Holder of a Master's degree from the Sorbonne, specializing in issues relating to Latin America, Mathieu Sauvajot first wrote articles dealing with the geopolitics and economy of this continent, before turning to the field of sport. He is now an editor with the Observatoire du Sport Business.
Football fans know it, transfers animating the winter transfer window rarely make the front page, and for good reason.
With the season already well under way, most European clubs are, at best, making adjustments and never upsetting their squads.
Once again, this year again could be particularly calm for both economic and sporting reasons, but not necessarily those that we imagine.
Explanations.
Finances under surveillance
What is paradoxical in football is the fact that even if a club shines on the national scene and sees its operational income progress year after year, it is not guaranteed that its season will be a clear success on the financial plan.
If we take as an example two clubs as different as Paris Saint-Germain and Ajax Amsterdam, the first recoiling from no sacrifice in order to shine, the other betting on its training center in an attempt to find a little of its former glory, we see that they have at least one point in common.
Despite an increase in their respective annual revenues of +51% and +18%, i.e. a total of €189m and €670m, both ended the 2021/22 season in the red, posting losses of €24m and €369m. € for different reasons,
From a general point of view, we feel that the question of the wage bill was one of the major concerns of the European champions, most of them having decided to limit the costs compared to last season.
Among the eight main ones, six have reduced their payroll and five have managed to reduce it to below 70% of the income generated, the ratio recommended by UEFA.
Of course, all these reductions are far from being motivated by the same reasons, or even financially comparable.
Sometimes reasoned, like those of Bayern Munich, which fell below the 60% mark, which enabled it to post €9 million in profits after tax, sometimes forced, like those of AC Milan, whose passage below the said ratio last summer looks more like a pledge of goodwill than anything else, as its €67m deficit at the start of the season highlights.
However, all championships being far from equal, if only fiscally speaking, the Premier League champion had no qualms about playing the excess card.
Record revenues of €731 million, a colossal workforce estimated at nearly €1.3 billion, but a balance still showing a profit of €49 million.
What do you want, nobody seems to play in the same court as the British on this plan.
A page turns
If the economic factors are not to be neglected, their sporting counterpart is just as important.
Not only are the clubs still in a position to lift a trophy before the end of the season rarely keen on upsetting their squads, but it would seem that many of the big names deemed the era a good time to say goodbye.
The losses of the big European clubs DR
Fortunately, there are a few exceptions, like PSG, which has combined record sponsorship income (€399m) and deficit (-€369m), and has just concluded a Settlement Agreement with UEFA.
Judging that it has an already very competitive workforce, the club from the capital has proposed a plan to strictly respect the rules issued by the regulatory moment based in Nyon (Switzerland).
Here is an explanation for the latest media releases by Christophe Galtier, in particular on the case of Pablo Sarabia.
Having become undesirable with the greats of Europe, Cristiano Ronaldo went to spend the winter in the warm, and much more besides.
A two-year contract as a player worth €200 million per year, then an ambassador role for a similar amount to help Saudi Arabia take over from Qatar, and host the World Cup in 2030. Ironically, Spain and Portugal also being in the race, the one who has marked an entire generation could well deprive them of the most beautiful of competitions, to the point perhaps of affirming that in the eyes of the fivefold Golden Ball , what are the means that justify his end of career?
And since the Saudis set no limits to compete with their Qatari neighbors, a rumor announces an extraordinary proposal (300 M€) to bring in the world champion Lionel Messi.
On top of the world with the Albiceleste, the extension of the Argentinian for at least one more season on the side of the City of Light seemed to be on the right track so far.
Case to follow.
Unlike CR7, others preferred to bow out definitively, like his former comrade, Gareth Bale, or else give up only their international career, at least, at first.
End clap for Hugo Lloris, who leaves his place to the new generation, but also for Eden Hazard, Sergio Busquets and perhaps even the duo Thomas Muller and Manuel Neuer, the first scalded by the rapid elimination of the Mannschaft, the second injured and perhaps no longer able to return to the highest level after his recent injury.
A particularly brilliant generation is leaving, another with everything to prove is coming, but that goes without saying, the upheaval should be such that there will be a redistribution of the cards, but not before this summer, as the site is so
The British exception
In football as on the road, the British seem to make it a point of honor to adopt a conduct diametrically opposed to that of their neighbours.
While the overwhelming majority of European clubs are likely to tighten their belts this winter, the Premier League leaders have decided otherwise.
Liverpool launched hostilities, recruiting Cody Gapko for the sum of €42m, even if the reward is fair for the young striker who achieved a high-flying World Cup.
Then, Chelsea outbid, both to prepare for the future and to save a badly started season, but between the arrivals of Mykhaylo Mudryk (22 years old - Shaktar Donetsk), Badiashile (21 years old - AS Monaco) as well as Andrey Santos (18 years old – Vasco de Gama) against the sums of €70m, €38m and €12.5m, as well as that, on loan, of João Félix after agreeing to pay his full salary, the amount of which is more that therefore, the Blues do not refuse anything at the beginning of the year.
The explanations could be long and tedious in order to understand in detail the why of what should be called the British exception, but let's say that a more advantageous tax system and the financial windfall represented by Premier League TV rights, allowing clubs across the Channel to never – or almost – experience the crisis.
However, make no mistake about it, between the desire to prepare for the future of some and the feeling of revenge for others if they do not reach the objectives set for the season, this winter transfer window has every chance of not being than the calm preceding the storm that awaits us this summer.