Alongside the incredible inflation of price-tags, the further increase in player power was another worrying trend of the summer transfer window. The Bosman ruling in 1995 readdressed the balance between player and club, but it’s now swung too far the other way. Footballers are not only holding clubs to ransom over salaries and all the trimmings; they’re now refusing to play in hope of forcing moves.
Throughout the summer, there were copious examples of suspicious injuries and unexplained absences amid reported transfer interest from rival clubs. Even Jonny Evans ruled himself out amid rumours of a shock Manchester City move, only to mend in time to represent Northern Ireland during the international break. Perhaps that was mere coincidence, but some bouts on the sidelines certainly weren’t – namely, Philippe Coutinho’s, Alexis Sanchez’s and Virgil van Dijk’s.
The good news, from the neutral perspective, is that all three clubs held firm, insisting departures would be on their terms and resisting huge offers from some of the biggest outfits in the Premier League and yonder. The bad news, however, is that Arsenal, Liverpool and Southampton now face precisely the same problem; how to firstly, reintegrate these players back into the first-team picture and secondly, restore the talismanic form of old knowing they wanted to leave.
Jurgen Klopp, Arsene Wenger and Mauricio Pellegrino may all share that problem, but each case is uniquely different and some pose far greater challenges. Let’s take a look at why.
Philippe Coutinho
Although Coutinho was perhaps the most obvious in feigning injury to try and force a move, scoring for Brazil despite ruling himself out of Liverpool’s first five fixtures of the season with a back problem, he also represents arguably the least challenging in bringing back into the first-team picture.
For starters, the Reds’ attack has proved incredibly potent without him, bagging 14 goals already this term, so Jurgen Klopp will be in no gigantic rush to include the South American in his coming starting XIs. Ironically, the Barcelona summer target may have to fight his way back into the team following such a strong start to the season from the likes of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane up front and Emre Can and Georginio Wijnaldum in midfield.
At the same time, Klopp has an almighty carrot to dangle in front of the 25-year-old in the form of the World Cup in Russia next summer. It’s more than likely Coutinho will make the squad having featured in all but one of Tite’s 13 fixtures in charge since taking the helm in June 2016. But Brazil are never short of creative midfield options, so there is competition for a place in the starting XI – including from Reds team-mate Roberto Firmino.
Alexis Sanchez
Sanchez has never been the type to shy away from a football match – in fact, Arsene Wenger’s often struggled to keep him off the pitch when suffering from injury problems – but it remains to be seen how a failed Deadline Day move to Manchester City has affected the Chile international’s mindset.
He cast a frustrated figure more than once last season – it actually ended up being a recurring image of the Gunners’ disappointing 2016/17 campaign – and although it didn’t necessarily affect his form, finishing the term with six goals in five appearances, it wasn’t received too well by many of his team-mates and hinted at an incredibly negative atmosphere in the dressing room. We’ve already seen Arsenal put in an atrocious performance against another top six rival this term; a few more of those and Sanchez will become only more discouraged.
Furthermore, in comparison to Coutinho, the World Cup will likely have the opposite effect from Arsenal’s perspective. Sanchez knows he’ll be Chile’s star player in Russia as long as he’s fit, so it’s hard to imagine him maintaining his usual levels of physical commitment, especially knowing that after the World Cup he’ll be completing a free transfer to another club at the age of 29, for the sake of Arsenal qualifying for the Champions League.
Sanchez will likely return to the Arsenal starting XI with the same vigour, energy and aggression of old. But ahead of what will be a defining summer of his career at both club and international level, his performances will probably wane over the course of the campaign.
Virgil van Dijk
Incredibly worryingly for Southampton, Virgil van Dijk appears the least interested in joining up with his team-mates following a failed move to Liverpool. The Netherlands international has only just returned to first-team training after training on his own all summer, in a seemingly deliberate indication of his strong desire to leave St. Mary’s.
Furthermore, although it isn’t ideal, van Dijk can sacrifice much of this season if necessary. He’s only just recovered from a long-term injury so he won’t be desperate to rush back into first-team duties anyway. But perhaps more significantly, the Netherlands are almost certain not to qualify for the World Cup next summer – so if the centre-back really wants to dig his heels in, Southampton can’t really give him an excuse not to.
That being said, van Dijk will know how drastically the landscape can change in football. Saido Berahino was once amongst the Premier League’s most desired strikers but a failed move to Spurs and six months out of the picture at West Brom saw him plummet down the pecking order spectacularly.
Amid an age in which any centre-back half-decent on the ball is lauded as the future of the game, van Dijk will know alternative options will emerge come next summer. It’s up to him to keep his suitors interested.