Despite the whole data-driven approach gaining traction in the sport and some teams seeming to have an innovative approach to the game both on and off the pitch, football as a sport and as a business is one of the most inefficient and unregulated markets out there. This stems from almost every footballing institution(from the clubs, transfer markets and organizations like UEFA and FIFA). What do I mean by an inefficient market?

BOARD ROOM INEFFICIENCY:

Most football clubs operate on a manager-first basis. The most important part of football is the players and the decision of which players to buy and sell is left to the managers. The irony here is that the managers spend the least amount of time at a club before they get sacked. Take Leeds for example, post the Bielsa era, they hired Jesse Marsch for a particular brand of football. Under his guidance, they signed Aaronsen, Tyler Adams, Marc Roca, and Weston Mckennie(in January). He gets sacked and the subsequent managers have no correlation to the type of football that these players are suited for. That is inefficiency in the board room. Revolving the transfers around the club itself is necessary and for that, the following inefficiency needs to be solved.

The second inefficiency is being unclear about the type of football their teams want to play. Look at Everton, their managers were Ancelotti, Benitez, Lampard and now it is Dyche. Under each manager, they have brought in players tailored to the manager. James Rodriguez under Ancelotti, Rondon under Benitez, and then Lampard had no say in the transfers except for Dele Alli. Setting the culture of the club in the modern game comes from the style of play that needs to be ingrained throughout the club. It is necessary because of the possible ramifications like relegation or relatively poor performance in the league(looking at Chelsea). These inefficiencies at most clubs lead to unregulated transfer markets because players are most likely misjudged and therefore undervalued/overvalued in the transfer market.