There are all too many examples to remind us that footballers never really come with a warranty, no matter how much is paid
When clubs hurl vast amounts into the transfer market they will often convince themselves that those sums are just the premiums paid on an insurance policy. Status is supposed to be secure thereafter.
The logic is easy to follow among the well-funded managers. Roberto Di Matteo, for instance, was bound to bolster the Chelsea squad. The only issue more frightening than the expenditure is the prospect of decline if substantial sums are not spent.
Financial fair play regulations should eventually check that impulse, but few doubted how Chelsea would conduct themselves this summer. Victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League final came in a penalty shootout. It could just as easily have gone against them and the club might currently have been telling itself that the Europa League holds a subtle charm.
Chelsea appreciated that the lineup needed an infusion of flair. So it was with that they handed over some £32m to take Eden Hazard from Lille. His immediate impact made it look as if the economics of football might have a semblance of good sense and the same might be said of Oscar, the 20-year-old midfielder who cost £25m from the Brazilian club Internacional.
There are indeed all too many examples to remind us that footballers never really come with a warranty, no matter how much is spent. It is Andy Carroll who at present reminds managers that a hefty outlay puts their reputation and even job prospects at stake.
Indeed, the £35m that Liverpool handed over to Newcastle United for Carroll would have been a prominent issue when the decision was being taken to sack Kenny Dalglish. The new manager, Brendan Rodgers, has packed off the striker to West Ham on loan.
Investing in the transfer market is bound to be excruciating on occasion. Footballers, as with any human being, can be disoriented when they swap one environment for another. People tend to forget just how Carroll flourished with Newcastle. The 2010-11 campaign showed then that he could act as rather more than a target man.
The first half of that season, before the January switch to Anfield, had seen him find the net against Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City. There was no cause to suppose that his success depended on bullying the weak. At the time, Dalglish had not appeared eccentric or foolish in buying such a player, even if the fee itself was large.
Managers may find it a little easier to maintain perspective in the summer than they do in the throes of mid-season anxiety, but the pressure is still there to an extent. Roberto Mancini seemed to have an array of targets at Manchester City, ranging from the seasoned Maicon at Internazionale to the young Scott Sinclair, who has arrived from Swansea City.
The cost hardly registers with the public when clubs of outlandish means enter the marketplace, but many managers are obliged to take care. Arsenal sell well and Arsène Wenger is practised when explaining why he does not buy at those sort of prices. Nuri Sahin, of Real Madrid, eluded him and has gone on loan to Liverpool instead, but the Arsenal manager remarked that he already had a midfielder of that sort in Jack Wilshere.
This, of course, rather ignored the fact that an ankle injury stopped him from playing last season and he has yet to show he is ready for a return to the intensity of the Premier League. Wenger appreciates that Arsenal still have to pay off the debt incurred in building the Emirates, although that sum is under £100m after standing at £318m in 2008.
Many managers have to be careful in their spending and Sir Alex Ferguson comes into that category. He has splashed out on Robin van Persie, but there is the shrewdness of an individual whose means were extremely limited in the early days of his career. At £17m, the price paid for Borussia Dortmund's Shinji Kagawa will be a coup if he proves any sort of successor to Paul Scholes.
Clubs will also pay readily to acquire a sense of security. At a cost of £9m, Jan Vertonghen might well provide some solidity at the core of the Tottenham Hotspur defence as the new manager, André Villas-Boas, goes about his work. There are interesting projects everywhere and, for instance, Martin O'Neill's effort to get a reliable contribution out of Adam Johnson, following a £10m transfer from Manchester City, should be intriguing.
Mark Hughes's project is on a larger scale than most, his total of acquisitions for Queens Park Rangers in double figures. A 5-0 loss to Swansea implied that the assimilation process had barely begun, but at least there has since been a draw at Norwich City.
Outcomes are always difficult to predict. As managers may often complain, footballers, regardless of the cost, are as unpredictable as the rest of the human race.
Read more... Eden Hazard and Andy Carroll: the sense and nonsense of spending big | Kevin McCarra
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