Transfers: supply and demand

I know we’ve touched on this before, but I continue to see, “Why do Celtic always leave it until the last minute?’ question asked about the transfer window.  This is not a difficult question, in fact, it is the easiest question you will ever get about how football works.

Why do Brighton always leave it to the last minute?  Why do Manchester City always leave it to the last minute? [Brighton, Man City and Celtic have, of course, already signed players].  Brighton are apparently very keen to sign Matt O’Riley, but here we are, on the 22 August, their season is already underway and Matt is knocking about Lennoxtown this morning.

We all know why this is.  Matt is under contract and Celtic want to keep him, so will leave it until they are sure it is right to sell, that they have extracted the highest possible bid, and that they have backfill.  How is it possible to know how sellers act when you are connected to the seller, but not when you are connected to a buyer?

Transfer windows skew activity towards the end of the period.  Exceptions to this rule exist, but they always come with a story.  Celtic, Brighton or Manchester City are not responsible for how humans react to supply and demand.  Complaining about it is like shouting at the wind.

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