Summary:
Private credit funds are increasingly offering English football clubs loans secured against the estimated value of their playing squads, providing capital to finance transfers before revenues from player sales arrive. These loans may give lenders priority over some future transfer-fee receivables, although they cannot force clubs to sell players.
Specialist firms such as Tifosy and Fasanara have pioneered the model in Europe, with loans reportedly reaching around 25% of a club’s squad value, while 23 Capital has relaunched with this financing as a core offering. Demand is growing amid record global transfer spending of €10.8bn this summer, with Premier League clubs accounting for 38% of the total.
Clubs could use the loans to fund January signings and repay them with proceeds from summer sales, with Burnley among the few English clubs to have used similar arrangements.
However, the trend raises concerns about financial sustainability, as English football faces mounting losses and debt. Ultimately, while squad-value financing offers clubs greater short-term spending flexibility, it risks increasing their dependence on future transfer income and exposing them to fluctuating player valuations.

I do love Carra's position. Pushes back on Micah, City are guilty NOW.

No one yet is talking about how legitimate City's finances were after 2018. I'd hate for judgement to stop here and no further investigation post 2018.

At Hapoel Be’er Sheva, AZ’s Israeli opponents in the Europa League, the war in their home country in Gaza is having an impact on the team’s sporting performance, says manager Ran Kozuch.

“Of course it’s affecting our game.”

At the pre-match press conference ahead of the game in Alkmaar, he and former Feyenoord goalkeeper Ofir Marciano were asked several times about the Alkmaar council’s decision not to allow away fans into the stadium.

There were almost more questions about that than about the match itself. And this is not the first time. Hapoel Be’er Sheva has been feeling the consequences of the war in Gaza for some time now.

In September, Alkmaar decided not to allow Israeli supporters on Thursday evening, 15 October. Although UEFA has assigned the supporters of the Israeli club a ‘medium risk profile’, the Alkmaar council has classified the match as ‘(very) high risk’ “due to the geopolitical context”. The council cites the riots surrounding the Ajax v Maccabi Tel Aviv match in 2024 as grounds for this decision.

The decision appears to be a major talking point, even amongst AZ’s Israeli opponents. The only journalist from that country to attend AZ’s press conference was very keen to hear AZ manager Leeroy Echteld’s views on the matter.

“It’s disappointing that they can’t be there to watch the matches,” said Echteld. “I think it’s normal for something like that to be allowed when you’re playing away. European football should be a celebration for both teams. But this isn’t a decision we’ve made; it’s been made by the police and the government.”

Once Echteld’s press conference had finished and everyone was waiting for the press conference given by Echteld’s colleague Kozuch, more Israeli journalists began streaming into the press room. They, too, were keen to hear what the Dutch coach thought of the decision. The journalists then remarked that the fans’ refusal would also be a major topic during the upcoming Q&A session.

That much is clear. “It’s a sad decision. The supporters are part of the team,” Kozuch states straight away. The head coach says that neither he nor the team have felt unsafe for a single second in the Netherlands. Were security measures necessary? “Not as far as I know. But I’ve got enough other things on my mind ahead of the match.”

For example, how he can ensure his team performs well without the support of the Be’er Sheva fans. “That’s why, within the team, we only talk about football and as little as possible about other matters.”

However, that isn’t always possible. Be’er Sheva’s home matches in the Europa League are not permitted to take place in Israel, which is why the team has to travel to Bucharest in Romania each time. In addition, the club is also facing difficulties with its away matches.

Whilst in Alkmaar it is only the fans who are not welcome, the fourth-placed team in the Israeli league will not be welcome at all at Union Saint-Gilles and Beşiktaş in the coming weeks. Instead of being played in Belgium and Turkey, those matches will now take place in Germany and Georgia.

“Of course, that affects our game. We have twice as many flights to book and everything has to be arranged outside our own country, which is physically very demanding. But we try to take that into account as much as possible.”

Goalkeeper Marciano, who was under contract in Rotterdam between 2021 and 2023, says it takes some of the enjoyment out of the game. “Of course it does. It would be fairer if we could actually play at home, but there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Incidentally, football was also discussed at the press conference. For AZ, the home match against Be’er Sheva is a must-win, says Echteld. “Not just because of the fixture list; I think we really have to win at home against this opponent.”

Even if the Netherlands’ third-placed side doesn’t field its strongest starting eleven, the manager believes. “We are indeed going to make a few changes to the starting line-up. We want to have players who are consistently fit on the pitch. That way, the other players can now prepare for the away match against Cambuur. But I’m convinced that the lads who take to the pitch on Thursday are also good enough to win.”

Julián Álvarez realized sooner rather than later that he had made a mistake during the World Cup. After the victory over Austria in the second round of matches, in Dallas, the Córdoba-born striker from Calchín expressed his desire to fulfill his dream of playing for Barcelona.

Following the advice of his agent, Fernando Hidalgo, he made a statement that went around the world within minutes and enraged Atlético Madrid fans. The response from the club's leadership was immediate: “The release clause or nothing.” Manager Diego Pablo Simeone also stood his ground.

The asking price was set at a prohibitive €500 million. Weeks passed, the transfer window closed, and the World Cup-winning striker from Qatar was left trapped by his own words. He did everything he could to leave, but failed. Within his inner circle, the verdict on the strategy was damning: a disaster. As a result, Hidalgo stopped representing him, and reports from Madrid now identify Pablo Barquero as his new agent.

The choice does not appear to be a coincidence. Álvarez received offers from Javier Pastore, who works with his friend Enzo Fernández, and Jorge Mendes, the powerful Portuguese agent who manages one of the largest portfolios of footballers in the world, with Cristiano Ronaldo as his biggest client.

However, Álvarez opted for a much more low-profile representative. Barquero is a boutique agent whose client list consists of just two names: Rodri and Pablo Sarabia, who currently plays for Al-Arabi in Qatar. Fewer clients, closer attention. That appears to have been the Argentine striker's strategy.

Álvarez met Barquero during his time in Manchester, where he spent a couple of seasons alongside Rodri. Their existing relationship and the personalized attention offered by the agent ultimately tipped the balance in his favor.

But there is another detail that may have proved decisive: Barquero managed to negotiate the World Cup-winning midfielder's departure from England to Barcelona. Given Julián's desire to wear the Blaugrana shirt, that track record takes on special significance.

Did they discuss a possible departure from Atlético Madrid? Is a move to Barcelona a target for the next January transfer window or for August next year? For now, there are no clear answers.

But the change of agent has once again brought a possibility back into the conversation that the striker was unable to make happen during the last transfer window. And if one thing became clear after that episode, it is that Julián has not forgotten his dream.