QPR boss Mark Warburton says he cannot see how football’s transfer window can go ahead this summer, in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
Warburton and Rs director of football Les Ferdinand are among those to have taken voluntary pay-cuts, while the club have furloughed a number of staff in an attempt to ease the financial burden of the football shutdown.
Clubs around Europe have taken similar action and spending during this summer’s window is likely to be well down on previous seasons as the purse strings tighten, with former Liverpool and Tottenham transfer chief Damien Comolli suggesting last week that loans and swap deals would be prevalent.
But Warburton, a former city trader, has questioned whether it is right for clubs to be spending money on players at all, at a time when livelihoods are on the line.
“I don’t see how you can have, for example, a transfer window,” he told Sky Sports. “How can you have a transfer window when people are being laid off and not paid and there are deferred payments. I just find it quite incredible.
“The whole game has got to accept that this is an unprecedented situation, we keep saying it. How do we respond to it?
“The game can’t expect to carry on as per normal with what we’ve gone through as a general society.”
Presuming the window goes ahead as normal, Warburton faces a battle to keep hold of star man Eberechi Eze.
The England U21 international has been one of the Championship’s best players this season and is a reported target for a number of top flight sides, including Tottenham. Should he move on, his manager things he will have no problem impressing at the highest level.
“There’s no doubt we’ve got two or three talented young players who will attract interest,” Warburton said. “Their situation will be a key for us.
“I honestly believe that [Eze] is a top six Premier League player all day long.”
