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People love to complain about the Ross McCormack deal. To this point it's mainly been disgruntled Leeds United fans, but now we have a Premier League manager getting in on the act. For some reason Sean Dyche is blaming Fulham and more particularly the Ross McCormack transfer for Burnley's ability to by players.
In a bit of twisted logic Mr. Dyche has decided that Fulham has distorted the market for players so much that Burnley is unable to buy anyone. Even if the total cost of Ross McCormack was £11M (it wasn't) you really can't say the entire market was disrupted by one transaction. If Fulham were bidding on every player, they could distort the market. But there are many teams in many leagues around the world. Football is close to a free market when it comes to player purchases. One team can't distort the market. If Fulham are paying too much for players, the result will be that the players Fulham bids on are overpriced, but the rest of the market will continue to be sold at market value. The only way that Fulham could affect Burnley was if Fulham were bidding on just the players that Burnley wanted.
Which makes this whole idea especially silly. When you had a player like Shane Long going for £12M, it's not just Fulham that are paying money for players. I can't believe that the McCormack and Long deals were in anyway related even if the reported prices are similar. And it's not like there weren't deals to be found Bojan Krkic was only £3M and Jefferson Montero was only £4. You can buy players for good prices if you want.
The truth of the matter is that Burnley doesn't want to spend. Making the Premier League is a financial windfall to the owners and can fund their team for years to come. Even if they get relegated in the first season. Why should they pay big money for players and lock themselves into a big wage bill? For a chance to stay up? Why not compete on the cheap and just fill your coffers with cash? It's a smart business decision, but not one you can really sell to fans. So instead they blame the market. I wouldn't have a huge problem with that. It's the fact that they have decided to blame Fulham that's patently ridiculous.