José Mourinho predicts fewer ‘crazy’ transfers after football returns | Football

José Mourinho has predicted there will be fewer “crazy” transfers after football returns from shutdown.

Tottenham signed Steven Bergwijn for £27m from PSV Eindhoven in January, while also breaking their club record to acquire Tanguy Ndombele for £55m last summer but Mourinho believes the Premier League, and leagues around the world, will need a different approach because of the coronavirus crisis having hit clubs’ finances.

“It is normal you are going to have a different market, I don’t see the world – especially the football world – ready for some crazy numbers we used to have,” he said. “The first questions after that is will be when will the transfer window be? I don’t think it will be in July or August anymore, it has to go further than that.

“I would like my club to be what I know what we will be: sensible, balanced and not going to spend rivers of money. We are trying to respect the situation, not just the football but the situation in the world and society overall. But it is the last thing we are thinking, we are not thinking about it. There are no talks about it. We think about safety and following every rule.”

Mourinho is keen to resume as soon as possible. “Since the moment the Bundesliga started, since the Portuguese and Spanish leagues announced a date to restart, that is the most difficult moment for us,” he said. “We want to play, it’s hard to see other countries playing football and we don’t do it.

“But we trust what the authorities and Premier League are doing. When they say it’s the moment to start, we want to do it.”