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Transfer Window: Lessons for Eagles’ stars

In recent years, Nigerian stars have no longer played a dominant feature in the transfer window in which in-form players move from one club to the other just as some others remain hot prospects with two, three clubs fighting to get their signature. We observe that Eagles stars are always not in the main picture, including the recent transfer window, and this calls for concern.

Paul Onuachu of Genk, Belgium, Moses Simon of Nantes, France and Simy Nwankwo, who plays for Serie B club Parma and on loan from Serie A club Salernitana. In the past two seasons, we are aware these players should have been in better clubs if they had good managers and they also understand current trends in the football business. In the 2020/2021 season, Onuachu scored 33 goals with five assists in all competitions for his team and also won the Ebony Boot as the best Black player in Belgium and yet has nothing to show for it during the transfer period.

23-year-old Victor Osimhen of Napoli is very energetic and deadly in front of goal and despite rumours linking him here and there, including Manchester United, Osimhen is still a Napoli player. Joe Aribo moved from Rangers to Southampton while Watford’s Emmanuel Dennis with a fee of £20 million is now with Awoniyi at Nottingham Forest.

In Spain, Sadiq Umar moved from Almeria to Real Sociedad with a 26 million Euro fee. He opened his goals account last Sunday with Sociedad just less than a week after joining them. A former international, Victor Ikpeba, expressed disappointment that Eagles stars are not making the moves into big clubs. “Our players should brace up and do the right thing to up their game and be in the big clubs.

It was so in the past and the current players should be ready to fight for shirts in big clubs rather than play in Turkey, Iraq and other lower leagues,” Ikpeba said. The Prince of Monaco was correct. Eagles’ stars should be visible in the transfer window and it means they should have the right management staff to make this happen.

Wilfred Ndidi has been very consistent with Leicester City and no mention of him in the transfer window and this is because he is not having the right aides around him to help his career. The recent huge £70 million transfer move of Wesley Fofana from Leicester to Chelsea is the latest in the English Premier League during a summer which holds the record for the most money spent in one transfer window. England’s top tier has already smashed its previous record of transfer spending for a single window.

About £2 billion has been spent this summer and that is enough indication on how massive the new season will be. In the EPL, newlypromoted Nottingham Forest are the surprise most active team of the summer transfer window with the acquisition of 21 new players after Ivoirien defender, Willy Boly, joined on deadline day Thursday. Manchester City’s Erling Haaland came in from Borussia Dortmund with a fee of 75m Euros which is about £63 million. Already, the Norwegian, with nine goals in his first five matches, has shown his intention to rock the league with goals. But, despite the huge additions of the EPL champions, they have also lost several key stars.

They’ve sold Raheem Sterling to Chelsea and both Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal. They have also lost veteran Fernandinho on a free transfer back to Brazil, while Pedro Porro has joined Sporting CP permanently. Last year’s runners-up Liverpool have also spent big, beating off numerous rivals to land Benfica revelation, Darwin Nunez for a club-record fee of £86 million (€100m), including add-ons. They’ve also signed youngsters Fabio Carvalho from Fulham and Calvin Ramsay from Aberdeen. But, Jurgen Klopp’s side have sold a host of players, including club legend Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich, Takumi Minamino to Monaco and Neco Williams to Nottingham Forest.

Manchester United are yet to recover from the exit of Sir Alex Ferguson. The Red Devils are yet to win the EPL in the post-Ferguson era and had been battling for form under various coaches including high-profile Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho. In the recent window, Man United with Erik Ten Hag in charge brought in goalkeeper Martin Dubravka on the deadline day as the club’s sixth signing. The 33-yearold shot-stopper becomes the first loan signing for the Dutch tactician, with Tyrell Malacia, Christen Eriksen, Lisandro Martinez, Casemiro and Antony all making their way to Old Trafford on permanent deals in this window.

The instant impact of Jesus in Arsenal is a big early season topic of discussion as the Gunners recorded five wins in five games with the former City player playing a huge role in the historic winning streak. We can boldly say that many of the European players who made big money transfers are not better than our Eagles stars but they have better management to put them in the public glare. Eagles must learn!

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