Footballers Enzo Fernández, Pedro Porro and Vitinha respectively left Benfica, Sporting and Sporting de Braga for amounts equal to or above their release clauses on Tuesday, the last day of the winter transfer market.
World champion for Argentina, in a league in which he was regarded as the best young player, the midfielder played in the main soap opera in January, resulting in the most expensive deal ever in national football and the 2022-23 season.
Having spent €208.5 million (ME) on seven signings at the start of the year, Chelsea simultaneously completed a historic club investment record – €611.49 ME – with Enzo Fernández, whose €120 clause was surpassed by one million.
Benfica benefited from the world’s fifth-largest ever transfer, and the largest by a midfielder, which was slightly higher than the £120m that Atlético de Madrid’s Spaniards invested when they signed João Félix in 2019.
In addition to this authentic ‘jackpot’, the isolated leader of the Portuguese First League of the month took advantage to shorten the series of ‘surpluses’, starting with the termination of Tomás Tavares (Spartak Moscow, for three ME), João Ferreira (Watford, 2.5 ME), Yony González (Portimonense), Germán Conti (Lokomotiv Moscow) or Branimir Kalaica (Lokomotiva), while Haris Seferovic moved from Galatasaray to Celta de Vigo and maintained his loan terms.
Rodrigo Pinho (Coritiba, for 2.5 ME), Diogo Gonçalves (Copenhagen, two ME), Gil Dias (Stuttgart, two ME), John Anthony Brooks (Hoffenheim, 500 thousand euros) and Helton Leite (Antalyaspor) left the main force, such as João Victor (Nantes), Paulo Bernardo (Paços de Ferreira) and Henrique Araújo (Watford), all transferred without an option to purchase.
Sporting also saw progress and withdrawals in negotiations with Tottenham for Pedro Porro on loan for five ME, with the English committing to arrange a further 40 ME at the end of the season and take 15% of Marcus Edwards’ transfer. to give.
The Spanish defender must therefore equal the second-highest fit ever for fourth place in the I Liga, along with Matheus Nunes (Wolverhampton) and Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint-Germain), both sold for 45 ME, just behind the 55 ME fixed, with 25 ME in variables, paid three years ago by Manchester United to Bruno Fernandes.
The intense talks about Pedro Porro’s future masked a peaceful month at Alvalade, where José Marsà (Sporting Gijón), Renato Veiga (Augsburg) and Jovane Cabral (Valladolid) left on loan and Luiz Phellype (OFI Crete) quit.
In a similar register was the vice-leader Sporting de Braga, who combined the return of Diego Lainez (Betis) and the transfers of Bruno Rodrigues (Karagümrük), Zé Carlos (Gil Vicente) or Hernâni Infande (Paços de Ferreira) to the departure from striker Vitinha at the end of January.
The French from Marseille paid 32 ME, two more than the release clause for the Portugal under-21 international, for the biggest sale ever for the Minho team, compared to the 31 ME spent by FC Barcelona by Francisco Trincao, currently at Sporting, in 2020.
Immune to the effects of the market on its main assets, FC Porto, holder of the four national trophies and placed third in the main division, borrowed Nanu (Santa Clara) and ended up with João Pedro (Grêmio), having freed himself from the restrictions stemming from UEFA’s financial fair play regime, to which it was subject from 2017 to 2022.
Basically backed by the companies of Enzo Fernández, Pedro Porro and Vitinha, the I Liga had never made so much money over the winter and was the second championship in the world with the highest total turnover (161.1 ME), just behind France ( 199, 1 ME ).
However, the absence of significant ‘attacks’ was notable among the remaining 14 clubs in the first division, where Marítimo modified his squad with about a dozen departures, in a month marked by the departure of some returning figures or starters.
If André Bukia (Al-Batin) was sold by Arouca, Joel Tagueu (Al-Hazm) and Ewerton (Vegalta Sendai) left Portimonense and Marítimo on loan, in reverse order of what Alex Millán did, by Famalicão back to Villarreal, or Bastien Toma and N’Dri Koffi, back to Genk and Reims via Paços de Ferreira.
Anderson Carvalho left Santa Clara, Miguel Silva moved from Marítimo to Beitar Jerusalem and Pedro Amaral left Rio Ave for Al Khaleej, with Danilo Veiga joining Rijeka from Gil Vicente, who opposed greed for Fran Navarro, one of the ‘top scorers’ of the competition. with Benfica player Gonçalo Ramos, with 12 goals.
The market remains open in countries such as Austria, Mexico, Turkey, Serbia, Switzerland, Argentina, Russia, China, Poland, Ukraine or Brazil, with players at the end of their contracts free to commit to another club for 2022/23.
Source: DN
