THE CORONAVIRUS HAS left its mark on transfer activity as well as everything else with Newcastle United’s interest in signing Irish players, Robbie Brady and Jeff Hendrick, placed on hold. Celtic are also monitoring Hendrick’s situation closely.

The midfielder – capped 54 times by Ireland – is out of contract on 30 June this year whereas Burnley have the contractual right to trigger a clause in Brady’s deal which would see him remain on board until June 2021. Sources have indicated they are likely to take that option and have also suggested that Hendrick is likelier to be at Burnley next season than elsewhere.

A major complication in all of this is the global sporting shutdown caused by the Coronavirus with The Athletic reporting today that Fifa are set to extend the 2019-20 season indefinitely and facilitate contract extensions for players whose deals expire at the end of June. It is unclear, however, if this emergency legislation would compel players to extend their stay at a club if their preference was to leave.

April normally is when the wheeling and dealing between clubs and football agents intensifies. However, little to no business is being done right now, with clubs re-evaluating their budgets on a daily basis.

Burnley released a statement via their website on Saturday saying they are anticipating the loss of €5.8 million per game if matches are moved behind closed doors when the Premier League resumes. In total, the club fears it could lose €50 million.

“It’s a completely unprecedented situation that we and other Premier League clubs face and which we could not have foreseen in any way only just a few weeks ago,” Mike Garlick, the Burnley chairman, said.

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“It’s now not just about Burnley or any other individual club anymore, it’s about the whole football ecosystem from the Premier League downwards and all the other businesses and communities that feed from that ecosystem.”

In this context, no deals are likely to be struck any time soon irrespective of how interested Newcastle and Celtic are in their midfielders.