Strong and Weak Ties/ Negative and Positive Relationships and How they dictate much of Soccer’s Transfer Window
The most enticing time to be a fan of the beautiful game is during the summer. Here is when your favorite football clubs are allowed to contact one another over the transfer of certain players. Of course, money is a big factor when it comes to buying players but another important factor in the process is the relationship between each club. As we look through the history of football it is evident that there are unwritten alliances between certain clubs. Many times this is because of historical players playing for both teams or similar morals and values held between clubs. For example, Johan Cruyff is most famous for playing at Barcelona and Ajax, respectively. And as we see there is a connection between these two teams that are supported by the fans as well as management. Sometimes there are other factors that create “Strong or Weak Ties/ Negative or Positive relationships” as we look through a network’s lens. An example of another factor could be the geographical locations of clubs. In England, for instance, many of the rivalries we see in the Premier League, which is widely regarded as one of the best football leagues in the world, are based on geographical location. Take for example the rivalry between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspurs, this rivalry is one of the fiercest rivalries the footballing world has to offer and is named the “North London Derby”. They were given this name because they’re both clubs that are located in the Northern part of London and thus bragging rights over the terrain are dependent on whichever team is doing better. Interestingly enough, as I am writing they’re scheduled to play each other in less than two weeks.
As we see there are both strong and weak ties between clubs in the footballing world. These strong and weak connections are also similar to the positive and negative relationships between these clubs. Normally, when thinking about rivalries there would be a negative connection between clubs involved in the rivalry. And at times these clubs have separate positive relationships with different clubs. I will continue with my example of Arsenal and Tottenham. Say we pick a neutral club in the Premier League like Southampton which has a friendly relationship with both aforementioned clubs. We would have a graph that looks like this: 
This graph would of course be unbalanced since there is a negative relationship between Arsenal and Spurs even though there is a positive relationship between each of them to Southampton. This would induce instability in the relationships. And much of this instability is emphasized every summer when the summer transfer window rolls around. As teams in the same league, there are often talks between clubs to send and receive players from one another. An example, in this past summer, is Fraser Forster being sold to Spurs from Southampton. Not a transfer that caused crazy headlines but it was a subtle transfer that strengthened the connection between Spurs and Southampton and simultaneously weakened the connection between Southampton and Arsenal. Now you may ask yourself, how does this affect the overall transfer market? Well, in fact, these connections essentially dictate the market. For example, if Arsenal and Spurs wanted to both bid for a bright young player like Romeo Lavia from Southampton, Southampton would be more inclined to do business with Spurs to strengthen their connection instead of harming it to possibly pursue a better connection with Arsenal. Thus, Arsenal is already put at a disadvantage before any offers have even been made. And then a negative connection would be developed between Arsenal and Southampton which would make the above graph then balanced.
The example of Barcelona and Ajax that I provided earlier can also be further examined. Barcelona and Ajax have a strong and positive connection with one another. And if we look at Barcelona’s biggest rivals we can see that it is Real Madrid. We can infer here that because Ajax and Barcelona have such a strong connection that there would be a weak and negative connection between Ajax and Real Madrid. And as shown in prior years that is the case. There would be a graph created that looked like this:
This graph is balanced since there is a friendship between Barcelona and Ajax that has a mutual enemy in Real Madrid. And the past transfer windows have made this evident. As Barcelona and Real Madrid are rivals there are rarely any transfers between them. The interesting thing here is the lack of transfers between Ajax and Real Madrid. Ajax is a team that produces immense amounts of talent that catch the eye of various clubs around the world. Including both Barcelona and Real Madrid. But, what becomes obvious is the favoritism given to Barcelona when they’re both interested in the same player. For example, a few years ago the newest name that had many clubs interested was Frenkie De Jong. Ajax aided Barcelona in their pursuit of the Netherlands International by advising him that the best career choice would be to join Barcelona.
Thus, having connections and primarily strong connections with other clubs in the footballing world is invaluable. Many times these connections are the driving factor in many completed transfers around the football world. And if you’re hoping to build a successful team having these positive relationships will help you build a better team while simultaneously putting down your rivals, which is what many sports fans, in general, find much joy in doing.
Source:
The in-depth history of Ajax and Barcelona’s unique relationship
https://www.worldsoccershop.com/guide/history-of-the-north-london-derby-arsenal-tottenham