What is it about relatively long-running transfer sagas that I find more disappointing than a bolt-from-the-blue signing? I think I just get fed up with it all and don't care how it ends at some point.
Sure, just no-one does them anymore as they're not legally meaningful as far as one's contract is concerned, but they can still impact loyalty bonuses.
That just shows it's pointless keeping up with the minutiae of transfer gossip and hearsay, and especially using it a basis to judge the clubs involved.
It does make you wonder, hypothetically if a PL club had the entire England team/squad on its payroll, couldn't the manager just be England manager as well?
The teams above has have had years of extra investment to underpin everything. And they didn't have the regulations in place that exist now to hold them back.