Juventus Chief Football Officer Fabio Paratici believes the transfer market will change post-coronavirus resulting in fewer clubs able to pay big fees for likes of Paul Pogba.
Speaking to Sky Sport Italia, Paratici outlined the changes he believes will come into play, starting with his suggestion there would be more direct player exchanges.
“I wasn’t making a proposal, it was just a consideration that the transfer market would be more like the NBA,” Paratici told Sky.
“Clubs will certainly have some more difficulties to deal with, so with less income, we’ll need to be more creative and elastic, finding a different formula for transfer deals. I expect many exchanges of players, although obviously we can’t use the NBA draft because that is a closed system.
“We should take more from the NBA and American sports in general. After all, the Premier League has this big advantage over the other leagues because they control the brand and represent the whole league rather than individual clubs.
“What we will see is more extended loans, so a two-year loan, even three. Some say we could start the 2020-21 season with the same players as 2019-20, which is also a possibility.
“There will certainly be less cash circulating and that’s obvious to everyone. We are going through a difficult moment globally, not just in football, and the consequences will be felt everywhere. Therefore, I think we’ll see longer loans because rather than purchase homes, people are more likely in a time of uncertainty to rent.
“I believe that if we exchange players between the top 12-15 clubs in the world, the value of the transfers won’t drop. When purchasing a new player, that’s a different matter and we can see a fall in the fees.”
“Ronaldo? Cristiano is a different player to all the others. He brings incredible and exponential growth in revenue, representing a brand that is almost as big as a club.
“Pogba? Paul is a great player, but logically the salary demands someone of his level would’ve had before is now more difficult to get hold of, or at least he’ll have fewer clubs prepared to pay that money.”
Attention turned to Gonxalo Higuain who has been in Argentina with his sick mother amidst reports he may not return to Italy.
“When he left, he was very worried in general due to personal reasons, he’s a very sensitive man. We are fond of him, he’s having an extraordinary season, so we hope that he can continue with us for the year that remains on his contract.”
Talk of an exchange between Barcelona and Juventus continues to headline in the Spanish and Italian press.
“As for the Pjanic-Arthur story, big clubs always talk to each other, not just about exchanges, but also how to go forward in general. We are in the chatting period at the moment.”
