Former Arsenal scout Damien Comolli says an agent told him only a few Premier League clubs would have money to spend this summer.

Damien Comolli, once a scout at Arsenal and most recently a sporting director at Fenerbahce, understands very few clubs will have money to spend this summer.

Speaking to Sky Sports News, Comolli relayed fears from an agent he talked with recently.

“An agent was telling me the other day, there are actually only three clubs in the Premier League who will be able to spend money next summer in the transfer window,” Comolli said.

“I don’t know if that’s correct, but when agents speak about things like this, usually they get intel. If that’s the case, I think the transfer window will be very different.

“We might see very, very little transfer activity. We might see swaps…we might see loans and I think we’re going to see a massive decrease in transfer fees.”

Certainly, swap deals seem a lot more likely now than they usually do. If you only have £10m to spend on a £30m defender, maybe you try and throw in a £20m-rated player to split the difference.

Comolli didn’t mention free transfers, but they’re surely going to become hugely popular as well. It’s hard to imagine Arsenal won’t take up their option with Cedric Soares, for example. He hasn’t played a game, but a free signing is a lot more valuable now.

Arsenal already have a lot of experience in the loan market recently, bringing in Dani Ceballos, Soares and Pablo Mari this season. So that’s a strong possibility for the Gunners as well.