French Ligue 1 special: A summer of breaking the bank
Thanks to the rapid rise of Paris Saint-Germain, the transfer window in the French Ligue 1 has seen resurgence in its activity this year.
The La Ligue de Football Professionnel summarised the major stats on its official website. The stats reveal that this summer, French clubs were more active than they used to be in the transfer windows of the past.
For the past decade or so, the transfer window was largely dominated by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Olympique-de-Marseille-c40127. However, all of this changed when in late May this year, budget cuts were announced by the presidents of Lyon and Marseille.
True to their words neither Les Gones nor Les Phoceens were very active in the transfer market as many have to come to expect of the two French giants.
The arrival of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Qatar-c2986 Investment Authority to French football did give the French market a much-needed boost. The QIA now own almost 70% of the shares of Paris Saint-Germain and the new owners of the Parisian club are definitely on their way to revolutionising
French football.
After spending 85 million Euros on players this summer, PSG alone account for 48% of the total amount spent by both Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs on new players this summer. A total of 181 million Euros was spent by the two leagues’ clubs on new players.
Furthermore, PSG have largely contributed to the 35% increase in player transfer amounts compared to the 2009/2010 season. This summer, the French club invested more heavily than in any other transfer window.
However, it is surprising to see that while the 2010 summer transfer window was placed under the “Franco-French” rule, 2011 saw clubs looking for recruits from other European leagues. PSG paid US Palermo 42 million Euros for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Pastore-c18082 which greatly
influences the statistics.
Furthermore, the likes of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Trabzonspor-c40759
and Marko Basa joined Lille from Lokomotiv Moscow.
Of the total of 181 million Euros spent by clubs this summer, 92 million euros have been invested abroad. Less transfers of the Franco-French value were seen this summer but no less than 105 players switched from one French club to another.
Olympique Lyonnais sold two big name players to two big-name clubs. Jeremy Toulalan was sold to La Liga side Malaga while http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roma-c31603. For both sales, Les Gones recorded a profit of almost 20 million Euros.
Les Gones were one of the most silent clubs in the summer transfer window this time around. Remi Garde upon his appointment was never promised to have a huge transfer kitty at his disposal. By the end of the window, Les Gones spent just 5 million Euros for
the services of three players - Kone, Fofana and Dabo.
Bordeaux did not spend a single penny on the transfer window after having secured the services of Landy Nguemo from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/AJ-Auxerre-c38247 for free.
On the sales side, the results were more positive. French clubs registered an increase of sails (190 million euros in total) compare to last year when the ratio of players sold to players bought was 37:46.
This can be considered as a great achievement for French football as they have fared better than most of the other European Leagues who have invested 101 million Euros to sign players from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/France-c2899.
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