Why there's been scant movement in transfer market

	Arsenal captain Thierry Henry could move to Barcelona in a game of musical transfer chairs, but the first domino has yet to fall. AP
	MAILBAG Gabriele Marcotti will periodically answer questions from SI.com users in his mailbag. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

Did I miss something? What's going on? It's the third week in June and the transfer market is lifeless. Take away Manchester United (which moved swiftly and effectively to lock up Owen Hargreaves, Anderson and Nani before the end of May) and things look positively dead.

La Liga? Lots of talk, but nothing real (although I suppose that can be excused since the season is only just now wrapping up). Serie A? Cristian Chivu moving to Inter Milan, Vincenzo Iaquinta to Juventus. And that's largely it.

Premiership? United aside, all we've had is Chelsea's three free transfers (Claudio Pizzarro, Tal Ben Haim and Steve Sidwell), none of whom sets pulses racing. Elsewhere? Bayern Munich secured the services of Luca Toni and may yet get Miroslav Klose on board.

Is this supposed to be happening? Weren't we told that French and English clubs would have more money to spend than ever before, that AC Milan would cash in its Champions League prize money, that Juventus, back in Serie A, would rebuild its side instantly, that there would be major upheavals in Spain?

All this may yet happen, of course. But for now, it's worth noting how little money is splashing around. And it may not be a coincidence. As I've noted elsewhere, from 1999 to 2003, there were no fewer than five transfers worth more than $50 million (Hernán Crespo to Lazio, Luís Figo, Zinédine Zidane and Ronaldo to Real Madrid, Rio Ferdinand to Manchester United and Gigi Buffon to Juventus). Since then, there has been only one: Andriy Shevchenko to Chelsea. Where has the money gone?

The answer, perhaps can be found in the convergence of two factors. The first is that most clubs are now trying to operate with an eye on the bottom line. Some, like those taken over by American "investors" (United and Liverpool), need to turn a profit to deal with the interest payments on the debts accumulated in the takeover or in the building of a new stadium. Others, like Roma, are still hobbled by the massive debts accumulated at the turn of the millennium.

The second factor ties in neatly with the first and has to do with the disappearance of second-tier clubs. Not that long ago, the likes of Parma, Leeds, Lazio, Deportivo La Coruña, Borussia Dortmund, Fiorentina, Newcastle and others floated just a few notches beneath the big boys.

And while they couldn't match the mega-clubs, they nevertheless had some cash available which served to drive up transfer prices. They also offered convenient destinations for the big clubs' unwanted players. You might pay $30 million for a striker one year only to find he was a bust. No problem; you could always off-load him for half that to one of the "second-tier" clubs.

Now, however, the gap between rich and poor has increased and the "middle class," for lack of a better term, has evaporated. Big clubs find themselves with stockpiles of unwanted talent for the simple reason that there are very few clubs outside the top tier who can afford $15 million transfers and, more importantly, wages in excess of $6 million a year.