The coronavirus pandemic has had a devastating impact on the finances of football. No supporters inside stadiums has cut off a large revenue stream for every single club across Europe, with the Premier League and Championship forecasted to lose out on around £1 billion, if match-day crowds don’t soon return.
Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, recently revealed that plans to bring back a small portion of fans in October have been put on ‘pause’. Given the new announcement of lockdown rules and curfews in social environments, it seems unlikely that we will get supporters back inside grounds this calendar year.
It was recently estimated that Manchester United will lose out on around £5 million per match day under these restrictions, with the club projected to lose around £140 million in total.
According to SportsMail, Premier League clubs are currently ‘almost half a billion pounds down in transfer revenue.’ The outlet claims that players are reluctant to relocate because of the virus, meaning many teams have been unable to move on unwanted figures.
This certainly looks to be the case for the Red Devils, who haven’t recuperated a single transfer fee for a player this summer. Alexis Sanchez was sold, but due to his lucrative wages, he was allowed to depart as a free agent. Although United will save money through this transfer, they did have to fork out compensation to the Chilean.
The Mail cite an agent in stating: ‘Moving to the other side of the country or somewhere abroad you’ve never been before is definitely a factor players are thinking about this summer.’
Given the uncertainties around the virus and how other countries are dealing with the pandemic, relocation is clearly deterring many players’ decisions to leave clubs.
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