Serie A clubs sign 100 new players in the window and avoid spending

With the transfer window open for almost a month, the 20 clubs in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A have registered 100 new players in the CBF.

That doesn’t mean that everyone made big investments. The payment of severance pay or negotiations involving money did not represent the rule.

Of those hundred reinforcements acquired by the teams, 66 arrived on loan, were athletes involved in exchange, were without a contract or were released free of charge by their clubs of origin.

In the final days, before the closing of the period for negotiations, attempts of impact acquisitions ended in frustration for great teams in the country.

Corinthians was unable to sign forward Michael, from Al-Hilal (ARS) to replace Willian. Flamengo struggled to repatriate midfielder Oscar, but he remained at Shanghai FC (CHN).

The mid-year transfer window for national football opened on July 18 and closed last Monday (15).

“São Paulo took very good advantage of the opportunities that arose. We knew our squad’s needs and outlined the strategies of action, selling players and acquiring parts to qualify the group. The signings have different standards. We have foreign athletes who will need a period to adaptation, Marcos Guilherme arrived at no cost, and Felipe Alves came for a replacement after Jandrei’s injury”, says Rui Costa, football executive for São Paulo.

Of the five acquisitions made by the Morumbi team, only the Argentine midfielder Giuliano Galoppo was purchased. Banfield received around US$ 8 million (R$ 41 million at the current price). The other reinforcements were goalkeeper Felipe Alves (Youth), defender Nahuel Ferraresi (Manchester City-ING) and striker Nahuel Bustos (Girona-ESP), on loan, and striker Marcos Guilherme, who was not linked to any club.

The teams that hired the most were Atlético-GO (10 reinforcements), Botafogo (9), Coritiba (9) and Fortaleza (8). In them, the rule of the majority being loaned or free players prevailed. For the people of Goiás there were six, seven for the Botafogo people, eight for the people of Curitiba and five for the people of Ceará.

“Fortaleza took advantage of this window to qualify the squad, bring pieces that we understood we needed and that we had not been able to get throughout the year. We lost some players due to injury, we released some others that we understood that it was time to have another cycle. in different positions: goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, striker. This makes us stronger for this sequence of season”, analyzes the president of Fortaleza, Marcelo Paz.

Even some impact hires were free of charge. This is how Atlético Mineiro, one of the candidates for the national title, strengthened itself with defender Jemerson and forwards Pavon, Alan Kardec and Pedrinho.

The absence of costs refers only to the amounts necessary to acquire the players and does not include salaries.

“We are looking for important names with unfinished contracts or the possibility of taking advantage of an Eastern European athlete returning to Brazil. We are talking about one of the most difficult competitions in the world”, says Internacional president Alessandro Barcelos.

Of the four acquisitions of the colorado gaucho, two were on loan (the side Weverton and the striker Mikael) and one was the arrival of a professional who was without a contract (the defender Igor Gomes). The team invested US$ 1 million (R$ 51 million) in Argentine striker Braian Romero, from River Plate (ARG).

The rule did not apply to two of the main contenders for the title. The clubs that spent the most in the short transfer window were leaders Palmeiras and second-placed Flamengo.

Between the acquisitions of Everton Cebolinha and the Chilean Erick Pulga, the red-black carioca paid about 16.5 million euros (R$ 85.3 million at the current price). He also made, without spending, one of the most impactful signings in Brazilian football this year: the deal with Chilean Arturo Vidal, released by Internazionale (ITA). Uruguayan winger Guillermo Varela also arrived in Gávea.

It is almost the same amount that Palmeiras invested to have midfielder Bruno Tabata and strikers José Manuel López and Miguel Merentiel. The trio cost, in total, around 16 million euros (R$ 83.7 million).

With the exception of them, the biggest expense made by just one player was from Corinthians, who paid US$ 6 million (R$ 30.8 million) for the Argentine midfielder Fausto Vera.