Spending Hits New Heights

Spain had hit the billion-Euro mark before the madness had even really begun.

The transfer window had only been open for two weeks and La Liga spending had already gone higher than ever. By Monday morning, July 15, it was past €1,000million and rising.

And while clubs were doing their business surprisingly early – whatever happened to manana, manana? – it wasn’t over yet. There were still sixand-a-half weeks left, and some of the biggest, most complex deals still awaited.

Everywhere, everyone was going wild. Well, almost everyone; as usual, Athletic Bilbao were a case apart.

At the very start of the summer, one La Liga coach confided that this might be the busiest summer anyone could remember. In all probability there would be more arrivals and more departures than there had ever been. He was talking about his own club, but he could just as well have been talking about them all.

Joao Felix €126million, Antoine Griezmann €120m, Eden Hazard €100m: they led the way, the stars that captured the early imagination, but there were others. Many others. Even the Premier League trailed behind.

For the first time in 11 years, Spain was outspending England – for a while, at least.

By mid-July, five of the eight most expensive signings in Europe had been made by Spanish clubs. Two of the other three – Rodri to Manchester City and Lucas Hernandez to Bayern Munich – had come from Spanish clubs, which helps to explain things. And while most of the headlines, as usual, were for Real Madrid and Barcelona, it was Atletico who are the real outliers, with their vast expenditure driven by sales.