Time was when the old first division ad then the Premiership consisted of a dozen or so clubs who were buyers and the rest - and all the clubs in the divisions below - were forced sellers, needing to unload at least one good player a season to pay for the rest.
But now even the real moneybags clubs, such as Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal - seem powerless in face of the riches of Abu Dhabi (alias Manchester City) and Real Madrid, probably the only club that’s never had to sell players.
This is partly the globalisation of football of course but also a reflection of the power of players in the post-Bosman era.
If John Terry decides he wants to go to Man City (and he’s another player who, bizarrely, feels ‘undervalued’ at Chelsea apparently) then there’s precious little Roman Abramovitch can do about it apart from bust the Chlelsea wage structure wide open again. And even Roman seems to think he can’t afford that.
We read today that Arsenal have slapped a £40m price tag (modest by today’s standards but a lot of money when you owe £300m) on Cesc Fabregas who’s wanted by Barcelona (and Real Madrid presumably).
The message seems to be, if you can’t compete just get all the money you can. Preferably up front.
Which is just what the humble selling clubs did all along of course, the difference being they weren’t the top four in the league.