Paris (AFP)
Surprise appointment on an English bench, returning marks in Germany and a very active AC Milan: the winter transfer window in Europe, which closes on Monday, remained very wise even if a few hits are still possible in the last hours.
- England: the Tuchel surprise -
Even if this appointment could have taken place outside the transfer window, the big surprise in January was the dismissal of Frank Lampard by Chelsea and his replacement by the former coach of Paris SG Thomas Tuchel.
The results of the heavy investments of the summer (250 million euros) were too slow to translate on the ground for the impatient boss Roman Abramovich and the fact that the German found himself free just before Christmas, after being dismissed of his functions in Paris, favored this change in high season.
For the rest, few spectacular movements this winter, economic crisis obliges.
Arsenal still managed to get rid of Mesut Özil and his bulky salary - he joined Fenerbahçe - and Sokratis Papastathopoulos.
On the other hand, he was loaned to the promising Martin Odegaard by Real Madrid.
But the leader Manchester City and especially the defending champion Liverpool have been, for the time being, extremely discreet, even if the Reds could still move on this file.
The French have them, still the odds across the Channel, since Morgan Sanson (ex-OM), recruited by Aston Villa, and Jean-Philippe Mateta, loaned with option to buy by Mainz at Crystal Palace, will discover the Premier League .
- Germany: feedback -
The winter transfer window has remained very good in Germany.
Bayern had announced in December that they would not sign any players and the other Bundesliga tenors haven't moved much either, with the exception of Leipzig who went for the 20-year-old Hungarian talent Dominik Szoboszlai (RB Salzburg) for 20 million euros.
The market has mainly worked in the direction of returns: ex-Dutch international Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Ajax Amsterdam), former darling of Schalke supporters, returned at 37 with a contract until the end of the season to try to save the club, red lantern of the championship.
On Sunday, Hertha Berlin also announced the imminent recruitment of ex-international Sami Khedira, the 33-year-old 2014 world champion, who no longer plays for Juventus.
The other notable coup in January was pulled off by Frankfurt, which brought back striker Luca Jovic from Real Madrid in the form of a loan.
- Italy: Milan is active -
In Italy, Milan was one of the most active with a reinforcement by line: the Croatian striker Mario Mandzukic (free), the French midfielder Soualiho Meïté (on loan from Torino) and the English defender Fikayo Tomori (on loan from Chelsea).
Atalanta Bergamo, for its part, mainly settled the case of Alejandro Gomez, in conflict with coach Gian Piero Gasperini: "Papu" has joined Sevilla.
At Roma, the future of Edin Dzeko, whose relations are also polar with coach Paulo Fonseca, is still open but the Bosnian could stay in Rome where the Italian international Stephan El Shaarawy (ex-Shanghai Shenhua ).
At Inter, Antonio Conte had to curb his desire for change in the face of the club's economic difficulties.
Only Radja Nainggolan returned to Cagliari.
Christian Eriksen is still there.
As for Juventus, it has not remained inactive but has especially invested in young players (the former Marseillais Marley Aké, the Italian hope Nicolo Rovella).
Fernando Llorente, not used in Naples, will try to bounce back at Udinese, like Kevin Strootman (ex-Marseille) at Genoa.
- Spain: no follies -
In Spain, no transaction exceeded the ten million euro mark.
According to the press, negotiations continue between Real Madrid and Bayern defender David Alaba, whose contract runs until June.
The return of Eric Garcia (Manchester City) to FC Barcelona has been compromised by the postponement of the election of the next president of the Blaugrana club, severely affected by the crisis linked to Covid-19.
The best shots were signed by Sevilla FC with Papu Gomez, and Atlético Madrid.
The "Colchoneros" attracted striker Moussa Dembélé (Lyon) on a six-month loan (1.5 M EUR, option to buy 33.5 M EUR excluding bonus) to compensate for the departure of Diego Costa (free).
The most expensive operation is the work of Real Sociedad: the Basques signed Spanish center-forward Carlos Fernandez (Sevilla FC) until 2027 for around EUR 9m.
© 2021 AFP