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When a player reaches his peak performance level it is like when the stock market peaks. For me this can be the perfect time to sell a player, as their performance may begin to decline, but it can also sometimes backfire if the player continues his good form. Nigel Clough and Peter Taylor were the masters of this transfer market strategy.
At Nottingham Forest they always tried to gauge the moment when a player had peaked and then sold him before his performance started to decline. Although this is a good strategy to use in the transfer market, it can also be a very risky one.
Selling van Persie was a mistake… Or was it?
An example of this type of transfer backfiring takes us back to Arsenal and Arsene Wenger. In the 2011/12 season Robin Van Persie had his best campaign in an Arsenal shirt, finishing as the Premier League’s top goal scorer. However at the end of the season Van Persie attracted a lot of interest from other clubs, including Manchester United who had narrowly lost out on the Premier League title to rivals City.
Arsene Wenger decided to let his 29 year old Dutch superstar leave the club and join Manchester United for a fee around £24 million. Robin Van Persie had clearly reached his peak performance at Arsenal that season, following a 7 year stint of injuries and setbacks. Wenger decided to let him leave in the hope that due to his age he wouldn’t reproduce this form at Manchester United.
However, we all now know that Van Persie did continue his rich vein of form and helped Manchester United to a 20th league title. It must be noted that this is not the only reason that Wenger decided to let Van Persie leave the club, it was ultimately Van Persie’s decision as he had one year left on his contract and wanted to go in search of a trophy.
If a manager can pull this type of transfer off he looks like he has done a fantastic job and receives a high amount of praise. However managers always run the risk of getting it wrong and can often be left with ‘egg on their on face’.
