Real Madrid spent the last day of the transfer
window in Spain unveiling their new number seven, having sold
Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer.
Some supporters were disappointed that the player who will wear
Ronaldo's old number is 23-year-old former Lyon forward Mariano Diaz
and not one of the biggest names in world football.
One banner carrying the sarcastic message: 'Neymar or M'bappe?', was
visible at the Bernabeu on Friday as around 5,000 supporters greeted
the return of Mariano. Real supporters had hoped the club would sign
one of the Paris Saint-Germain stars but it was beyond the club's
reach.
Mariano scored 21 goals in 45 games for Lyon last season, having
netted five times the previous season in 14 appearances when he was a
young reserve player trying to break through at Real Madrid.
"Today is the happiest day of my life because I have signed for the
best club in the world," he said at his presentation.
Despite not replacing Ronaldo with a high-profile signing, Real
president Florentino Perez was content with the business done this
summer.
"We have an exceptional winning squad. We have been able to
strengthen all parts of the team," he said.
Madrid also signed Belguim keeper Thibaut Courtois from Chelsea and
Alvaro Odriozola from Real Sociedad.
According to figures published by Spanish paper Diario AS Madrid's
conservative approach to the market was reflected in almost all of
the clubs in Spain.
More money was spent in the transfer market than last summer but more
money was also brought in giving clubs a modest net spend.
According to Diario AS, clubs in Spain's first division spent a total
of 888 million euros (1 billion dollars), representing an increase on
last year when 596 million euros were spent.
The clubs combined income from the transfer market was at 802 million
euros, also representing an annual increase from the 2017 figure of
675 million euros.
The final balance for La Liga clubs was a net spend of 86 million
euros, an increase from 12 months ago when there was a net profit of
79 million euros.
Real Madrid were the biggest spenders with an outlay of 145 million
euros, but with 133 million euros raised from sales, including
Ronaldo's 105 million euros move to Juventus, their net spend was
only 11.75 million euros.
Barcelona's net profit was 6.3 million euros, spending 125.9 million
euros but bringing in 132m euros. That figure that includes the 50
million euros they will receive in January for midfielder Paulinho
from Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande.
Atletico Madrid had the highest net spend in La Liga with 123.5
million euros spent on players and just 45 million euros raised in
sales.
Valencia marked their return to the Champions League this season with
a net spend of 69.6 million euros with signings to the value of 127.2
million euros and sales totalling 57.6 million euros.
Despite the failure to, as the Real Madrid supporters wanted, bring a
Neymar or an Mbappe to La Liga the fans of the four Champions League
clubs in Spain will be content wtih the summer's business.
Sometimes keeping players is as important as signing them. Atletico
Madrid kept hold of Antoine Griezmann, Jan Oblak, Diego Godin and
Filipe Luis, despite clubs wanting to sign them at various times
during the summer.
Barcelona kept Ousmane Dembele and have seen him make a good start to
the season. And Valencia were able to keep Geoffrey Kondogbia and
Goncalo Guedes who were both at the club on loan last season but have
now made permanent moves to Mestalla.