While deadline day is quite calm for those of us watching it, it’s very much a different story for the players and agents.
Both parties often find themselves scrambling to get things done on the final day of the transfer window, when clubs, inexplicably, decide to do last-minute deals.
Rémi Oudin found himself in that situation this summer. The Reims winger had plenty of interest in his services, with Newcastle and Watford said to be suitors in the Premier League.
Back in May, L’Equipe stated both clubs had made their interest in the 22-year-old and predicted that he could be in line for a move.
However, explains neither the Magpies or the Hornets made a concrete offer to bring him to England this summer.
“During the transfer window, nothing really happened,” he told France Football.
“There was interest, but never offers. On the last day, after the Lille match, there was an offer. It was only the last day that things moved Nice, Bordeaux and Fiorentina (made concrete offers).”
While the bids never came from either Newcastle or Watford, Fiorentina did end up making a late bid to sign Oudin on deadline day.
That resulted in a mad scramble for him to get him to Milan to undergo a medical and complete a move he thought wasn’t going to happen.
Ultimately it didn’t, as Fiorentina pulled out at the last minute, signing Rachid Ghezzal on loan from Leicester instead, with Oudin left disappointed and ultimately a little frustrated by the madness of deadline day.
“In my head, the transfer window was finished since it was the last day. I had just finished the match, so for me, there was no more window, it was over,” he added.
“Suddenly, [his agent] told me there was an offer, so I was a little upset, I asked myself questions. I was thinking. I thought about it all night; I did not sleep much.
“I’m packing my bag on Sunday night. My agent brings me train tickets to go to Paris and the plane tickets to go to Milan. Once on the train, he calls me to tell me that there is a problem and that Fiorentina blocks the transfer.
“It started to annoy me at noon-1pm. And around 5-6pm, we said enough and stopped everything. I tell myself that if it drags on, it is because the club does not want me and that they do not do everything to have me.
“Already there, in my head, I told myself that it was not worth going up there if I was not the priority. In the end, I was annoyed by the wait and, we will say, the lack of respect.”
