72
(^) Daily Mail, Tuesday, July 30, 2019
It’s old money
to blame for
fantasy land
fees, not City
MARTIN
SAMUEL
CHIEF SPORTS WRITER
clubs such as Manchester City
and Paris Saint-Germain came
along is a myth.
There were always a handful of
clubs pushing prices skywards,
whether from Serie A or the big
two in La Liga or Manchester
United and, later, Chelsea.
Klopp placed Barcelona, Real
Madrid and PSG in the same
bracket as City as clubs that can
do what they want, when they
want — which is ironic as two of
that number have recently
operated with a transfer ban, and
another two might soon be in a
similar position.
Yet if Liverpool have not been
spending big this summer it is
more due to circumstance than
being anybody’s poor relations.
In 2018, they made Van Dijk the
world’s most expensive defender
and later did the same for
Alisson, briefly, as a goalkeeper.
Liverpool’s fee for Alisson is
still only £6.5m short of City’s
for Rodrigo.
A
nD they have an excel-
lent squad now, without
the need for significant
upgrades. The last weak
link could have been the second
centre-half but Joel Matip has
grown into a fine foil for Van Dijk.
Look at the first reserves across
many positions, too, players like
Joe Gomez and Divock Origi.
Liverpool have strength in
depth now.
Do they miss a playmaker
like Philippe Coutinho? Yes,
occasionally. Did they win the
Champions League without one,
however? Yes to that, too. And
while every coach can think of a
hole that needs filling, or a tweak
that could offer handy variation,
if Liverpool have had a difficult
pre-season it is not because the
squad is lacking.
nor is it because Manchester
City have priced them out of the
market. Rodrigo may look big
news on City’s balance sheet, but
the clubs who sit in judgement
have been there, done that and
spent it much bigger, long ago.
tory, taking into account relative
inflation.
In pure numbers, Luis Figo
moved from Barcelona to Real
Madrid for £20m less than Man-
chester City paid for Aymeric
Laporte. Yet what does Figo’s
£37m in 2000 represent in modern
terms? Play Ratings worked that
out. And guess what? It turns out
old money was inflating the
market before new money had its
nappy on.
Indeed, neymar’s £198m move
to Paris Saint-Germain only just
scrapes into Play Ratings’ top
five. The most inflationary trans-
fers, it concludes, were conducted
by those clubs that now moan
loudest and demand greatest
protection from new wealth. In a
nutshell? Serie A.
Using a formula involving
currency variables and compara-
tive markets through time,
according to Play Ratings, the
period when Italian clubs were
Europe’s biggest spenders saw
the greatest extravagance in
transfer investment — and one of
the most inflationary deals
involved the king of Financial Fair
Play himself, Michel Platini.
Using the Play Ratings
algorithm, the biggest transfer in
history was Ronaldo’s from Bar-
celona to Inter Milan in 1997,
worth the modern equivalent of
£388m; after that, Platini from
Saint-Etienne to Juventus
in 1982, calculated at
£299m. And on the list
goes: Diego Maradona,
Barcelona to napoli;
Christian Vieri, Lazio to
Inter Milan; Marco van
Basten, Ajax to AC Milan;
Gabriel Batistuta, Fioren-
tina to Roma.
And we can all argue
about the formula,
but not the basic
principle. The
idea that
football’s
market was
tranquil or
even
deflated
before
J
URGEn Klopp was
talking about this
summer’s transfer
market. ‘We invested
money in this team,
now it looks like we are
not,’ he said. ‘But we are
not in fantasy land where
you just get whatever you
want. It looks as if there
are four clubs in the world
who can do it constantly...’
He placed one English name in
that list. Manchester City,
naturally.
Whenever there is talk of trans-
fer inflation, City get the blame.
They have broken their transfer
record again this summer, for
Rodrigo: £62.8m. And that isn’t
small. But it’s still £12.2m less
than Liverpool paid for Virgil van
Dijk 18 months ago, still £26.2m
under Paul Pogba to Manchester
United in 2016 and £8.2m beneath
what Chelsea gave for a
goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga,
last summer.
If Arsenal complete the signing
of nicolas Pepe from Lille this
week, City will be roughly £10m
shy of that, too. Indeed, as it
stands, City haven’t delivered a
deal in the top five in England or
the top 20 in Europe.
So is this the club whose trans-
fers place them in fantasy
land, or the one responsible
for escalation in the mar-
ket? It isn’t new money
that began this trend, as
any contextualised finan-
cial evaluation indicates.
It didn’t get much public-
ity at the time but this sum-
mer a group that analyses
the economics of football
— Play Ratings — pro-
duced a list of the
most expensive
transfers in his-
SPORT IN BRIEF
BARKLEY GIVEN NEW LEASE
OF LIFE BY ‘IDOL’ LAMPARD
FOOTBALL DIGEST
CONTRIBUTORS: Matt Barlow, Mike Keegan, Adrian Kajumba
FRANK LAMPARD wants
Chelsea’s creative midfielders
to trust their instincts and take
risks as he attempts to bring
thrills back to Stamford Bridge.
Lampard has lost Eden Hazard
and is unable to raid the
market due to a transfer ban.
As a result, there will be higher
demands on attacking
midfielders like Ross Barkley,
Mason Mount and Ruben
Loftus-Cheek, when fit again.
Barkley (right) said: ‘He’s been
saying, “Express yourself on
the pitch, take risks, don’t be
too safe, shoot, try and create
chances”. It’s something I can
do and I’m looking forward to
taking my chances.’
After only three Premier
League goals in 18 months at
Chelsea, Barkley hopes new
manager Lampard will revive
the creative side of his game.
‘He was one of my idols as a
kid,’ said the 25-year-old.
‘I was always watching Match
of the Day and you saw him
every week scoring goals. Now
he is our manager and it is
brilliant. I’ve been playing a bit
further forward. He’s told me
to think like a striker.’
FORMER Manchester United left back Patrice
Evra has announced his retirement, ending a
20-year career. The 38-year-old played for United
between 2006 and 2014 and won nine major
trophies, including five Premier League titles and
the Champions League. He also earned 81 caps for
France. Evra (left) will now finish his coaching
badges, saying: ‘In a year and a half, if everything
goes well, I’ll be ready to lead a team.’
STOKE captain Ryan
Shawcross’ broken leg is
not as bad as they thought, says
manager Nathan Jones. The
defender, 31, suffered the injury
during a friendly against
Leicester on Saturday and has
undergone surgery. ‘It’s not as
serious as first feared,’ said
Jones. ‘There’s a timescale but
we won’t announce that.’
DANNY ROSE is in the
Tottenham squad for the
Audi Cup. The 29-year-old was
left out of the club’s tour to
Asia ‘to explore opportunities
with other clubs’. But a move
failed to materialise and Rose
is in Munich for the friendly
with Real Madrid tonight. Paris
Saint-Germain remain
interested in the defender.
BLADES UP OFFER FOR OLI
SHEFFIELD UNITED have made
an improved offer worth up to
£20million for Oli McBurnie.
The Blades’ latest move for the
striker, 23, is understood to
include a £17m initial fee with a
further £3m in add-ons.
The Premier League new boys
have made a number of bids
for McBurnie and had their
previous offer of £15m rejected
by Swansea a fortnight ago.
United boss Chris Wilder is
determined to sign a prolific
striker this summer and wants
to bring in either McBurnie or
Brentford’s Neal Maupay.
Meanwhile, midfielder Philip
Billing has completed his £15m
move from Huddersfield to
Bournemouth. The 23-year-old
said: ‘As soon as I heard of the
club’s interest, there was
never any doubt in my mind.’
Plenty in
reserve:
Liverpool
boss Klopp
PA
÷BASEBALL
MLB — Boston Red Sox 6 NY
Yankees 9, Chicago White Sox 1
Minnesota Twins 11, Cincinnati Reds
3 Colorado Rockies 2, Kansas City
Royals 9 Cleveland Indians 6, LA
Angels 5 Baltimore Orioles 4, Miami
Marlins 5 Arizona Diamondbacks
1, Milwaukee Brewers 4 Chicago
Cubs 11, NY Mets 8 Pittsburgh
Pirates 7, Oakland Athletics 6 Texas
Rangers 5, Philadelphia Phillies 9
Atlanta Braves 4, San Diego Padres
6 San Francisco Giants 7, Seattle
Mariners 3 Detroit Tigers 2, St
Louis Cardinals 2 Houston Astros 6,
Toronto Blue Jays 9 Tampa Bay Rays
10, Washington 11 LA Dodgers 4.
÷CYCLING
VOO-TOUR DE WALLONIE (Belgium)
— Stage 3 (La Roche-En-Ardenne-
Verviers, 194.2km): 1 D Cimolai (It)
Israel Academy 4hrs 40mins 43secs,
2 A Capiot (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-
Baloise, 3 D Coquard (F) Vital
Concept-B&B Hotels, 4 Lionel
Taminiaux (Bel) Wallonie-Bruxelles,
5 T Van Der Sande (Bel) all at same
time. Overall: 1 L Vliegen (Bel)
Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team 13hrs
07mins 54secs, 2 C Lawless (GB)
Team Ineos at 12secs, 3 D De Bondt
(Bel) Corendon-Circus at 13secs.
÷GOLF
WGC - FEDEX ST. JUDE INVITATIONAL
(Memphis, Tennessee) — Final rnd
(US unless stated): 264 — B Koepka
68 67 64 65; 267 — W Simpson 69 66
68 64; 268 — M Leishman (A) 69 69
63 67; 269 — R McIlroy (NIrl) 69 67
62 71; T Fleetwood (Eng) 68 70 65
66; M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 67 64 69 69.
÷TENNIS
ATP GENERALI OPEN (Kitzbuhel,
Austria) — 1st rnd: R Carballes
Baena (Sp) bt H Dellien (Bol) 3-6
6-3 6-2; (7) L Sonego (It) bt F Del-
bonis (Arg) 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (4-7) 7-6
(7-4); M Bachinger (G) bt M Klizan
(Svk) 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-4).
÷TODAY’S ACTION
(7.45 unless stated)
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
2nd qualifying round, 2nd leg
Nomme Kalju (0) v Celtic (5) ....(6.0)
Apoel Nicosia v Sutjeska (6.0), Basle
(2) v PSV (3) (7.0), Dinamo Zagreb (2)
v Saburtalo Tbilisi (0) (7.0), M Tel-Aviv
(0) v CFR Cluj (1) (6.0), Olympiacos
(0) v Plzen (0) (7.30), Valletta (1) v
Ferencvaros (3) (7.0).
EUROPA LEAGUE 2ND QUALIFYING
ROUND 2ND LEG: F91 Dudelange (2)
v Shkendija (1) (4.55), FK Suduva
(5) v Tre Penne (0) (4.45), Lincoln
Red Imps (0) v Ararat Armenia
(2) (4.45), Feronikeli (1) v Slovan
Bratislava (2) (5.0).
FRIENDLY MATCHES: AFC Wimbledon
v Crystal Palace, Atalanta v Norwich
(7.0), Burnley v Nice, Hibernian
v Newcastle (5.45), Kristiansund
BK v Man Utd (6.0), Real Madrid v
Tottenham Hotspur (5.0), St Neots
Tn v Milton Keynes Dons (7.0),
Tavistock v Plymouth (7.30), Woking
v Portsmouth, Sydney FC v PSG (1.0).
CRICKET — t20 Blast, South
Group: Surrey v Kent (The Oval,
6.30pm).
P W L T NR Pts RR
Kent................... 3 3 0 0 0 6 1.09
Middlesex ......... 4 3 1 0 0 6 1.03
Sussex ............... 4 2 0 1 1 6 0.45
Gloucs ............... 3 1 0 0 2 4 0.41
Surrey ............... 4 1 2 1 0 3 0.11
Essex ................. 4 1 2 0 1 3 -0.03
Hampshire ........ 4 1 2 0 1 3 -0.17
Somerset .......... 4 1 3 0 0 2 -0.54
Glamorgan ....... 4 0 3 0 1 1 -2.30