What was your favourite bit of the Premier League transfer window? Was it when clubs with great tradition and history had to overhaul their squads to meet financial restrictions while other clubs, either under current serious investigation or having admitted previous cheating, spent whatever they wanted? That was good fun.
Was it when there was a brief public online spat between two high-profile transfer journalists which itself apparently became noteworthy as a news story in its own right as they traded barbs about each other’s accuracy for reporting information? I won’t lie, can’t even bring myself to joke about that given how depressing it is.
Or was it the deal for Honest Ahanor (truly one in the eye for nominative determinism transfers), who was signed by Chelsea for £40m but not signed yet but sort of signed now, which meant that they got to choose his one-year loan deal to Crystal Palace, which definitely wasn’t a ruse to get around the rules because Chelsea had already loaned a player to Crystal Palace? That was definitely a very cool and normal way for 18-year-olds to be traded.
All summer we were told that this was a “weird window” for transfers: the World Cup causing delays, the domino effect of other deals, nine new Premier League managers, each with long to-do lists and their own transfer demands. Which was all true but then also: every summer is mad and it only seems to get sillier. Weirdness is the default position.
