My First Experience of a Summer Transfer Window

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Real Madrid was the first football club I ever saw on television. I watched their match and saw them dominate a team, and I knew in just five minutes that this was the team I had to support—maybe because I was 10 and liked the colour white.

'Til the age of 16, two years ago, Real Madrid was the only club I supported. But after my friend made me watch a match of Arsenal, I fell in love with Arsenal's style of play.

Due to my studies (my family focuses a lot on studies), I wasn't able to watch any matches (just some highlights if I was lucky enough), but this year was different.

I had completed my schooling and this was my "drop" year, so I had a lot of time to kill, so I thought to pursue my new favorites Arsenal (Real Madrid was not an option as the telecast of the matches in my country is very late in the night, but I still managed to sneak out of bed and watch a decent number of matches).

This season saw my obsession with football grow. I started remembering who was playing who and when and also the scorelines of the matches. Tried to gather as much information as I could about Arsenal, Real Madrid, and the up-and-coming talented players (Marko Marin, David Moreno, Jack Wilshere, Sotiris Ninis, etc) from YouTube, blogs, forums etc.

My first full season is followed by the craziest transfer window ever (So, I have heard), Ancelotti arriving at Chelsea and Roman Abramovich giving him the funds to rebuild the team, Bayern going crazy after losing the Bundesliga and spending truckloads, Perez returning to the Bernabeu and also wants to rebuild the team and wants to spend three years worth of transfer money in a single year, Manchester City spending loads too, Arsenal buying a player early and so on.

But I have learned a few things from my first summer transfer window, that I would like to share:

1. All your favorite players will be linked to another team, if your favorite team is Arsenal/Liverpool.
2. You never believe a news in which they claim that the news came from their "insider", their "insider" is actually their imagination.
3. If the player is the leading scorer of the League/Team, he is bound to be someone's target.
4. Setanta Sports will try to crush rumors which weren't even there. (eg. Sniejder snubs a move to Arsenal—When was Sniejder linked with Arsenal?)
5. New managers will always be linked to the old players they once worked with. (Pellegrini with Lucho Gonzales and Diego Godin, Ancelotti with almost every player in AC Milan)
6. Many players who are "NOT for Sale" end up being sold to another club.
7. Every Tom, Dick & Harry is a target of Manchester City, Chelsea or Real Madrid. (Even though it is not true).
8. Many substitutes will want a move away in search for first team action.

Note: I have tried to simplify what I have learned from the transfer window. If there is anything that I have not learned yet, I would like to learn it so it would be very kind of you to mention it in my comments. Thanks for reading.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?