Arsenal helped Liverpool secure Diogo Jota summer transfer because of Edu

“They were able to sign a player for over £70m and spread that payment, their transfer spend for that particular deal being booked as £20m or so in that financial year. They were buying from a smaller club, where the player’s value was at it’s highest for that particular club. Also, when a player wants to go and there is a substantial deal, if the player wants that to happen then it will happen eventually.

“Arsenal’s big outlay on Thomas Partey was different as they paid the release clause of about £50m to Atletico Madrid, they had to stump up that cash to get the deal done.”

They added: “I think in a normal climate you would have seen Wolves dig in a bit more over Jota, but I think they saw that the best deal they were likely to get any time soon was the one that Liverpool had presented, a big fee spread over time.

“Clubs are having to be more careful when structuring deals than they ever have before because their finances are more exposed because of Covid.

“Jota’s deal makes sense because it is a small fee initially and the rest of the deal is financed over time when, hopefully, things start to return to normal which means that club’s revenue streams improve.

“The market isn’t as strong as it was, and that was going to be inevitable. Even Barcelona and Real Madrid are being more careful.”

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