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EPL free signings may make the biggest splash

Zlatan is off to Man United. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Expert
25th July, 2016
7

As we dab at our watering eyes, blinking and squinting as a cavalcade of €30 million-plus transfer fees scorch the retinas, there is much more frugal – and perhaps more handsome – business being conducted this off-season.

The world of free signings are often the domain of the minnows, scratching and combing the footballing world for bargain-buys, but the last few months have seen unattached players sign for clubs up and down the Premier League.

The 2016-17 expectations for the league’s big-money transfers are high, as is normal, with Michy Batshuayi, Granit Xhaka, Eric Bailly, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan all expected to illuminate the British pitches toot-sweet. But they may well find themselves outshone by men who aren’t burdened by the weight of a hefty price-tag.

Of course, it’s unreasonable to expect a player to acclimatise instantly just because it cost a king’s ransom to secure him. This sort of perspective struts in wilful ignorance of the complexities of what is a hugely bumpy transition. Batshuayi arrives at Chelsea having played less than 200 senior club games, and must – if Antonio Conte’s remarks are to be taken at face value – contend for a spot in the starting XI with Diego Costa, an established and talented Premier League striker.

At Euro 2016, the Belgian was used sparingly off the bench by Marc Wilmots. We may see Batshuayi fill a similar role at Chelsea, at least to begin with, in spite of the €39 million that Roman Abramovich yanked out from behind the sofa cushion to buy him.

As far as imported marquee strikers go, Batshuayi faces some stiff competition. There’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who cost Manchester United a staggering nothing – in terms of transfer fee, of course. The Swede’s single-season contract is enormous, the ego-boosting salary equivalent of a ladder propped up on top of Everest.

The legendary superstar nomad is firmly sitting in the midst of the final furlong of his career, certainly at the elite level, but still has the ability – perhaps simply through sheer tyranny of personality – to force the Premier League into a headlock and apply his knuckles to its scalp. Manchester United have been crying out for an international stud to pin their colours to, and now they have one.

Batshuayi’s first Chelsea goal will be applauded politely; Zlatan’s first goal for United is likely to evoke a more vigorous response.

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With Graziano Pelle earning a boatload in China, the Premier League needed an import to, at the very least, fill the “perfectly-combed side-part” deficit the Italian’s departure left. Granit Xhaka does that, but was bought for €45 million by the “famously stingy” Arsene Wenger for more than just his divine follicles. That void in Arsenal’s midfield – you know, that yawning hole every colour commentator has pointed gleefully towards since 2005 – now looks as a little less deep and a little less dark.

The Swiss will add bite to that Gunners midfield, and no small amount of silk, but Xhaka has a former teammate also making the journey from Borussia Mönchengladbach to the Premier League: Håvard Nordtveit.

Both players filled a similar role in Germany, and they were similarly productive and present for Gladbach last season. Both were disruptive presences in the defensive midfield, tackling at a near-identical success rate (Xhaka at 41%, Nordtveit at 42%). Both scythed in to cut out passes with zest, intercepting well throughout the season (Xhaka 73, Nordtveit 64). Both scored modestly in the league (Xhaka 3, Nordtveit 4). Xhaka created more than twice the amount of chances as his teammate, but both finished the Bundesliga season with a single assist to their name.

Xhaka is, at 23, three years younger than Nordtveit, and certainly is the better prospect, but €45 million better? Nordtveit cost West Ham United nothing, secured on a free, and looks to be another fine, thoughtful signing by Slaven Bilic and the David Gold/David Sullivan recruitment trio. Having opted not to secure Alex Song on a permanent deal, Nordtveit will offer West Ham much of what the Cameroonian did, and brings with him significantly less baggage.

Will Eric Bailly, a defender whose name not many will have recognised before Manchester United slapped a €32 million onto it, end up being a better signing than Liverpool’s free defensive acquisition Joel Matip? Will Georginio Wijnaldum – admittedly a €30 million player with a Premier League season under his belt – have more of an impact on the success of Liverpool’s season than fiery free transfer Sofiane Feghouli will on West Ham’s? Will the combined €32 million Bournemouth spent on Jordan Ibe, Lewis Cook and Lys Mousset help them stave off relegation in more convincing fashion than promoted Middlesbrough, who spent nothing bringing in Gaston Ramirez, Bernarndo Espinosa and Victor Valdes?

In the last two seasons, 20 players have been bought by Premier League clubs for sums that exceeded €30 million. Of those 20 players, only six could be currently described as having successfully justified their fees: Cesc Fabregas, Romelu Lukaku, Diego Costa, Alexis Sanchez, Kevin de Bruyne, and – at a stretch – Anthony Martial. There are others on that list who can comfortably be described as borderline flops: Angel di Maria, Eliaquim Mangala, Nicholas Otamendi, Wilfried Bony and – if we’re being harsh – Memphis Depay come most readily to mind (all players bought by the Manchester clubs, incidentally).

When these top-tier players pay off, the transfer fee seems wholly insignificant, but when they don’t – keeping in mind the league’s 30 per cent strike rate over the last two years – it looks bedraggled and reckless in the extreme.

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The fact that transfer fees have become grotesquely inflated is nothing to linger clammily on. Far from it, it’s now very much the norm to see clubs throw fistfuls of cash egregiously at other clubs for their players. But the quality of recruits does not necessarily soar alongside the massive fees, and value isn’t suddenly an unfashionable word.

Money, spent freely, can and will win you Premier League games, but don’t be surprised if some of the expensive imports of the 2016-17 season are shown up by their cheaper colleagues.

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