Juventus sporting director expects ‘peculiar’ post-COVID-19 transfer market, uptick in swap deals

No one knows what awaits us on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic, but we can certainly expect that many things will be different — be that in our daily lives, in our jobs, and as far as entertainment options go as well.

Sports will look very different as well, with empty stadiums expected to be the norm through at least the end of the calendar year, if not longer.

The transfer market, usually the biggest event on the football calendar, should be quite different as well. The economic impact of the pandemic will change the way clubs do business — should they survive in the first place. The latter part is not really a concern for the bigger teams that rely on non-matchday revenue above all else, but things will be different nonetheless.

Juventus director Fabio Paratici is expecting new ideas to dominate, for example. Or as they said in Seinfeld once, “interesting trades considered”.

“It will be a peculiar summer. We need ideas, [something like] swap deals and other new things for the next summer transfer market.”

-Fabio Paratici; source: Goal

Paratici was speaking in the context of potential deals with Barcelona, but this possibility has been discussed elsewhere as well. With teams expected to reduce spending after several years of increasingly outrageous transfer fees — and expected to extend contracts more so than normal — the best way to generate market activity might be take fees out of the equation to a large extent. Welcome to trade season!

Anyone interested in Emerson for Alex Sandro?