If 2018 was an outlier as far as January transfer windows go, then this year’s winter transaction period has been a return to the norm.
Last year, Barcelona forked over 135 million euros for Liverpool superstar Philippe Coutinho, a player the Catalan club hoped would be its next Andres Iniesta. Liverpool used that nine-figure windfall to make their own record signing. Southampton sent center-back Virgil van Dijk to Merseyside for 78.8 million euros, a record fee for a defender.
This season, Chelsea’s loan acquisition of a striker who has scored eight goals this season has been the one of the biggest deals of the month (yes, the Christian Pulisic deal also happened this winter, but he doesn’t officially join Chelsea until the summer). Gonzalo Higuain is supposed to be the solution to Blues’ long-standing issues at striker, yet he has scored fewer times than Alvaro Morata, the man he’s replacing.
Ah yes, this is the winter transfer window I’m used to.
High-profile transfers during the January window usually indicate signs of desperation from the buying or selling club — sometimes both. Some teams must address a lack or depth or quality in a certain position. Others are under immense pressure to sell a player before his market value plummets or his contract expires. Ultimately, the winter market is one big accident waiting to happen, so most clubs try their best to avoid it.
Van Dijk’s has had an undeniable impact since arriving at Liverpool a year ago. Coutinho has struggled at times living up to his price tag, but he has shown flashes of brilliance over the past year. At the very least, both players have made their respective teams better. But even those two transactions were fueled by a degree of anxiety.
This January window is back to its sloppy best. Let’s revisit the Higuain deal. In many ways, the Argentinian was AC Milan’s Morata. Milan, in need of a bona-fide goalscorer, bought Higuain with hopes he will become the team’s reliable striker. It didn’t take long before those hopes waned. With Higuain gone, Milan were back to square one. In response, they make a desperation signing in the form of Genoa’s Kryzysztof Piatek. Luckily for Milan, Piatek might be the answer; he scored a brace in his debut against Napoli in the Coppa Italia.
Among all the deals entering the Thursday deadline, Barcelona’s loan deal for Kevin-Prince Boateng is looking like the most sensible piece of business. That should tell you all you need to know.
The plane carrying Emiliano Sala is still missing
This month hasn’t all been a series of weird signings. The biggest piece of news related to this transfer window is the missing whereabouts of incoming Cardiff City striker Emiliano Sala.
The club’s record signing disappeared last week near the Channel Islands while aboard an aircraft en route to Cardiff from Nantes, France. Sala was set to begin training last Tuesday; now authorities are saying the chances the Argentinian is even alive are slim.
The aircraft’s disappearance sent shockwaves throughout Cardiff. Several players have required counseling over the past week. Neil Warnock — who said the helicopter crash that killed Leicester City’s owner in October also had a profound effect on him — has been contemplating retirement. We often hear about how accidents like these never happen, so for it to happen twice in the same league over such a short duration is especially jarring.
The official search was called off last Thursday, but an ongoing private search began a couple of days later thanks to a GoFundMe page that has received over $360,000 in donations. Sala’s family and friends are clinging onto hope, but — as heartless as it sounds — Cardiff City have no choice but to try and move forward. Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat to Arsenal puts them deeper in the relegation battle, and time isn’t on their side.
Football’s forgotten political prisoner
Bahrain managed to advance past the group stage of this year’s Asian Cup, falling in extra time to South Korea, 2-1, in the round of 16 last Tuesday. Bahrain’s cup run was a brief distraction from the imprisonment of Bahraini footballer Hakeem al-Araibi.
The 25-year-old defender for Australian club Pascoe Vale FC has been imprisoned in Thailand since late November on an Interpol warrant put out by Bahrain. Al-Araibi was traveling to Bangkok with his wife for their honeymoon only to get detained once he set foot in the Thai capital.
Al-Araibi’s friction with the Bahraini government began nearly eight years ago, around the time the Arab Spring protests enveloped the Middle East. Bahraini authorities arrested him in 2012 on charges of vandalizing a police station, disregarding the fact al-Araibi was playing in a televised match at the same time of the crime.
After three months behind bars, a time period which also allegedly included torture, al-Araibi managed to escape and sought asylum in Australia in 2014. Though Australia granted him refugee status in 2017, he still might get extradited to Bahrain, where he was convicted and sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison.
Politics and sports are almost symbiotic at this point, and every once in a while we have a story that enters the football sphere. Brexit and its impending impact on the Premier League, for example, has been the popular news item this season. Conversely, al-Araibi has mostly flown under the radar, in football and elsewhere.
And that’s the problem. If FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation were to get more involved, there’s a good chance they would save al-Araibi from extradition, but the chances of that happening are slim. Both federations have deep ties to the Bahrain royal family, which heads all of the sports associations in the country. In fact, the president of the AFC and senior vice-president of FIFA, Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, is a leading member of the royal family.
Because of this, al-Araibi remains behind bars, and FIFA will probably ignore his cries for help.
Tyler Adams makes his RB Leipzig debut
Let’s end this on a lighter note. With Christian Pulisic on his way to Chelsea in the summer, Americans will soon have to shift their focus on the country’s next Bundesliga star. Tyler Adams might be fit for the part.
Tyler Adams made his RB Leipzig debut last Sunday, playing the full 90 minutes of a 4-0 victory against Fortuna Dusseldorf. Adams displayed the same dynamism and ability to turn defense into attack that made him into a star at the New York Red Bulls. The 19-year-old had the most successful tackles on the field and completed 46 of his 57 passes as WhoScored gave him a 7.7 match rating, the fifth-highest in the game. He also showed a willingness to advance play, as shown by his passing stats in the attacking third.
In addition to 18-year-old Josh Sargent making the most of his limited playing time at Werder Bremen (two league goals over 76 minutes), Adams’ debut is a bright spot in a slightly off year for Americans in the Bundesliga. Pulisic has lost his spot in the starting XI to the brilliant Jadon Sancho. Weston McKennie is doing fine, but is playing on a press-crazy Schalke team that isn’t optimal in the development of a well-rounded center midfielder. Schalke coach Domenico Tedesco has even put McKennie at striker a couple times this season so the American could use his athleticism to press high up the field.
At RB Leipzig, the hope is Adams can get a balance of tactical and technical development at a club that loves to play youngsters. Timo Werner, Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konate are just a few of Leipzig’s young stalwarts who have a bright future ahead. Though it’s early, Adams could be on the same trajectory.