The transfer market in football could be set to mirror that of American sports after the Coronavirus pandemic is conquered, a report claims.
As Italy, Europe and the rest of the world continues to battle the COVID-19 outbreak, football has taken a back seat in everyday life with all action currently suspended.
As Friday’s edition of Tuttosport notes (via MilanLive), this will have a knock on affect for clubs on their revenue, as they will miss out on big chunks of TV money and match day earnings.
With less money, clubs like Milan and in particular sporting directors, will have to have more creativity. The paper interviewed a series of characters linked to the world of the market, including Fabio Paratici and Giuseppe Marotta .
The former proposed a very interesting idea: “Football like the NBA.” By this, Paratici means a transfer market based on exchanges and player swaps, just like happens in basketball through trades, and in other American sports. Free agency could also become a key factor as teams look for value.
Marotta also speculates on a significant drop in prices. This could favour teams like Milan who do not have a large budget to invest. Pierpaolo Marino, Udinese’s sporting director, has no doubts: “Forget for a while about purchases of 100-150 million.”
