I'm probably delusional from the lack of transfer activity, but is there any way for NSWE (or another controlled third-party) to buy the player and pay his wages then 'donate' him to Villa for some nominal amount (or send him as a free agent). If NSWE aren't allowed to pay his wages after he is 'transferred' they could call it image rights or some such crap and then Villa would only need to pay a tiny amount on the books. Seems too easy, what am I missing ?
The image rights bit is, indeed, part of what Man City were doing. The bit about signing him is third party ownership and was banned by Fifa about 10 years ago.He also couldn't be signed by another NSWE club and then loaned to us (for a year I think), that one is down to Chelsea and their weird relationship with Vitesse from a while back.All combined we'd be fucked if we tried it.
What a thoroughly shit window this has been. We have been weakened so much from last season and relative to our main competitors. We are now competing for the scraps at the table and hoping for a conference spot or maybe Europa. Martinez leaving finishes it off. Absolutely miserable