The bazaar and the street
It is when we leave from 3h09 of Babylon an evening of January 31 that makes us understand why cinema and music are considered arts, and also why football is not, according to the classification established by the philosopher Étienne Souriau. Damien Chazelle’s latest film is a big mess, often enjoyable and imperfect, which not everyone will like, but which deserves to be seen on the big screen; even the last hours of the winter transfer market, one too many, were a big mess, but other adjectives must be added to qualify it, such as pathetic, ridiculous or grotesque. In summer as in winter, the end of this too long soap opera that is the transfer market is always the same. There is panic, twists and turns, hiccups, faxed stories, low blows, and rarely good coups. It is both comical and dramatic when you know that clubs have had more than two months or thirty days to implement their sporting strategy, it is still necessary to have one. The very rich as well as the most modest are, for once, on the same level and respond to the same logic: it is absolutely necessary to do anything rather than do nothing, but this decision often falls to the most reasonable. reflex, the rarest.
The undecided and the indecent
The prize for the absurd can obviously go to the Premier League, where Southampton, bottom of the table, can shell out 25 million euros on Kamaldeen Sulemana, a 20-year-old player who has been battling Rennes for more than a year (one goal in one twenty attendance). By welcoming Keylor Navas, promoted Nottingham Forest, 13th in the table, have recorded a 28th recruitment for the current season, for around €200m all. Downstairs, the league teams have spent more than the Serie A teams this winter, and the worst is that this madness has become normal. A piece of cake for Chelsea, an important player on the market in January and who allowed themselves one last madness on the gong by signing a check for 120 million euros to afford world champion Enzo Fernandez. Or the sixth most expensive transfer in history completed when you buy the last traditional baguette – often overcooked and already dry – at the local bakery closing. It is this same Chelsea who drove Paris Saint-Germain crazy, deliberately ruining Hakim Ziyech’s loan deal by sending bad documents on Tuesday evening. The capital club may have appealed to the LFP to prolong the displeasure of an interminable transfer window, was rejected this Wednesday morning, as was youngster Ismaël Gharbi’s loan to Nice. But who will mourn the fate of these leaders who have been repeating the mistakes of others for as long as this great fair has existed? The reigning French champion has suffered the vicissitudes, and is not worthy of a club aiming for the final victory in the Champions League.
Christophe Galtier will have neither Rayan Cherki, nor Malcom, nor Ziyech, but would these recruits have really been useful when the three untouchable stars leave so few crumbs? He also won’t have Milan Škriniar, for whom PSG tried until the end, like last summer. As proof of the distrust of Presnel Kimpembe, Sergio Ramos, Marquinhos, even Danilo Pereira in solving problems to ensure defensive solidity. What Paris didn’t have against Reims, Lens or Rennes this month, which doesn’t encourage optimism as we enter a busy February. However, it is funny to see QSI’s PSG forced to wait for the end of the contract to welcome a defender or to ask for a loan in extremis when we know the disproportionate and record paycheck of a football club (728 million euros per year, with an increase of 45% compared to the previous season)
It would be unfair to only target PSG in this major crisis. L‘OL, who now look like anything but a big club, saw John Textor negotiate with himself to lure Jeffinho from Botafogo against 10 millionEuropeans, Amin Sarr moving from Eredevisie to Rhone and Pathé Ciss throwing a tantrum against the management of Rayo Vallecano in a video posted on social media after seeing his transfer to Les Gones fail. Stories galore and icing on the cake, with this info from Southwest reporting that Girondins de Bordeaux had lost out on replacing Albert Elis after sporting director Admar Lopes had his bag with documents and computer stolen. It’s not even funny anymore, it’s heartbreaking and it’s going to happen again in August and a year from now. TO the future, we will think rather to go and see Babylon a second time.
