It’s the New Year and the mid-season transfer window has been prised open.
Unlike the summer transfer window, when we are eyeing up possible new signings to strengthen the squad for the season ahead, January is a time for patching up and holding out for the second half.
We’ve made some big January signings in the past, such as Virgil van Dijk and Luis Suarez, but we’ve also lost key players like Fernando Torres and Philippe Coutinho at this time of year too.
It’s a time when clubs look to get some return on players who are in the final year of their contract and can walk away at the end of the season. From January they can enter pre-contract negotiations with other clubs and tend to have a drop in form for the remaining five months of the season.
Trent Alexander-Arnold falls firmly in this second group right now. Liverpool have rejected an initial £30m bid from Real on New Year’s Eve but the Spanish club appear determined to get their man.
These daily updates and rumours are dominating the football press and social media. It’s the biggest news story on the sport and daily developments need to be reported and commented on.
However, there’s a section of our fanbase who are unable to digest the possibility of such bad news and demand the headlines stop. Instead, in the words of an old kids’ TV show called Why Don’t You, they should ‘switch of their TV and go out and do something less boring instead.’ Or, failing that, bury their head in the sand until next month.
Accept it is part and parcel of football, celebrate the new signings and accept the decisions of outgoing players.
Michael Owen declared he had finally joined a big club when he left Liverpool for Real Madrid in 2004, only for it to backfire when the Reds went on to win the Champions League. Trent will know not to make such a foolish statement, but he may well be watching Arne’s team lifting Old Big Ears on his Spanish TV screen in May.
