Spanish clubs break spending record
LA LIGA SPANISH clubs spent a record €1,3-billion (about R22b) on new players in the summer transfer window but there was still a sense of unfinished business at La Liga’s biggest two clubs.
Barcelona had spent most of the summer mulling over the possible signing of Neymar from Paris Saint Germain.
And Real Madrid had began the transfer market period with the clear intention of signing Paul Pogba from Manchester United.
Neither club fulfilled their objective but La Liga still managed to beat last season’s record spend of €888m.
Joao Felix to Atletico Madrid for €127m, Antoine Griezmann to Barcelona for €120m and Eden Hazard to Real Madrid for an estimated €100m were the three biggest deals.
Felix’ move to the Spanish capital beat Atletico’s existing transfer record of €70m last year for Thomas Lemar by some distance.
As well as Hazard, Real Madrid also bought Ferland Mendy from Lyon, Luka Jovic from Eintracht Frankfurt and Eder Militao from Porto as they topped the spending league in Spain by shedding out €298m on new players.
Barcelona complemented the signing of Griezmann with the acquisition of Frenkie de Jong from Ajax and Neto from Valencia as they spent €246m.
Atletico Madrid were the third highest spenders with an overall outlay of €245m.
Despite so many big money deals there was still a sense of anti-climax as the window closed on Monday at midnight.
Real Madrid never came close to bringing Pogba to the club. And Barcelona’s very public trips to Paris to persuade PSG to part with Neymar also proved fruitless.
La Liga also brought in record sums with €992m generated in sales. And it was a player leaving the league that made the most impact on deadline day.
Real Madrid confirmed the sale of goalkeeper Keylor Navas to PSG on Monday afternoon with Alphonse Areola making the opposite journey on loan.
Sevilla was also busy on the last day of the window. They announced the loan signing of Yassine Bounou from Girona on Monday, allowing Sergio Rico to join PSG on loan.
They also signed Mexican striker Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez on deadline day.
A Sevilla statement said: “Aged 31, Chicharito is the highest scorer in the Mexico national team’s history with 51 goals in 108 games. He signs for three seasons.”
The fee is undisclosed but Spanish media speculated that Sevilla will pay West Ham around €7,75m.
“I want to push myself and show that I can be worthy of a club this size,” he said.
Sevilla’s sporting director Monchi added: “I have rarely seen a player with this much desire to join our project.”
Sevilla brought in 13 players overall with Monchi doing plenty of business back at his former club after leaving them for Roma two seasons ago.