The majority of business in this summer’s transfer window had been completed prior to deadline day for clubs in La Liga, with Paco Alcacer’s move to Barcelona the final big-money transfer that took place. However, that did not stop frenetic activity across Spain as clubs scrambled to strengthen their squads at the last opportunity. 

A lot of the deals that took place were loans as a result of the exalted prices that are attached to the final day of the transfer window and the inability for most clubs to spend vast amounts of money on permanent deals. 

The most notable of those loans was Samir Nasri’s to Sevilla from Manchester City. The Frenchman will offer a lot of creativity from central positions, and if he can evade the injury problems that he suffered while with the English giants then he could be a major coup not just for Sevilla, but for the League.

A former teammate of Nasri’s and another Frenchman in Eliaquim Mangala also made a loan move to Spain, but with Valencia. Along with him came Ezequiel Garay, which means that they haven’t done too badly in replacing Shkodran Mustafi, considering the little time they had to do it. If Los Che had not sold so many of their players, the window would have been a very successful one, but it’s fair to say that these signings should help in improving a defence that has so far been among the worst. 

“I’m here to show my quality and potential,” Mangala said, as reported by Superdeporte. “It will be a full season with the help of my teammates, and the goal is to be as close to Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico. I want to show my character and fight all game. That’s my character. I’m here to win and help the team.”

A common theme on the final day of the window seemed to be the signing of strikers. Deportivo La Coruna replaced Lucas Perez with former Stoke City man Joselu, who returns to Spain after starting his career with the former’s arch-rivals Celta Vigo. Alberto Bueno has also gone back to his homeland and been reunited with Paco Jemez at Granada, who signed another five players, taking their total number of loanees to 12. 

Additionally, Giuseppe Rossi moved to Celta and new boys Alaves completed an interesting signing in Aleksander Katai. The Serbian has already scored six goals this season with Red Star Belgrade.

Espanyol signed a striker too in Alvaro Vazquez but also signed centre-back Diego Reyes for the season. The arrival from Porto was impressive on loan at Real Sociedad last term and looks to have a lot of potential. Furthermore, the Catalans certainly made up for the loss of goalkeeper Pau Lopez to Spurs by bringing in namesake Diego, who is more experienced and reliable between the sticks. 

One disappointment of the day, however, was Yevhen Konoplyanka’s loan to Schalke. The Ukranian showed a lot of promise at Sevilla and was tipped to kick on this season, but he needs to improve tactically in order to work under Jorge Sampaoli. 

The final point is two transfers that didn’t end up happening as Vicente Iborra’s and Ignacio Camacho’s moves to the Premier League fell through. This was very good news for their clubs Sevilla and Malaga, particularly in the case of Camacho, who is pretty much irreplaceable in central midfield for Los Boquerones.

La Liga - Club News