From Paris to Marseille, via Lille, Lens, Auxerre, Strasbourg, Lyon, Nantes or Monaco, supporters of French clubs certainly spent their evening refreshing the news feed on their mobile phones on Friday evening, before the
transfer window
does not close its doors at 11 p.m. sharp.
For a large majority of these aficionados, this 2024 vintage has been disappointing. Weighed down by the financial crisis that is hitting French football, the Ligue 1 clubs have been fairly discreet in their great majority, with the exception of the two Olympiques. Even Paris Saint-Germain, the most powerful and the most spendthrift club, has not gone crazy. This does not mean that the clubs of the hexagon will not strengthen further in the weeks to come.
Free agent market set to explode this year
While the summer transfer window remains the reference period for framing transfers, a transaction can be finalized outside of this window. Two conditions are required for this. The first concerns free players. Any footballer who does not have a contract can sign with the club of his choice by January 1, 2025, the opening date of the winter transfer window. And this first point is crucial since it allows clubs in difficulty to shift the timing of their operations, in terms of arrivals as well as departures.
Some teams like Racing Club de Lens or Olympique Lyonnais have not collected the total transfer fees initially planned. Contracts could be terminated. The implementation of “lofts” goes in this direction. The misfortune of some is the gain of others, other more modest teams would thus have opportunities to seize, with more accessible players, because they are free. In the other camp, some footballers can take advantage of this trend and no longer hesitate to put themselves in danger, including when the season begins. Adrien Rabiot, without a club when the Blues returned, is the most striking example.
The second condition could benefit teams weighed down by a last-minute problem: the famous medical joker. The LFP regulations stipulate that a footballer ” may be recruited, at any time, in the event of the death of a player under contract or the serious injury of the goalkeeper or his replacement (in this case, the club can only recruit a new goalkeeper). “A beneficial rule for clubs that urgently need to fill a long-term absence.
