The winter transfer window, which officially opens its doors on Saturday until February 1, risks being very calm for Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs. Blame it on an extremely degraded economic context.
Worse, clubs could sell their players at reduced prices.
In this opening of the winter transfer market, the leaders of Ligue 1 clubs, from Leonardo (PSG) to Pablo Longoria (OM), have only one word in their mouth: "be creative".
With the Covid-19 health crisis, closed-door matches, declining sponsorship contracts and the
Mediapro
fiasco
, French football is living on a drip with a debt estimated by the DNCG at around 800 million euros.
And therefore little prospect for the clubs during the transfer window.
Christophe Hutteau, agent in particular for Montpellier Gaëtan Laborde, is pessimistic to say the least.
"When [the leaders] say that we have to be creative, I laugh, I smile and I tell them 'but creative of what? Creative how?'", He quipped at the microphone of Europe 1. "The only one possibility for the clubs, it is to sell or to lend players in championships which will be able to support the totality of the wages. "
Scrapping offers for Ligue 1 players?
And the other major risk is to see the players leave at the "wrong price".
"The period is delicate, and we have achieved the feat of putting a second shoe on with
Mediapro
. This inevitably means that players may not be sold at the right price," Christophe Hutteau analyzes.
"When you are a buyer you know you have a seller in front of you who needs the money, what's more quickly. What are you going to do? You are going to save time and buy the player for the cheapest possible price. "
And to add, fatalist: "They will wait quietly for the end of the transfer window to make downward offers, I would even say in some cases scrapping, because the clubs will have no other solution than to sell to limit the damage. Without being alarmist, let's not kid ourselves, several Ligue 1 clubs are on the verge of bankruptcy. "
"The loser-loser" for French football
Same story from the sports economist Vincent Chaudel: "Our competitors, from an economic point of view, will be a little better than us, but they will have less money to put on the table. Above all, they know that Ligue 1 has an urgent need to sell. And when it is urgent to sell, we rarely do good business. We risk attending a clearance sale and they will enter a vicious circle. "
"It will not be win-win, that's for sure! Clubs were interested this summer in players whose interests I manage… They still are, but more at the same price. a loser-loser for French clubs, "concludes Christophe Hutteau.
And it is not the English, who are the first buyers of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 players, who will be able to play the good Samaritans, Brexit having completely reshuffled the cards in terms of transfers ...
Gaëtan Laborde "wants to stay until June, but there is nothing closed"
Christophe Hutteau is the agent of Montpellier Gaëtan Laborde, very visible during the first part of the season with 6 goals and 6 assists.
Courted by many clubs, including the English West Ham who were ready to pay 12 million euros before the Brexit agreement, the Hérault striker is ready for all eventualities.
"Gaëtan's first wish is to stay until the end of the season. This is the career plan we had set with President Laurent Nicollin. There is no intention of leaving this winter. If he stays, it will be anything but a disaster because he feels good in this club, where he continues to progress, where he takes pleasure. Now we can imagine that the Montpellier club can say to themselves' if there is a concrete offer, I find myself under the obligation to sell it. ”It could also be this situation, it cannot be ruled out. There is nothing closed.”