Top Five: Clubs that hold the key to the transfer market

At the moment, the transfer market is ticking along quietly. After Monaco’s initial explosion of activity, the big name players have spent more time connected to clubs than they have in moving to them. Of the major European clubs, only Barcelona’s move for Neymar has really caught the eye, but with all £50m+ of the transfer fee going to Brazilian club Santos who are very unlikely to be pumping it back in to the European market, it won’t have the consequence of kick-starting things. For the market to get going, there are certain things that need to happen. For all the gossip to end up in movement requires these five clubs to light the fire.

Spurs

Spurs hold the key to the European transfer window exploding in to life because they have Gareth Bale. His future has a direct impact on the most clubs. If Real Madrid do offer £85m, and Spurs accept it, it will set off a domino effect across Europe. If Spurs have £85m in their pockets, they will spend it. Under Daniel Levy, they have always spent what they make in the markets, but they spend it on twice as many players in return. Last summer, they sold Modric and van der Vaart and used the money to purchase Adebayor, Dembele, Dempsey, Lloris and Vertonghen. With this in mind, and with a good squad that needs a bit more quality in it, with £85m they could do some serious damage and flood different countries with cash.

Suddenly, Paulinho, Guarin, Benteke, Damiao, Lamela, Michu, Bender and everyone they’ve been linked can be looked at with serious intentions of signing more than one of.

If they decide not to sell him all of those clubs will miss out on potential win falls.

Clubs affected: Real Madrid, Corinthians, Inter Milan, Aston Villa, Roma, PSG, Swansea, Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Mineiro, St. Etienne, Internacional more.

Aside from Real and PSG who want Bale, all of the other clubs own players who Spurs have been heavily linked with. If they don’t sell Bale they can maybe sign one or two of them, but with £85m all these clubs could have £15-20m of their own to then continue the trickle down around the world. Spurs’ decision impacts the most different countries of any club.