Out of all the Premier League clubs, if you were to say West Bromwich Albion had one of the worst transfer windows, you wouldn’t be too far off.
The Midlands club appeared to be scrambling all over the place on transfer deadline day, and failed agreements started filtering through left, right and centre, including one for Malaga’s Ignacio Camacho.
The Spanish midfielder, who had previously been linked with a move to Liverpool, apparently had a deal in place with the Premier League side before Tony Pulis reportedly pulled the plug to try and focus on William Carvalho.
Over in Spain, however, the story is different, as AS claim it was Cheikh Abdullah Al-Thani who broke the deal off as he didn’t want to sell his man for less than his release clause, which stands at €18m (£16.2m).
Camacho, now in talks with Malaga over a new deal, explained why he had been tempted to join the Premier League club, yet is happy to renew with his current club for less than what West Brom offered.
He said: “In the end, a footballer can only be a professional for 10 to 15 years. Then you need to live and have a family. Many people forget this. Of course, there’s an affinity for a club and affection for the people, but that doesn’t put food on the table for you and your children.
“Are we close to an agreement? We’ve only just started, but I don’t think it’s a situation that bothers me. We’re not going to fight over money, we know what’s what. There will be a reasonable agreement, which will be the best for all involved.”
Furthermore, he added: “England has a far superior pulling power (than Spain). I’d like for people to understand what it meant for me and how good it was. In the end, football is a short-term career, and there are many things we want to live through.
“Football wise, it was a long term project where they wanted to sign players. To say I would only have gone for the project would be lying to you. I’ve always been sincere.”
A very honest and reasonable answer on both fronts, if you ask us.
Whether it was West Brom or Malaga who called the transfer off doesn’t really matter now.
What matters is Camacho is very likely to renew with Malaga, and, in turn, will probably see his release clause increase to scare off potential suitors.
