Listing each and every one of the transfers that have occurred in a First Division transfer window is usually a long and tedious exercise.
But, in this case, the covid winter market, it is not:
Carlos Fernández
(10 million euros) has left Sevilla for Real Sociedad,
Papu Gómez
(5.5) has taken his place at the Sánchez-Pizjuán from from Atalanta,
Étienne Capoue
(2) arrives at Villarreal from Watford and
Augusto Solari
(0.5) leaves Racing de Avellaneda to reinforce Celta.
There are only four, yes.
There's no more.
The data perfectly reflects the impact of the pandemic on the economies of Spanish clubs.
If the summer market was already an austere market, the January market has been directly for balances.
Both English West Ham and Dutch Ajax have spent more money than all LaLiga teams combined.
In the absence of the possible closure of some operations, among the 20 Primera teams they have spent 21 million euros, according to data compiled by
Transfermarkt
.
And almost half corresponds to the signing of Carlos Fernández and a fourth to that of Papu Gómez.
It is the lowest investment in transfers in the League since January 2013.
The explanation for this drastic contraction is simple: the clubs don't have a penny.
The impact of the pandemic on their economies, far from being mitigated, has increased in recent months.
The salary limit with which they worked in summer was based on the premise that from January there would begin to be a percentage of the public in the stadiums, accounting for 55% of their income from season tickets from previous seasons.
Less money than in summer
Reality buried that forecast and it was weeks ago that the League notified the clubs that those limits would be reduced, eliminating any forecast of season ticket income.
In other words, all teams now have less money to sign than in the summer.
And more than one exceeds his salary limit without having hired anyone.
Given this circumstance, many clubs answered whoever asked throughout the month that it was necessary for a player to leave so that another could arrive, generating a vicious circle of difficult escape: I want to get rid of a player, but no one has the capacity to sign him , because everyone wants to get rid of players who they cannot place in another club.
The market closing day, usually hectic, was quiet in the vast majority of cities.
It's not that they didn't want to sign anyone, it's that they couldn't.
In all Europe
Huesca, Betis, Levante, Athletic, Barcelona and Real Madrid have closed the month without any new faces in their squads.
Valencia, with the transfers of
Cutrone
,
Ferro
and
Oliva
and the return of the loan player
Piccini
, is the other side of the coin.
Apart from those already mentioned, the main movements of the month have been the transfers of
Moussa Dembélé
to Atlético and those of
Kubo
and
Aleñá
to Getafe.
Players such as
Diego Costa
,
Sanabria
,
Jovic
,
Odegaard
and
Willian José
, only the first two definitively,
have left the League
, generating total income of just over 21 million euros, only 10 from foreign leagues.
As it happened in the summer, the investment collapse is particularly pronounced in Spain, but it affects all of Europe.
A year ago, the clubs of the five major leagues spent 927 million euros to strengthen themselves, while now the figure does not reach 300. The record signing of this window - it is actually the execution of a mandatory purchase option - is the of
Said Benrahma
for West Ham, for 23 million euros.
In January 2020 there were nine signings that exceeded that figure, two of them in Spain.
Three years ago, it was 11.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
Real society
Real Madrid
Diego Costa
Luka jovic
Martin Odegaard
Sevilla FC
FC Barcelona
SD Huesca
Getafe CF
sports
soccer
First division
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LaLiga Santander 2020 - 2021Koeman: "Barça is not there to win many things"
LaLiga A left-wing Barcelona finds relief in Huesca
See links of interest
Messi contract
2021 business calendar
Leganés - Lugo
Real Betis - Osasuna
Sabadell - UD Logroñés