There is less than a month to go before the winter football transfer window will open in Europe, and we await a lot of transfers again, regardless of their costs. One thing that should not be underestimated is the fact of how much each club spent already in summer, which clubs are even able to spend again in winter? To evaluate that, we take a look at the previous football transfer window in summer 2020.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the football summer transfer window 2020/21 turned out as a particularly special one: the previous season ended late in most leagues and the transfer window in Europe was open until October. But the buying and selling behaviour of the clubs within the transfer market has also changed. This series takes a closer look at the transfer deals in the top leagues in Europe as we continue with the Spanish La Liga.
Methodology
First of all, we will need to clarify which statistics we will focus on. We consider all relevant information in terms of departures, arrivals, income, and expenditure of each club.
In this analysis, we will take a close look at the number of arrivals and departures from different clubs. In addition, the data analysis will show how much each individual club has spent on these arrivals and how much was earned on departures (always in million euros). In the end, we will be able to take balance by comparing income and expenditure.
Arrivals & Departures
We start with a comparison between arrivals and departures at each club. How many players are new at the club and how many players left the club? This also includes players who came back from a loan or who are currently on loan.
It is quite interesting to see that financially weaker clubs like Real Valladolid and Villareal, followed by Cadiz and Sevilla, had the most arrivals during the summer transfer window.
The same clubs are also the clubs with the most departures in terms of saving wages: Cadiz (26), Villareal (23), Real Valladolid (24), along with Getafe (24).
Other financially strong clubs like Real Sociedad (13 arrivals) and Athletic Bilbao (14 arrivals) were not as active as the smaller clubs, but reinforced selectively. Most teams had more arrivals than departures.
Expenditure & Arrivals
In the second step, we take a look at how much each club spent in relation to the number of new arrivals.
It is outstanding that the two clubs FC Barcelona (120 million euros) and Atletico Madrid (80 million euros), followed by Sevilla FC (65 million euros) and Villareal (33 million euros), spent the most money this summer. While both FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid got 23 and 26 players respectively for their expenditures, Sevilla and Villareal got 29 and 35 new players respectively.
That sounds quite a lot but in comparison to clubs like Real Valladolid (10 million euros for 35 arrivals) and Cádiz FC (10 million euros for 33 arrivals), they went for quality instead of quantity. Several clubs spent nothing for new arrivals. One of these clubs is Real Madrid.
Income & Departures
In the third step, we also take a look at how much each club earned in relation to the number of departures in 2020´s summer transfer window.
FC Barcelona earned the most income by far (128 million euros). The departure of Arthur alone already brought 72 million euros. In this transfer window, Real Madrid did not buy many players but sold many as they had an income of 95 million euros. With Athletic Bilbao, SD Eibar, SD Huesca, and Cádiz FC, four clubs did not earn anything for their departures.
As already mentioned before, Cádiz had the most departures of 26 followed by Real Valladolid with 24 departures. Real Sociedad (8) and Athletic Bilbao (8) had the most reduced number of departures.
Balance
Now, we can take a balance in order to evaluate the summer transfer window in Germany´s Bundesliga. Therefore, we add the expenditure to the income of each club.
Four out of the six best clubs in Spain had the most income. FC Barcelona earned 128 million euros, while Real Madrid earned 95 million euros. Though FC Barcelona have a balance of approximately 8 million euros, Real Madrid provides a balance of 95 million euros.
With Sevilla, La Liga had only one club that have a very big negative balance of approximately 55 million euros. All other clubs provide a smaller negative or a positive balance for the transfer window in summer 2020/21.
Conclusion
The biggest clubs in Spain spent the most money. That is why they are unlikely to buy any new players in the winter transfer window if they do not sell any player from their current squad. Only Real Madrid could be a big player in winter if they do not want to save their money till summer. Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad act smart in summer and now has the opportunity to buy additional players. Huesca went in the season with lots of changes in their squad compared to last season in the Secunda Division. Therefore, they do not struggle to play at that high level.
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