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"EuroFootball.com" presents to its visitors an article from "fcbarcelona.lt" about the specifics of the summer transfer window of the Spanish "Primera" championship first part.
This summer, the top clubs of the highest Spanish football league had to significantly reduce their appetite in the player market, according to the analysis of player transfers conducted by "Prime Time Sport."
The financial crisis not only restrained the spending of the giants of "Barcelona" and Real Madrid in the "Primera" championships but also harshly affected other Spanish teams, known for flashy purchases.
The study shows that in the summer of 2012, Spanish "Primera" teams spent 65 percent less on acquiring new players compared to the same period last year.
New purchases of Spanish clubs in total cost 128 million euros, which is the lowest amount among all elite European football leagues. By the amounts spent on new players, the "Primera" team surpassed clubs from Italy's "Serie A," Germany's "Bundesliga," France's "Ligue 1," and England's "Premier" leagues.
Club revenues from the sale of players also decreased. This summer, all Spanish "Primera" teams received 137 million euros for sold players, which is 37 percent less than the previous year.
For the first time in the history of Spanish football, the "Primera" league became a "national exporter." A record 50 percent of all Spanish players who changed clubs this summer went to play in the national leagues of other countries, with the total value of these transfers reaching 115 million euros. This is also the record of all time for the strongest country's division.
The changes in transfer policies are also evident in the actions of the two strongest country's teams in the player market.
"Barcelona" announced that they could allocate 40 million euros to acquire new players, but they did not spend all of this sum. They acquired defender Jordi Alba for 14 million and midfielder Alex Song for 19 million. According to Barcelona's vice president Josep Maria Bartomeu, the saved 7 million euros will be transferred to the following year.
Furthermore, "Barcelona" remained faithful to its principle of continuing to promote academy players.
In the summer of 2012, defenders Marc Bartra, Martin Montoya, Marc Muniesa, and midfielder Jonathan dos Santos were promoted from the reserve team to the main team. Professional contracts were signed with this quartet, and the redemption value of each player increased from 12 to 30 million euros. Barcelona constantly uses this safety net to prevent potential buyers of its academy players from being disappointed without direct negotiations with the Catalan club.
The study shows that "Barcelona" has been reducing the funds allocated for acquiring new players for the third consecutive season, and the team composition changes only slightly each year, with only necessary acquisitions. Statistics show that currently, an average of 3.7 seasons is played by one Barcelona player in the team. This is the most stable and least changing composition among all the most powerful teams in the Old Continent.
This summer, Real Madrid also dropped out of the top ten most expensive European clubs. The capital's team acquired the expensive Luka Modric, but sold or loaned other players to balance the expenses.
The once famous for expensive acquisitions "Real" now falls behind in expenses over the past four years.
Since 2008, "los blancos" have spent 428 million euros on new players, while the "Manchester City" club owned by wealthy investors from Qatar has already spent an impressive amount of 442 million euros strengthening the team over several seasons.
The research shows that this summer, "Paris Saint-Germain," "Chelsea" from London, and the Sankt Peterburg "Zenit," which rushed in the last days of the so-called "transfer" window, opened their wallets the widest. Zenit acquired Hulk and Axel Witsel.
The Parisian team paid a total of 147 million euros for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, and other newcomers, the London club strengthened for 100 million euros, while the Russian team - for 95 million euros.
