an important point with UEFA’s pet financial fair play project looming ever large) and avoid having to make any long-term commitment.

The recent phenomenon of MSL players nipping over from the States to get a couple of months playing under their belts before heading back across the Atlantic fits in perfectly with all this, but, with North America football finally establishing a beachhead in the hearts and minds of that sports mad continent, it surely can’t last.

It would only need the likes of Landon Donovan to pick up an injury on a frozen Goodison pitch and the suits at the Galaxy would surely have kittens. And, in the long term, does such a deal really benefit the clubs in question? Is bringing Thierry Henry really going to bring Arsenal’s trophy drought to a silverware drenched end? No. Course not. 

Meanwhile, this week’s transfer deadline day will doubtless prompt the usual “incredible scenes” as a hapless Sky Sports News presenter stands blinking in a stadium car park, surrounded by a gaggle of school kids and an overweight middle-aged man clutching a club shop bag. Oh, the glamour.