A tough, inflated market - agents of Leeds United stars have their say on the January transfer window

But while it may be true for some of the men and women who represent players in the beautiful, money-saturated game, others tell a different story.

Some agents view the January transfer window through the same lens as clubs, managers and sporting directors -as a less-than-ideal time to do business.

January is difficult. It’s reactive. It’s panicky. It’s unrealistic.

“The January market is notoriously a tough market,” said Steve Blatherwick, whose Major League Sports Management firm look after Leeds stars Liam Cooper and Stuart Dallas, and recently departed White Lewie Coyle.

“The players that are saleable, clubs don’t want to get rid of so they put a high price on them.

“For me, it’s just another month in the year. You might get the odd one that goes through but it’s a difficult window.

“I’ve had numerous calls about numerous players that would never in a million years get past first base.”

For the former Burnley and Chesterfield defender, facilitating long-term contracts for his Elland Road pair earlier in the season is the kind of business he values over January moves.

“I don’t know about other agents but I’m happy when players stay at their clubs, I don’t want to move them,” he said.

“The fact that Stuey and Coops have signed new deals at Leeds is brilliant, for me. I don’t tend to look at the money and then try to move players, I see where they’re at, if they’re happy.

“The Coyley thing, I had to move him, we had to move him because there was no room at the inn so to speak.”

Coyle’s move was in that sweet spot, where the interests of all parties align.

He had no future with Leeds, he is enjoying life at Fleetwood and the Fishermen wanted to land a player who has been with them on loan since summer 2017 permanently.

It happened nice and early in the transfer window, too, avoiding any of the last-minute disasters that can leave at least one party devastated.

“I had one once, Ian Evatt was going to move to Soutampton from Blackpool and it didn’t get done,” said Blatherwick.

“The Blackpool chairman pulled the plug at the final hurdle. That was very stressful, for the player, it would have been an amazing move for him. It was tough to handle.

“We’re the middle men who try to amalgamate people’s thoughts; you’ve got to bring people together to agree on all the financials.

“That can be tough. Sometimes you’re so far away. I’m going through one at the minute and it won’t get past first base. It’s Championship club to Championship club. The player is doing unbelievably well so the cost will be just ridiculous and the club who want him want to pay £3m. You’re not going to get him for anywhere near that, so it’s not even worth it, you would just be banging your head against a brick wall.”

If there’s no moves on the cards and no contracts to negotiate, January for Blatherwick is about building careers.

“We’ve done new contracts in January [before],” he said.

“It’s not a big window for us. It might be for some, for some of the big companies. Obviously Leeds need to get players in and are quite busy in what they’re trying to do.

“I think there’s an element of people imagining agents running around doing deals in January.

“It couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m out watching games, six games a week, Saturday morning watching and mentoring youth-team players, going through their clips, trying to improve them. That’s what a good agent does.

“The deals at the end of it are the icing on the cake. Most of my work I do for free and that’s the job of an agent.

“I’m not talking about superagents, they’re the big players. My passion is to mentor young players to make them better so they can have a career in the game.”

Kevin Sharp, whose client Kalvin Phillips agreed a long-term deal in perhaps Leeds United’s biggest business of last summer, isn't a fan of the January transfer window.

“The month itself, it’s historically known as more of a loan or a panic month,” said the former Leeds player.

“It’s a reactive window, if anything happens to the current squad, clubs react, getting a loan depending on their financial circumstances or try to find some financial backing from their owner.

“It might be quite exciting when you’re watching it on Sky, but there is a lack of movement across the board and the majority are loans or a loan with a view to a summer move.

“That tells a story of the financial predicament of most teams. In the Championship that’s more evident because of Financial Fair Play, a lot of clubs are financially handcuffed.”

Alex Levack of Sidekick Management, who looks after Ben White, Leeds United’s loan star, says January moves can be difficult for clubs and for players.

“Generally it’s quite an inflated market,” he said.

“People normally leave their business until the end of the window, which we’ve seen in the past, the last week becomes crazy, the last few days even crazier. People don’t get their top targets, then panic and sign a player they’re maybe not 100 per cent convinced on.

“Also, for a player to go into a new team in January is tough, a different environment, different methods, different kind of training, a different voice. There’s no guarantee they’ll settle immediately and have an impact.

“We’re very keen to make sure if we’re moving our players it’s to a team conducive with how they play, with a manager who knows and wants to sign the player, not going there because the sporting director or someone else at the club wants to bring him in.”

January 2020 has, so far, been a quiet one.

Not that you’d know it from digesting the output of some media outlets.

Even if the actual moves are scarce, the hype remains. Agents can, of course, choose to feed the rumour mill in order to get wheels turning. But it’s not always beneficial for a player’s name to be mentioned in the media.

“Sometimes, when it’s quite quiet like it is now, there’s a lot of rumours and I kind of sympathise to an extent; they have columns to fill and air time to fill. But sometimes it’s fluffed up, let’s say,” said Levack.

“Players, with social media these days, they see a lot of this stuff. It’s hard for them.

“They’ll call the agent, saying they’ve seen they’ve been linked with someone but it might be from a fan’s forum or a conversation that’s happened internally. Being mentioned and a full transfer are two totally different things.”

The hype and noise builds to a January 31 crescendo and can be quite exciting, if you’re not missing out on your primary target right on deadline.

Levack would prefer to be watching it all unfold than be at the centre of a story unfolding at the very last minute.

He said: “I’ve had a few crazy deadline days and that’s why we try and get most if not all of our business done before deadline day.”