Man Utd and Chelsea using new transfer system responsible for 1,500 deals in Covid era

Published date22 January 2022
Publication titleDaily Mirror, The: Web Edition Articles (London, England)
The coronavirus pandemic has made a significant impact on all aspects of football and the transfer market has been no exception

Covid has tightened purse strings, turned attention inwards and forced recruitment departments to adapt to a new way of working.

An increasing emphasis on data and video analysis over the past few years means scouts no longer fit the archetypal view of secretive figures in the stands with a notebook.

But traditional methods of talent identification still play a key role in clubs’ transfer strategies – and that took a hit when the spread of Covid saw travel restrictions implemented.

The pandemic has coincided with a quiet revolution going on behind the scenes in the world of transfers, where growing numbers of clubs are choosing to embrace a new way of doing things.

Being unable to conduct business in a face-to-face manner hasn’t just meant more phone calls, video and frantic emails. It has also meant relying on a new way of operating.

TransferRoom was dreamt up in 2016 by Jonas Ankersen, who had observed the rise of Amazon, eBay and online real estate platforms and wondered why football didn’t have something similar.

“The way transfers were being done was antiquated and inefficient and I decided I wanted to try to bring the system into the 21st century,” Ankersen exclusively tells Mirror Sport.

Ankersen, brother of Southampton part-owner Rasmus Ankersen, was surprised by the “lack of transparency” in the traditional system, which left clubs “working in the dark”, often without a direct line of communication in a “chaotic landscape of agents”.

After speaking to clubs and conducting market research, TransferRoom was born: an online subscription platform which allows clubs to list players who are available for moves, see those available from other clubs, alongside other market information, and then communicate directly with them.

Trying to break into such a huge market, in such a competitive field, where billions of pounds flow every year might appear like an impossible job. But six years down the line it has grown from an ambitious but niche entity into something nearly ubiquitous in the industry.

TransferRoom now boasts more than 650 clubs from 55 countries. They have a presence in 94 leagues, including division-wide deals with MLS, Liga MX, Denmark and Norway.

Transfers done on the platform have now ticked past 1,500 – 800 of which occurred in 2021 alone. Clubs pay TransferRoom a subscription fee to use the platform, but, unlike...

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