Off Season Transfer Circus

It's not that I dislike the off season, I abhor it.

It's like a water leak or raindrops pattering against a window sill at night - not terribly detrimental to my existence, but still criminally annoying. The papers and journalists have to find new material with which to whip their reading masses into a frenzy, the fans need something to get fanatical about, the observers need something fresh to conjecture and the clubs themselves need to either improve their squads, better their roster's financial plight and/or make a strong statement to the world.

All of this devolves into a daily staccato of sound-bite hungry, often false, exaggerations of non-headline worthy psuedo news that are often partial to hyperbole. It makes my head hurt and often causes me to eschew reading football/soccer news over the summer months altogether. Summer and off-season in this context, of course, refer to the Northern Hemisphere and Europe respectively. Any pedant will correct me by pointing out that not only is there active competition in other parts of the world currently (MLS/North America, Asian Leagues, Russia, etc), it is both hot and peak season in South America.

Honestly, I couldn't be bothered who bid for whom or who is linked where. I know players will move, money will change hands, agents will prosper, fans will talk about the changes to their squads vis-a-vis their prospects for the new season and life will go on. But the summer matters little to me. Only at the start of the season and, arguably, at the end of the transfer window, a few weeks later in August, do I really care. I can then truly asses who is stronger, who is weaker and which player's transfer to which club makes a singular, crucial difference.

I don't need to have followed the whole saga, the entire soap opera like news-train of the transfer. Just a line at the end of the summer saying player A moved to club B for Transfer amount C will do it for me. Honestly, even the last part is redundant, as there is sadly, no financial cap in football - neither salary nor transfer. So, money is just a number that richer clubs can spend and poorer clubs can reap. That is all.

I respect transfer blogs because they have a simple feed of transfers going through like a scoreline or a stock ticker. It's simple and functional. I like it. I don't respect newspapers, websites and the fanzine/independent portals that devote columns and pages of copy, covering the latest development of a transfer from the germination in an agent's mind to its fruition in the boardroom/gym where papers are signed and fitness tests passed.

I recall an anecdote involving Real Sociedad in the early noughties (2000s) needing a striker and wanting their old warhorse Dark Kovacevic. Kova was nearing the end of his contract and was partial to a move. Lazio wanted to move him, Juventus were somehow involved (I forget the exact details). Anyway, two scouts from Real flew to Spain, showed up at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome and, based on a prior request, engaged in a training session with Kovacevic in the middle of the season.

All he did was stand at the top of the penalty area, the 'D', have balls lobbed to him from either side by a coach, and he volleyed them home. 20 from the right, 20 from the left and 20 odd from the touchline. The scouts liked what they saw, called home to San Sebastian and gave their assessment. A deal was sanctioned and a move was made with both clubs agreeing to a fee.  Apparently someone at Lazio asked the scouts if they wanted Kovacevic to do anything else like run, tackle, pass, shoot from distance, etc and they said they didn't need to.

All they wanted was someone to be able to volley home looping balls in the D and Kova fit the bill. He had already played for them before so they knew all about him. Also, being a modest club, they could only really hope for certain types of players in a certain price range and if said player could do one thing, that they needed, really well, they were happy.

So that was that. Kovacevic went back to Real Sociedad for a nominal fee and the transfer 'saga' lasted a few days, perhaps a week.

Short, simple and sweet.

Footballers are mostly known quantities, who get to strut their stuff week in and week out.  Other than a hidden injury, if the player wants to move, a price tag is really the only point of interest between two clubs.  And although I understand and accept that haggling and bargaining is part of the purchase, I just don't need to hear about it. And by extension I don't think people need to write/talk about it to the present degree either.

And don't get me started on speculation.  If there is no concrete offer, forget about it.

Kovacevic went on to score 51 goals during the above second spell at Real Sociedad.