The January transfer window is always one where the panic button is pressed, but this one is different than usual with all clubs struggling for cash due to the Covid 19 pandemic, it was not a perfect one for Saints, but they got business done so will be reasonably happy with it.

The problem at the moment for Saints is they are in the middle of an injury crisis, one that has exposed some areas in the squad where we lack cover, that leads many to think that we should be bringing in that cover in the January transfer window.

But these are tough times financially, many posts I have seen on social media decry Saints for not spending money, but the harsh truth is that it is not just our club who have no cash, every other club is losing money on a monthly basis and is having to trim it's outgoings and that has meant virtually every deal done in this window has been a loan move.

Liverpool a side with big injury problems at the back and chasing both the Premier League and Champions League glory bought a 26 year old journeyman central defender from Preston for £1.6 million to solve their problem.

That highlights the current financial crisis in the Premier League, incomes are down and no one has any money.

Saints fans have been moaning about our "poor" transfer window, but their thoughts & worries have been accelerated by our current injury crisis.

Most are asking why we didn't sign full backs, the reason is that when fit we have full backs, yes it is a strange decision on the face of it when we have let Yan Valery and Jake Vokins leave on loan, but Ralph Hasenhuttl clearly feels that he has others who can cover and that if KWP or Ryan Bertrand do get injured, he would use those others rather than Valery or Vokins at this stage, that being the case, letting them leave on loan makes sense financially and enabled us to fund Takumi Minamino.

Of course Ralph looked at all the options as was shown in the interest in the likes of Brandon Williams and Ashley Maitland Niles, but the problem in bringing them in was not only financial in that they would not have come cheap, but the players themselves knew that they would only be back ups.

That is why Maitland Niles chose West Bromwich Albion, he knew he would get game time, whilst at here once our injury crisis was over he would be on the bench.

So signing a full back was never going to be easy and this was the position that most fans were demanding.

But we do have players who can drop in to cover the full back roles, James Ward Prowse, Ibrahima Diallo, Jack Stephens are three who can play there.

So when everyone is fit there isn't an issue, yes the situation is not ideal, but Ralph has taken a calculated gamble it is manageable.

The real issue for Saints is not this transfer window, but getting everyone fit again, already the likes of Nathan Redmond and Djenepo have returned to action and Jannik Vestergaard is on the verge of a return, if there are no other injury issues then the problem isn't cover at full back, but how we fit all of the players into the same team.

Minamino isn't a full back and to my knowledge hasn't played there in his career, but his arrival means that we can free up players in the midfield to cover other positions.

So although most of the Saints fan social media I have read has been all about the fact the fans feel that this has been a poor window, I feel the truth is it has been a reasonable one in the circumstances, the squad is stronger in terms of players considered to be in genuine first team contention and more importantly we have got money off the wage bill.

Saints have got 6 players off the payroll and that is a saving, but not one of those 6 is considered a first team starter and only Shane Long would even get on the bench in normal circumstances.

Do not take this as a lack of ambition, Saints are not alone in trimming the wage bill, Spurs have blustered a lot in this transfer window, but they have made no signings and got 10 off their books.

Manchester City considered the club with bottomless pockets have spent only £7 million yet got 7 off the books.

Perhaps most surprising, Leicester City, a club who many Saints fans hold up as one we should be emulating, they more than anyone could do with a boost to their squad as they chase a possible Premier League title and fight on other fronts, but they have not made one signing this window, they have sold two players though one for an undisclosed fee, another on a free transfer and 6 out on loan.

Everton are another chasing glory and with an owner who usually has no hesitation in blowing his money on overpriced players, yet there only signing has been Josh King on a loan deal, out through the out door go 8 players mainly on loan.

So this transfer window has to be taken in context, it has not just been a quiet one for Saints, every Premier League club has had to cut it's cloth to adapt to the massive downturn in income.

In every club out on loan to the lower leagues have gone the fringe players, but there have been few coming into the Premier League the other way.

Indeed there appears to have been only 21 signings made by Premier league clubs, 5 of them by West Bromwich Albion and 5 clubs have no made a signing at all.

In comparison, 100 players have left their clubs this transfer window , again mainly on loan and to lower league clubs.

This is an amazing statistic and shows how the global pandemic has affected every club in the Premier League, no one has any money to spend and that is not likely to change much this summer as clubs have to tighten their belts to absorb the losses made over what will then be the last 18 months.

So I feel that taking everything into account this has been a reasonable transfer window, we might have made only one signing but it has been a good one, we have got a lot of money off the payroll for the rest of the season and this should not be seen as a lack of ambition but a sense of reality.

Sadly the situation is what it is, we have to make do with what we have got, if we had signed a couple more players just as cover for the full backs and they had spent most of the season on the bench, there would be uproar, but truthfully although like any club we could always strengthen, when everyone is fit it is a good squad and one we need to strengthen in a couple of key areas in the summer, we do not want to waste money on loan signings who will add nothing if everyone is fit.

Yes we could gamble to try and move us up a place or two, but the reality is that now one in the Premier League is doing that and the reason is that they don't have the money !!!

Photo: Action Images

SaintPaulVW added 05:34 - Feb 3 What a difference a day makes.
0

Southampton Polls