A few surprising deals did go through, but I'm sure some clubs lamented the (to them, untimely) end of the transfer window, most notably Deportivo who were looking to get 3 more players and as far as I know didn't succeed.
Frankly, based on their opening day performance, I can't blame Miguel Angel Lotina, but surely somebody at that club realized the malaise there during the long months of the transfer window? They are apparently broke, but so are the promoted clubs and the likes of Racing.
Speaking of other non-transfers, Barcelona did manage to offload Thiago Motta, which brings their summer departures up to six (Saviola, Gio, Giuly, Maxi Lopez, Belletti, Motta), although only Gio was a regular starter, with Giuly having lost his place to Messi, Belletti to Zambrotta, and Motta to injury. However, they didn't manage to offload Ezquerro, who has now been reincorporated into the squad, or Gudjohnsen, which looks like a stroke of good fortune now that Eto'o is injured again.
Anyway, here's the list, with some comments:
Almeria: Michel (Xerez)
Atletico: Motta (Barcelona) - more on this one in a later post
Betis: Lima (Atletico Mineiro), Jose Mari (Villarreal)
Very surprised by Jose Mari leaving the Submarines, but at least it means that he can return to his native Seville, and as I've written about before, they do have a lot of strikers. (More on Villarreal later also, oh yes.)
Getafe: De la Red (Real Madrid), Esteban Granero (Real Madrid Castilla, loan)
Interesting moves, both for what it says about Bernd Schuster and what it says about the relationship between Getafe and Real. Firstly, the sale of De la Red (albeit with a buyback clause) and Javi Garcia means that Schuster has decided against heavily utilising cantera players this season. It's a bit of a surprise considering the pre-season. At least Balboa is still there and Miguel Torres is well established.
Second, Getafe have tried to loan players from Real before without huge success, so perhaps this heralds an improved relationship between the two clubs? If so, lord knows it's about time, since Getafe president Angel Torres is a card-carrying Madridista anyway.
Levante: Miguel Angel (Betis)
Murcia: Movilla (Zaragoza)
Osasuna: Javi Garcia (Real Madrid Castilla)
Racing: Szetela (Columbus Crew), Tichte (Anderlecht)
It's good to see that Racing have moved to add some more attacking fire power to their existing defensive solidarity. Szetela is apparently a promising US U20 midfielder, and Tichte is a forward, which when added to their signing of the Polish forward Smolarek a few days before goes some way towards plugging the sizeable gap left by the departure of Nikola Zigic, amongst others.
Recreativo: Javi Guerrero (Celta), Zahinos (Atletico), Gerard Lopez (Monaco), Martin (Trabzonspor)
Sevilla: Kone (PSV)
That's Ivory Coast forward Arouna Kone, who I was impressed by at the World Cup in 2006. Unusually, they spent quite a bit on him, around 12 million euros in fact.
Zaragoza: Luccin (Atletico)
Atletico fans seem pleased to finally offload the frustrating Luccin to Zaragoza, where he joins fellow former Atletico player, Gabi.
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