Kelvin Stuttard from Pixabay"/>Premier League clubs have seemingly turned towards an online portal called Transfer Room, in order to buy and sell players during the upcoming transfer window, as per a report in the Guardian.
Yes, as weird as it may sound but so far 13 EPL clubs, including teams like Arsenal, Man City and Everton have chosen to use this platform to scout players and then potentially sign them without the nuisance of going through agents and intermediaries.
More than half a billion pounds was spent on agents and intermediaries involved in international transfers last year and the various European clubs are getting hooked with this platform in order to get save this money and possibly use it for their own benefit.
Founder and chief executive of Transfer Room, Jonas Ankersen said, as reported by the Guardian: “I see how keen clubs are on taking back control in the transfer market,
“I see that clubs want to be more in charge and they will be a lot more dominating on the market in the future. Everyone is hoping things will be back to normal in a year’s time but it will be interesting to see how long it will take for football to recover,
“Owners of many clubs own big companies and a lot of them will have lost money. Sponsorship, tickets and TV income is not there any more at the same level. So maybe it will be longer than everyone thinks.”
As per the report, more than 500 clubs are currently involved in this whole system and Dynamo Dresden sports director, Kristian Walter has laid out some of the benefits of the platform.
“The big benefit is that some deals can go faster,” he said.
“You don’t have to contact three, four or five agents. You can go straight to the club. If I need a player and I don’t have direct contact with the club the agent has the power. He will say: ‘I will try to work on the deal but I need this and this.’ You cannot save the agent fee in the end, but the contact between the clubs will save some money.”
In a nutshell, here’s what Transfer Room is all about:
- Transfer Room was founded in 2017 by Jonas Ankersen who has previously worked with Tottenham and Chelsea.
- More than 500 clubs are currently involved with this platform.
- There’s a monthly subscription ranging from £165 up to £2,500.
- Clubs from League Two in England as well as the Champions League have been trying out this platform.
- Transfer Room has been developed in a speed dating format where representatives of various clubs can hold short meetings with their counterparts.
- Each meeting lasts exactly 15 minutes.
- If the representatives agree on a particular player then they can move onto the other finer details.
Various smaller clubs across Europe have been involved with this format for some time but it looks like the pandemic has forced the Premier League clubs to warm up to it.
Premier League sides such as Man City, Everton, Arsenal and Wolves are all currently scouting players via this platform for the 2020/21 season.
