Andrew Boyers/Reuters
MANCHESTER, England — At last, it seems, among all of the hundreds of millions of pounds that float around the Premier League, the penny has dropped.
The January transfer window has come and gone, barely noticed. There has been no orgy of excess, no frantic scramble to spend as much money as possible, no broken transfer-spending records, no helicopter dashes, no late-night drama.
For once — for the first time, perhaps — English soccer has been a model of restraint and of prudence. For once, it has looked not at price, but at worth.