i Deputy Editor's Letter: The transfer window has now closed
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Yesterday was a day of intense debate, speculation, high-level negotiations and the exchanging of vast amounts of money to secure lucrative contracts. No, it wasn’t the return of Parliament after the summer recess, but the final day of football’s transfer window.
Passionate fans can now release the refresh button attached to their teams’ websites and return to gloating, or moaning, about the world-class players they signed, or failed to buy. As with all aspects of life, deadlines were pushed to the limit, with clubs and agents scrambling to get deals done before a five-month break until we go through it all again. (No matter what our walk of life, why are we always so determined to complete things in good time, but more often than not end up leaving things to the very last minute?)
By far the most talked-about signing this year is the transfer of the Welsh international Gareth Bale to Real Madrid, for the unprecedented sum of £85m. The amount involved will raise a few eyebrows – especially when you learn that he is earning the tidy sum of more than £250,000 a week. And, whether you follow a club religiously or ignore the back pages of a newspaper entirely, the eye-watering amount of money involved is difficult to justify.
But judging by the 20,000 crowd that turned up to Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium to welcome the club’s new world record signing, I’m clearly in the minority in thinking that no one could be worth that much money.
I know replica shirts cost a bob or two, but that’s an awful lot of polyester that has to be shifted over the counter!
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