The Spanish transfer window remained open a little longer than the rest of Europe but with the majority of their deals done, our La Liga expert takes a look at three winners and three losers.
Look away now Barcelona fans…
It has been a highly eventful summer at the Estadio Benito Villamarin, where a bright and shiny brand new stand has been opened to symbolise a new dawn which features several exciting new arrivals.
New coach Quique Setien has rejuvenated his midfield with the captures of Victor Camarasa, Andres Guardado and Ryad Boudebouz, and the attack has been sharpened up with the signing of Sergio Leon – who has already scored for his new club – Cristian Tello and, on deadline day, Joel Campbell.
Those signings more than make up for the loss of star turn Dani Ceballos to Real Madrid, and Betis can look forward with optimism to a bright season – perhaps even challenging for a Europa League slot.
Costa Rica international Joel Campbell
On paper, it appears that Villarreal have enjoyed an outstanding transfer window.
Goal machine Carlos Bacca has returned to La Liga from AC Milan, rising star Pablo Fornals has been snapped up in midfield and Portuguese under 21 international Ruben Semedo has been added to the backline – and all that whilst keeping intact the bulk of the squad which finished 5th last season.
Puzzlingly, however, Fran Escriba’s team have made a woeful start to the campaign, losing both their opening games without mustering even a single goal.
Early season blip or sign of things to come? It’s too early to tell, but from the Yellow Submarine’s work in the summer market they surely have every chance of coming good before long.
Carlos Bacca is yet to get off the mark on his return to La Liga
How can a club claim to have enjoyed a highly successful transfer window despite being in the middle of a transfer ban?
Well, Atletico Madrid have managed that feat by achieving something which looked unlikely for much of the summer: keeping all their current stars in situ.
Antoine Griezmann, Koke, Saul, Yannick Carrasco and Jan Oblak were all strongly rumoured to be leaving Los Rojiblancos at some stage in the last few months, but as September dawns they are all still with Diego Simeone’s club and ready to take another tilt at titles.
With Spain international winger Vitolo scheduled to arrive in January – and Diego Costa perhaps to join him in the next window – Atletico have somehow managed to make the very best of a bad situation.
Vitolo is on loan at Las Palmas until January
Where do you want to start?
They tried to sign Marco Verratti from Paris St Germain, failed, and saw the French club turn around and steal away Neymar.
They tried to sign Coutinho from Liverpool, refused to take no for an answer despite having three bids turned down, and were eventually forced to admit defeat with no alternatives lined up.
They tried to sell Arda Turan and Denis Suarez, but couldn’t. They kept injury-prone Thomas Vermaelen, but allowed impressive rising star Marlon to join Nice on loan.
This window has been an utter shambles from start to finish for Barcelona, who will now be desperately hoping that their enormously expensive gamble on Ousmane Dembele – a 20 year-old who has scored 23 goals in his professional career – pays off. If it doesn’t, their season could be disastrous.
Barcelona’s new star Ousmane Dembele
These are tough times on the south coast, where Malaga have lost their goalkeeper (Carlos Kameni), their best defender (Diego Llorente), their best two midfielders (Pablo Fornals and Ignacio Camacho) and their leading scorer (Sandro).
Even worse, the Andalusians haven’t replaced those departees with anything like the same kind of quality, and their desperation is illustrated by the fact their attack is now in the hands of Diego Rolan, a loanee from Bordeaux who has scored just 39 goals in the last five seasons.
Malaga were awful in their first two games of the season, losing both 1-0 against Eibar and Girona, and it doesn’t look like Michel’s men will get much better anytime soon. A relegation battle beckons.
Sandro Ramirez left for Everton in the summer
Another team to be have been ripped apart are last season’s Copa del Rey finalists Alaves, who secured a comfortable mid-table finish in May but will be hard pushed to repeat that feat this time around.
The Basque club’s best two players last year were loanees Marcos Llorente and Theo Hernandez, both now at Real Madrid, and replacing such influential individuals on a meagre budget was always going to be a tough task.
A busy late flurry saw signs of hope with the loan arrivals of former Barcelona starlet Bojan Krkic from Stoke and Valencia midfielder Alvaro Medran, and those two new arrivals must make a major impact if Alaves are to avoid a long battle against the drop.
Theo Hernandez during his presentation for Real Madrid
