Spanish giants experience contrasting transfer windows
BARCELONA signed Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund for a club record fee but ended the transfer market without their primary target, Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho.
The Catalans played a major role in the Spanish window action, spending € 147m (RM745.1m) including add-ons to buy Dembele, after Paris Saint-Germain lavished € 222m (RM1.13 billion) on Neymar, paying his buy-out clause and leaving Barcelona with a hole to fill.
Barcelona had brought in Gerard Deulofeu from Everton, taking advantage of a € 12m (RM60.8m) buy-back fee, Paulinho from Guangzhou Evergrande for € 40m (RM202.7m) and Nelson Semedo from Benfica for € 30m (RM152m).
However in what will ultimately be viewed as a disappointing transfer window, the Catalans failed to sign Coutinho and also had a bid rejected for PSG’s Angel Di Maria in the final hours before close of play on Friday, according to Spanish reports.
“My intention is that one more player comes in and, if it’s possible, two,” said sporting director Robert Fernandez, but he was not able to accomplish it.
While Barcelona were scrambling around on the final day, Real Madrid did their business early, clinically striking for two of the most talented young players in Spain.
Madrid paid Atletico Madrid € 30m (RM152m) for leftback Theo Hernandez and Real Betis € 16.5m (RM83.6m) for midfielder Dani Ceballos, on the back of his sensational displays at the U21 European Championships, with both deals tied up in the first half of July.
Madrid also let some big names go, with Chelsea signing Alvaro Morata and Bayern Munich loaning James Rodriguez, as Zinedine Zidane thinned his squad.
“With the team I have and the squad we have right now, I don’t want anyone [else],” said Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane.
“We are all ready.” Across town it was a quiet window for Atletico Madrid owing to their FIFA ban on registering players, although they did sign winger Vitolo from Sevilla and loan him to Las Palmas until January.
The Canary Island club sealed a deadline day deal for striker Loic Remy, on a free transfer from Chelsea, with the French striker giving them some attacking edge.
Valencia secured two season-long loan deals late Friday, bringing in PSG’s Portuguese winger Goncalo Guedes and Manchester United midfielder Andreas Pereira.
Sevilla’s loan deal for Schalke midfielder Johannes Geis also made it over the line on deadline day, while Deportivo La Coruna signed Watford goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon on a one-year loan as well. – dpa