Bundesliga CEO Christian Seifert has predicted that the summer transfer market is set for a "collapse" amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The German top flight has been sidelined since early March due to the virus, but the league is eyeing a return in early May as the country experiences more success fighting Covid-19 than many of its European counterparts.
Every Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga side returned to the training field this week, as players have been practicing social distancing while training with their team-mates.
The German top flight and second tier are currently working out a plan to return to the field and play in stadiums without fans, completing the remaining nine matches in their schedule by the end of June.
“We are part of the culture in the country, people long to get back a short piece of normal life, and that could mean the Bundesliga plays again,” Seifert told the New York Times.
“This is why we have to play our role here, and that means to support the government and to talk with the government about when we will be able to play again.”
Like other leagues in Europe, the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga have been hit hard financially by the coronavirus. Seifert estimated that not finishing the season would cost the Bundesliga €750 million ($816.5m) and that half of the 2. Bundesliga sides are currently in danger of bankruptcy.
Even if the Bundesliga does return in May, Seifert said that the absence of fans will cost the league €100m ($109m).
As the Bundesliga eyes a return to the field by next month, other top-tier leagues may not be back so quickly.
Last week, the Premier League announced that its hiatus would continue on indefinitely, amid predictions that the season may have to be cancelled.
Should other leagues in Europe experience a similar fate, it would severely curtail the ability of clubs to spend big on the transfer market in the summer. Seifert believes that not only will spending diminish drastically, but that the summer transfer market will, for all intents and purposes, not exist.
“In the short term, I would say the transfer market this summer will not exist, it will collapse,” Seifert said.
“Some agents will suddenly understand that they will have to work hard, or at least work; some leagues will understand that money is nothing that is coming automatically every month from heaven.”