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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Barney Ronay

January window suggests football is back on path that led to Super League bid

Aston Villa signed Philippe Coutinho on loan from Barcelona early in the January transfer window.
Aston Villa signed Philippe Coutinho on loan from Barcelona early in the January transfer window. Photograph: Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Getty Images

“Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer.”

So apparently it’s all fine now. European football’s winter window has closed. Premier League spending levels have returned to the upward curve of endless growth. The football locomotive powered entirely by self-replenishing gravy continues to rattle along the tracks at harum-scarum speed, still belching out fat hot greasy plumes of smoke and disgorging its load in the old familiar stops.

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