Transfer market | The summer in which LaLiga has lost its pulse with European football and Saudi Arabia

2023-09-02 09:49:10

LaLiga continues to lose talent, that is one of the conclusions we can draw from a transfer market in which many squads have been forced to sell their best assets to balance accounts and in which only Real Madrid, with the signing of Jude Bellingham for 103 million euros and that of Arda Güler for 20, broke with a dynamic in which the general trend for sports management has been to “let out before entering” and none of the Spanish teams have reached and spent over the twenty million barrier.

Far behind the two white signings remain Loic Badé for 12 million euros to the Sevilla, footballer who already played last season at the Andalusian club on loan with a mandatory purchase option; the 13 of the Royal Society in Arsen Zakharyan; o the 12 of Celta de Vigo in Anastasios Douvikastop scorer from the last Eredivisie.

Economic flexibility that has hardly been noticed

At the beginning of this summer and with the aim of making more flexible and stimulating the arrival of more names to the clubs in the competition, LaLiga announced a change in regulations in which the clubs could use up to 50% of the income they released (previously it was 40%) in salaries and transfers. This percentage could be increased up to 60% if the player sold involved a salary expense of more than 5% of the total cost of the team’s squad.

But one important aspect remained. which is related to income from transfers. If the sold player’s token does not exceed 5% of the salary mass, the selling club that exceeds the salary margin can only use 20% of the total transfer in new incorporations and registrations, rising to 35% if the player leaving the club charges more than that 5%. This is an important aspect, because, despite the income from player sales, the clubs can only invest a minimum percentage when the salary limit is exceeded, which does not allow for large movements.

In general terms, the League clubs have seen how their coffers have grown fat with the sale of many of their main assets while the coaches make “bobbin lace” to be able to compete with increasingly shorter squads. Or they are forced to have discards with large salaries that they cannot place in teams of our competition. For all these reasons, the League in this market has fallen to fifth position in spending figures within the major European Leagues behind the PremierSerie A, Ligue 1 and Bundesliga. Also behind the great agitator of that market, the saudi arabia leaguewho has emerged in this market as the great threat, also catching young players from our League, as is the case of Gabri Veiga, who left Celta de Vigo for 36 million euros at just 19 years old, attracted by the conditions of the emerging Saudi football.

In the Premier only four emulate our League

In this market, the Premier League has again thrown the house out the window as usual. Only four clubs have not overcome the barrier of 20 million euros of spending: newly promoted Luton Town and Burnley, Wolverhampton Wanderers (in a similar situation to Valencia CF) and Nottingham Forest.

For the rest, signings like the one of Declan Rice for 116 million or the 75 for Kai Havertz inverted by Arsenal o the 116 by Moisés Caicedo, the 62 by the Belgian Romeo Lavia by Chelsea, the 70 by Liverpool in Dominik Szoboszlai, Manchester United’s 75 in its brand new strikerthe Belgian Rasmus Hojlund or the 90s of the League champions, Guardiola’s Manchester City, in Josko Gvardiol They stand out in a League in which spending has exceeded 1,200 million euros.

Italy has also regained its position of power with 764 million euros invested in which there are no large disbursements for footballers who monopolize the most expensive transfer rankings in this market, but in which many clubs with investments of over ten million euros do stand out, something that in the League only Real Sociedad, Celta de Vigo or Sevilla have managed to do in the middle zone.

In France, PSG stands out from the rest in terms of spending: the 60 million in Manuel Ugarte, the 50 in Ousmane Dembélé or the 45 in Lucas Hernández from Bayern Munich increase the figures in a League in which almost 700 million expenses are reached (686.24).

While in Germany, Bayern Munich has been forced to invest in a striker after his irregular last season, signing the Englishman Harry Kane for 100 million euros, who has become one of the signings of the summer and the most face in the history of the Munich club, something unthinkable for a Spanish club other than Real Madrid, the only Spanish club capable of keeping up with the pace set by the rest of the leagues and clubs in each market.

For 50 million, the Korean center-back Min-jae Kim has also arrived in Munich, while in Spain, FC Barcelona has had problems registering Iñigo Martínezwho arrived free from an Athletic that has not invested in a substitute either.

Saudi Arabia, the new threat

But the irruption of Saudi Arabia, without a doubt, has been the great concern for European and Spanish clubs this summer. The spectacular salaries and the conditions promised in the contracts proposed by these clubs have turned world football upside down and from great figures who starred in Champions League duels until last year. Investments in stars have been added to the signings of Cristiano Ronaldo or Karim Benzema as Riyad Mahrez or Sadio Mane over 20 million Brazilian Fabinho for 47 million euros from Liverpool, the Portuguese Otavio for 60 million from Porto or 90 million euros for Neymar.

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Figures in transfers and salaries that go beyond utopia for Spanish clubs classified for Europe that suffer to retain their talents, as is the case with Sergio Canales or to register their new players, as was the case with Bellerín or Bartra. Barça has had to resort to footballers who were out of contract, such as Íñigo Martínez or Gundogan, or operations at zero cost such as the transfers of Joao Félix and Joao Cancelo to reinforce their squad. A situation similar to the one that Atlético de Madrid has resorted to, whose most notorious additions have arrived without disbursing a euro (Azpilicueta and Soyuncu).

Be that as it may, and although different remedies are being tried, the reality is that LaLiga is bleeding to death when it comes to competing in the market for the great jewels of the market and also, to retain the ones you already have. Debts continue to be the protagonists in clubs that lose talent for nothing, which also suffers the show in the long run.