David Artell appreciates that the outbreak of COVID-19 could have a detrimental impact on the transfer market.

The Crewe Alexandra boss believes that the majority of EFL clubs have been cautious with their expenditure when it comes to transfer fees over the last couple of years anyway and that their belts will be further tightened due to the loss of income during these unprecedented times.   

With Crewe Alexandra’s business plans based around selling players, the Alex boss says he isn’t sure how things will materialise once the transfer window reopens again.

He told us: “If I think that this crisis will have a detrimental effect on our business plan then I would say yes, especially in the short term.

“The transfer market has been shrinking outside the Premier League as more Championship clubs have overspent chasing the Golden Egg. They are having to pull back into line and this is not going to help them with that.

“I don’t know how things will go but after all this has passed I am sure there will be a lot of clubs who will be closer to us financially. They will have to look at their finances and live within their means a lot more.

He added: “Our business plan will remain the same but it just depends on what value we would get for our players. It is a testing time for everyone and all we can do is get through it and then plan accordingly from there.”