The January transfer window is open and almost every club on the planet is in need of something. The problem? No one can afford to make any deals, seemingly.
Barcelona? So strapped for cash they’re embroiled in a legal battle to register their existing players. Manchester United? They’re operating on a shoestring budget, with manager Ruben Amorim effectively told to make do with what he’s got. Chelsea? Real Madrid? Aston Villa? All reported to be under their own financial pressure.
In all but Barcelona’s case, the woes are likely being overstated; it’s a ploy for market position. For example, Newcastle United are, reportedly, simultaneously under severe pressure to comply with Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) but also had £60 million to offer Crystal Palace for Marc Guéhi at the end of last summer. Still, now more than ever is the right time to get creative with transfer work, and one of the savviest things you can do is engineer swap deals.
Historically they’ve been incredibly difficult to pull off, with very few examples across the years, but in the last 18 months have risen to prominence as clubs try and meet financial targets.
Here, we’ve thought hard about five genuinely realistic swap deals that would make sense for all parties this month, allowing clubs and players to refresh their circumstances without straying over the line.
Kolo Muani has been very publicly placed on the transfer list at PSG despite the fact that just 18 months ago, they spent an entire summer trying to sign him and ended up paying an eye-watering €80m to do so.
Admittedly, things haven’t gone to plan for the striker in the French capital, but he remains an excellent player and one that many other striker-needy clubs should be delighted to acquire. His fee may prove a stumbling block, so perhaps a swap is the way to get the deal done with PSG here.
Enter: Chelsea. And enter: Nkunku. The PSG academy product (whom they would no doubt be delighted to welcome back, based on their recent focus on a Paris born-and-bred identity) barely plays for the Blues and rarely gets onto the pitch for any significant moments. It’s a role that does not befit his talent.
Stylistically, Kolo Muani and Nicolas Jackson are much closer than Nkunku and Jackson, so in this swap Chelsea would acquire a player who suits Enzo Maresca’s squad a lot better and could step into the system more easily.
