Why does the football system allow clubs to supposedly sell a player to another club and then immediately loan them back to their original club? It happened again yesterday with MK Dons and the transferred player will line up against us on Saturday despite being sold to Tottenham. The same thing happened with Zaha a few years ago and in my opinion the practice needs to be stopped. My Victor Meldrew persona makes me wonder if it is more a way for clubs to receive monies, basically for nothing, to fund their promotion aspirations and Crystal Palace did just that. Their are many aspects about the rules and regulations inflicted on clubs, except those that apparently count more than the rest, which makes me wonder if the best interests of all are being addressed. In the same vein of the best interests the Matt Smith loan debacle comes to mind when I say there are one set of rules for them, and somewhat different rules for the rest.
You have beaten me to it Mike and I totally agree. This way of doing things brings the biggest benefit to the very big clubs. They have the resources to gather more young talent under their wing than they really need. By doing so they inhibit the number of other Premier or top Championship that could become serious challengers to their perpetual, total domination. Very clever isn't it? And as you have pointed out, the selling club not only get the cash in hand allowing them to increase their spending on wages power, but also to keep the valuable player who's sale has created it. MK Dons could now bring in another three or four loans for the rest of the season when the loan market opens again on Monday 9th Feb and by doing so, could ensure that they get the title instead of anyone else. And before anyone posts that we could have done the same with Joe Bryan for example, that would not change my opinion. It is unfair and IMO morally wrong and should be outlawed now.
the answers simple, get rid of the whole transfer window mess, I think its only a matter of time before a club or player challenges the entire system in the courts,probabely on the grounds that it represents a restraint of trade.
I would also get rid of the window. The thing about Dele Ali is that he will be able to continue his development by playing (won't learn much sat in the reserves at Tottenham)
Spurs don't and won't care, they are just using a flawed system to their own benefit as we would in their position. As Simon points out, at present Ali would only be a squad player at White Hart Lane, and £5m for a club to spend and take a punt on a player with undoubted ability is small potatoes for them, but a huge deal for MK Dons. It would have been different had we bought Matt Smith, but that was assuming we asked, and that either he or Fulham said no thanks
I think I will have to disagree on this one, how often have people said the big clubs should be going for homegrown talent and also they should be helping out the little clubs. I think Spurs have achieved both with this deal.
If he said yes and Fulham could of also said yes and here's a million pound as a bonus would make no difference to the situation. If we signed Smith his playing this season would end the minute he dots the signature. We will get the maximum permitted playing time available as he's been under contract with Leeds and the Fulham this season. And like loathsneyd says we moan when the prem teams buy overseas players, then moan if they bought a young up and coming home grown player.
