© EuroFootball.com
The so-called winter transfer window in Spain, as forecasted, ended without major surprises.
At the end of November, the agreement between "Barcelona" and PSV Eindhoven regarding the acquisition of attacking midfielder Ibrahim Afellay was announced, so this deal did not surprise anyone.
The Catalans paid just 3 million euros for the versatile footballer and signed a contract valid until 2015. Afellay's previous contract with PSV would have ended this summer, so the Dutch club simply took advantage of the last opportunity to earn some extra money.
There were no surprises with Real Madrid's decision to look for a new forward either. Gonzalo Higuain, who was suffering from back pain, underwent surgery and will not be able to play for at least three months, so the team from the Spanish capital had to find a replacement for at least half a year.
The name Ruud van Nistelrooy was in the air, but "Hamburg" refused to release the player to Spain. So Real Madrid turned to England, where they found reinforcement in Emmanuel Adebayor, who belongs to "Man City." If the Togo international succeeds in fitting into Madrid, Real will have the right to buy him for 15 million euros.
The most players - five - were added to the "Malaga" team owned by the sheikh of Qatar. The wealthy team owners did not splash out with impressive sums: they paid only 2 million to the team "Roma" for Júlio Baptista, while the young defender Ignacio Camacho cost one and a half million, whom the "Seville" enticed from Madrid "Atletico."
From the same team, a promising goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo arrived in Malaga, Martin Demichelis was loaned from "Bayern" Munich, and Enzo Maresca arrived as a free agent.
The largest amount spent on a player acquired this winter is just 7 million euros. That's how much Brazilian Elias Mendes cost the Madrid "Atletico" team, acquired from San Paolo "Corinthians." Former Pamplona "Osasuna" defender Juanfran cost "indians" another 5 million euros.
So, only 12 million euros, spent on the acquisition of two players, were enough for the Madrid "Atletico" team to become the record holder for the winter transfer window in the Spanish capital.
By the way, the "Atletico" lost perhaps the most famous player in the "Primera" championships among all those who changed teams in January. The ambitious Istanbul "Besiktas" added Portuguese Simao Sabrosa, which cost the Turks only 900 thousand euros.
Several well-known players have returned to Spain to compete.
Former "Barcelona" youth academy player Giovani Dos Santos, who was considered very promising a few seasons ago, put on the Racing Santander jersey. The player was loaned to the Cantabrian team until the end of the season by the management of London's "Tottenham."
Deportivo La Coruna will be represented for half a year by former player Xisco Jimenez, who had previously played for the team. The 24-year-old footballer still belongs to the "Newcastle" team, and this will be his second season in a row in Spain.
Cicinho, a former "Real" defender, will play in the "Villarreal" team this time in the "Liga BBVA" championship. The team borrowed the player from "Roma" for half a year.
Deportivo often scouts players from the "Barcelona" youth academy and also tried to attract several Catalan club graduates this time, but they did not succeed and borrowed Francisco Javier "Javito" Peral from "Aris" Salonika for half a year.
Sevilla team was supplemented by Croatian Ivan Rakitic, who arrived from the team Gelzenkirchen "Schalke" playing in the German "Bundesliga" championship. The Andalusian team paid only 2.5 million euros for the forward. A little more, 3 million euros, was the cost of 22-year-old defender Gary Medel, who arrived from the "Universidad Catolica" in Chile.
Sensationally, after beating "Osasuna" with a score of eleven nil, Madrid "Real" was supplemented by Barcelona's "Espanyol" loaned forward Ferran Corominas.
Espanyol made a relatively rare move in the transfer market lately - player exchanges. The Barcelona team acquired 100% rights to the 26-year-old Argentine Jesus Datolo, while defenseman Victor Ruiz went to "Napoli" and brought in the team 6 million euros.
Another former Espanyol defender - Didac Villa, a 21-year-old, went to play for "Milan" for 4 million euros to continue his career in Italy.
No changes took place in the winter in only one club in the top division of Spanish football - Hercules from Alicante.
In a nutshell: this winter, Spain is as far from England as it is to the Moon.
