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The giants devastated the transfer market even before it opened
Long before the official opening of the transfer window, leading European clubs signed contracts with those newcomers whom they had been hunting for a long time. Now the giants are only selectively closing problematic positions or trading for those they were unable to acquire on the spot. And as always, the focus is on the clubs of the three leading European championships.England. In the British Isles in recent days they have been discussing not Chelsea, but Manchester United and the history of Carlos Tevez's transfer to this club. The British cannot figure out who actually owns the rights to the Argentine forward - West Ham, for whom he played last season, or businessman Kia Jurabchan. In Manchester they want to do business with West Ham, Joorabchan insists that transfer issues need to be discussed with him. To resolve the conflict, the parties decided to contact FIFA, but they still cannot give an answer. Tevez himself does not hide that he would like to quickly resolve this situation and be under the leadership of Alex Ferguson, who does not hide what awaits the Argentinean.
Meanwhile, Chelsea, focused on extending contracts with its leaders, does not forget to look at the transfer market. The Blues' latest acquisition was Florent Malouda, bought from Lyon for 20 million euros. It is likely that Chelsea will stop there. The most wasteful club this winter may well be Liverpool. Following Fernando Torres, who cost 35 million euros, Lucas (10 million euros), Yossi Benayoun (6 million euros) and free Ukrainian Andrey Voronin, Ryan Babel joined the team. Ajax received 17 million euros for the Dutch youth team midfielder. At the same time, Babel violated the recommendations of the national team coach Marco van Basten, who had previously made it clear that young players would receive a place in his team only if they remained in their homeland.
Italy. Clubs in other European countries cannot afford to spend as much as they spend in England. For example, in Italy, the largest deal remains the transfer of David Suazo to Inter, which cost the Italian champions only 14 million euros. Against this background, the requests of Spartak Moscow, which does not intend to give up Radoslav Kovac to Inter for less than 15-20 million euros, look more than unrealistic.
But the relative quiet of the Apennines can be deceptive. The Italian market could blow up Milan, which has repeatedly made it clear that it is ready to pay Barcelona 150 million euros in compensation for Ronaldinho. But there is little hope for this. Even club owner Silvio Berlusconi recently said that Milan would stop trying to buy the Brazilian from Barça. But at the same time, they will not part with Kaka, for whom Real offered more than 100 million.
Milan, which has not made any acquisitions, needs attacking players. Recently, a lot has been said about the interest of the “red-blacks” in CSKA striker Vagner Love, who attracted their attention at the America’s Cup.
Back in June, having paid Lyon 13 million euros for Thiago, Juventus recalled his return to Serie A. Later, the “old lady” added to the extensive list of acquisitions with the significant transfer of Jorge Andrade for 10 million euros.
In Spain, the transfer record is still held by Real Madrid: the royal club did not spare 28 million euros for Porto defender Pepe. He will clearly not hurt the team of Shuster, who recently parted ways with defensive players Raul Bravo and Francisco Pavon. Well, Barcelona is taking things on a grand scale. Right during the Copa America, Argentina national team defender Gabriel Milito was bought from Zaragoza, costing the Catalans 20 million euros. Considering that Barca have already spent money on Henry (24 million euros), Toure (12 million euros) and Abidal (15 million euros), we can hardly expect any sudden movements from the Catalans in the transfer market. The President of the Catalans, Jean Laporta, has almost completely emptied the budget allocated for acquisitions, but is still in his right mind to succumb to the persuasion of Milan and sell Ronaldinho.
As always, Atlético is active. The eternal losers of the Spanish Primera have not yet lost hope of one day intervening in the dispute between the favorites and are again not sparing money on football players. Diego Forlan for 21 million euros should provide power in attack, Raul Garcia and Luis Garcia, at a cost of 13 and 6 million euros respectively, will create competition in the center of the field. But that's not all. Atlético plans to acquire Simão from Benfica, for whom Madrid is willing to pay up to 20 million. Perhaps this is not the limit. But many teams, having completed their teams, have already begun preparing for the season.