Examining the Real Biases of the Summer Transfer Window

After a month of shopping which would make even the most hardcore shopaholic tired, Newcastle manager Alan Pardew reflected on the business his club had done in a story by the BBC.

"There is slightly more value in the French market," he said in reference to the five signings the Magpies made from Ligue 1. "Obviously, we have exploited that."

Pardew would much rather shop at home, rooting out young English talent, but the premium attached to talented players from there rule out a lot of Premier League clubs outside the top six or seven.

"[Wilfried] Zaha is a typical example of trying to take a young player out of the Championship. I like him. I wanted to take him but, seriously, we had no chance. We just can't pay that," the 51-year old concluded.

Instead Manchester United cherry-picked Crystal Palace's flying winger/forward for a fee which could rise to as much as £15 million.

English clubs have seen a sharp increase in the price of homegrown players—that doesn't necessarily mean British—since the new 25-man squad rules were introduced in 2010 which forced the inclusion of at least eight players who learnt their trade in the country:

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A home grown player is defined as one who, irrespective of his nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to the Football Association or the Welsh Football Association for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons or 36 months prior to his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21).

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Without this, Zaha may not have come with such a price on his head, and players like Jack Rodwell and Scott Sinclair may not have been bought by Manchester City, subsequently stalling their careers, to increase their number of homegrown players.

In Spain, clubs like Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao take this one step further, although it is through choice rather than necessity.

Barca like to pursue anyone with Catalan routes, which saw them spend extortionately on Cesc Fabregas, while Athletic will only buy Basque players. Athletic's policy, admirable as it is, does limit them, and, for example, if they want to buy Beñat this summer, Real Betis will expect them to pay top dollar for their Basque midfielder.

An increasingly big, and more worrying, factor in today's game is the role agents have to play in transfers.

Superagents like Jorge Mendes—who journalist Gabrielle Marcotti described as owning Madrid, due to his number of clients at both Atletico and Real—continue to dictate the whereabouts of certain players based on lining their own pockets.

A perfect case at the moment is that of Radamel Falcao, a Mendes client, who is being touted with a bizarre move to Monaco. Reddit breaks down the confusing nature of the transfer and third-party ownership to reveal what a minefield football transfers have become.

Similar ownership deals saw Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez arrive at West Ham, using the London club as a shopping window; but this type of ownership has now been banned from English football.

Neymar is another example of this. MARCA say that to bid for him, an offer has to be submitted to four parties: Santos, Grupo Sonda, Teisa and the player's father.

The new millennium has seen a shifting of the guard when it turns to focus on signings.

Managers used to do business purely on the ability, age and fitness of a player. These days it's not a miss for a club to sign a player of low quality to sweeten an agent who can promise players of much high quality in the future.

And when you see players like Luis Suarez, Joey Barton and Mario Balotelli thriving at their respective clubs this season, it's obvious that ability far outweighs the attitude of a player when it comes to signing wage cheques.

Agents, foreign players, foreign leagues and homegrown rules have completely changed the face of the market.

Bringing in a player is more of a business deal then ever before, and it's hard not to agree with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger's assessment of the warfare going on out there, as told to the The Independent:

"There is not as many talents as money today in football."