Will he or won't he? Enzo Fernandez' move from Benfica to Chelsea has been endlessly reported to be in the offing in this transfer window. But it hasn't happened yet and it's deadline day. Picture: CARLOS COSTA / AFP.
Welcome to transfer deadline day, a day that always raises excitement to a level it really should not.
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In England, Sky Sports News will have updates every second from around the grounds with reporters speaking in edge-of-the-seat voices about who might join where.
The scramble of clubs to get medicals done, or to reach agreements over exorbitant fees will be reported in minute detail on the television and on Twitter, where transfer experts like Fabrizio Romano and David Ornstein have amassed millions of followers.
There is an addictive quality to refreshing your feed for the next update, even if it tells you little to nothing more than the previous update.
It must be said that Ornstein and Romano are probably the two most reliable transfer gurus out there, when it comes to the European market.
There are others who it is reasonable to assume are teenagers sitting in their bedroom at home, with little else to do but pretend to be in the know. There is always a chance, after all, that you will pick out a transfer rumour to tweet, and that it will come true, after which you can claim to be an all-knowing wizard, while in reality you are an attention-seeking moron.
The transfer window in England these days almost seems like a competition on its own, with fans desperate to claim that their side has “won” the window, as if it is almost equivalent to picking up a trophy.
In truth, in January, signing players always seems a bit like a mid-season lottery, especially in terms of whether they can impact the success of a team in the ongoing season.
Players often need time to settle, and the benefit of a pre-season, before they can really show their worth.
I once saw a tweet from the brilliant Spanish football reporter Sid Lowe, which said something to the effect of not understanding why people get so uptight about who their sides will sign, instead of just waiting for the window to close at midnight and seeing who they have.
It’s a fair point, but if social media reflects society, then society wants updates every 10 seconds and can’t possibly wait.
We are the beast that is being fed and while I acknowledge the excitiment over a transfer window is overblown, I have to admit it doesn’t change the fact that I am as addicted as anyone, refreshing my browser over and over again.
I’ve tried to stop, I’ve even deleted Twitter from my phone, but I am a slave to the algorithm.
Maybe I should focus more on the Premier Soccer League transfer window, which seems to me slower, a little more measured.
The scramble to pick up players in January just doesn’t have the same buzz to it, though there are also an array of very good South African transfer journalists on social media.
Maybe we need our own 24-hour sports channel getting over-excited to start shaking up more of a vibe, reporters yelling into microphones about the fact that someone’s Mercedes has arrived at Choorklop or Naturena. Wait, we really don’t.
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