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10 months ago
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Far from the 815 million pounds sterling, or more than 950 million euros, spent last winter, the Premier League showed a certain wisdom during the month of January. Most certainly cooled by the rules of financial fair play in England, and the sanctions recently imposed against Everton, the English clubs have finally distinguished themselves by a strange passivity. So yes, Tottenham offered Radu Drăgușin for 25 million euros, Manchester City for their part bet €14.5 million on the young Argentine prodigy Claudio Echeverri and Crystal Palace signed a check for more than €25 million to attract Adam Wharton from Blackburn. For the rest ? A few operations but nothing spectacular. An activity much lower than that seen during the last windows which however did not prevent His Majesty’s Kingdom from finding itself, this Friday morning, at the heart of the controversy. The reason ? The numerous deals blocked by overseas teams in the home stretch of this winter transfer window.
West Ham have scuppered two operations, Chelsea are air conditioning the HAC!
With this in mind, how can we not mention the aborted transfer of Saïd Benrahma to Olympique Lyonnais. While everything seemed complete for a loan of 5 million euros with a purchase option of 15 million euros – the DNCG had validated the operation, the various documents had been signed and the player had for his part passed his medical examination and posed for the presentation photos with his flocked jersey – the 28-year-old Algerian international, who had traveled to Lyon with his family, will finally return to West Ham. And for good reason. The Hammers did not send the necessary documents on time even though OL had correctly entered all the administrative data on the dedicated FIFA platform (FIFA TMS). Enough to provoke the fury of the Rhone management. West Ham has never launched the slightest technical procedure on its part, despite repeated reminders from OL and continuous mutual telephone communication, specifies the Gones press release, in total incomprehension.
The club, “deeply regretting the failure of the transfer of Saïd Benrahma, for reasons beyond its control, and questions the behavior of West Ham which failed to finalize the required administrative procedures despite all the agreements reached”also reserves the right to initiate procedures to validate the operation subsequently.“West Ham United can confirm that the agreement on the last day of the transfer window for Saïd Benrahma to join Olympique Lyonnais was not concluded before the deadline, with the agreement unable to be concluded before 11 p.m.”, for its part retorted the training based in the Newham district. A painful episode which is unfortunately not lonely when it comes to taking stock of these last hours on the transfer market. Still on the West Ham side, another transfer has collapsed. Very close to joining Betis before the end of the transfer window, Pablo Fornals (27 years old) is still not a La Liga player. The fault of the Hammers, who, like Benrahma at OL, were unable to send all the documents due to a computer problem…
Hakim Ziyech, a precedent at PSG…
“West Ham have had some problems with all the deals they have done. We are optimistic because we hope to close the agreement with Fornals in the coming days”, nevertheless specified the boss of Betis, Ramon Alarcón, optimistic about the positive outcome of this file. Bad student of this first evening of February, West Ham, however, has nothing to envy of Chelsea, its London counterpart. About to sign up with Le Havre, Malang Sarr (25) – who had also passed his medical examination and signed a two and a half year contract with the promoted Norman – will finally return to London. After several hours of negotiations and various adjustments proposed by the Blues on the financial conditions of the termination of his contract, which the player accepted each time, the current 10th in the Premier League finally refused to send the necessary documents to formalize definitively the operation. A terrible blow for the HAC but especially for Malang Sarr, disappointed by this damaging outcome 18 months before the end of its lease.
Three aborted operations logically causing the anger of many observers, particularly pointing to an old habit in the Premier League. As a reminder, Paris Saint-Germain had also suffered this type of scenario during the 2023 winter transfer window. After a 2022 World Cup in Qatar finished in a superb fourth place with Morocco, Hakim Ziyech wanted, in fact, to leave Chelsea to find playing time. Yes, but if the club from the French capital thought they had completed the loan of the 29-year-old winger, the Blues decided otherwise. After sending an incorrect document, then unsigned, on several occasions, FIFA did not approve the deal, the deadline having passed. Despite an appeal made by the reigning French champion, the LFP legal commission, for its part, rejected the Parisian request and the former Ajax player, now on loan from the Blues to Galatasaray, remained in London . One more snub to add to the record of the Premier League, a specialist in this area. While waiting to see if Betis will achieve their goals for Pablo Fornals and if OL will obtain pardon from the authorities for the Benrahma case, these incredible stories are divisive. While some supporters point the finger directly at the authorities, demanding sanctions for these clubs deemed responsible for an aborted operation, others evoke the risk of these negotiations carried out on the gong…
