Real Madrid's quiet transfer window speaks volumes about club's problems

This is the season of the newly updated Santiago Bernabéu Stadium’s grand opening, long-awaited and finally completed at the second attempt, although as the summer window shuts the kind of Real Madrid team that might play in it has been the subject of concern.

Building schedules meant that Real played their first home fixture of the season on Saturday, against Getafe, which saw Jude Bellingham score for a fourth consecutive game. His arrival in mid-June feels a long time ago. Since then the absence of any meaningful activity in the transfer market – especially on the question of a No 9 – has surprised a fanbase accustomed to watching the world’s best players.

Bellingham’s signing, for a deal initially worth £88.5 million, was completed in the previous financial year, as was the activation of a €5 million buy-back clause for defender Fran García. Since the new one commenced for Real on July 1, the club have spent just €20 million, on the teenage Turkish midfielder Arda Guler.

To replace Ballon d’or winner Karim Benzema, they have signed on loan the 33-year-old striker Joselu, once of Stoke City and a reliable veteran who was nonetheless relegated with Alavés and Espanyol in the two previous seasons. He scored his first against Getafe. Otherwise Real have recalled Brahim Díaz from a three-year loan at AC Milan. Neither forward started the first three league games.

A quiet summer, to say the least, made that much worse by what they have lost. Benzema and Marco Asensio both departed as free agents. Thibaut Courtois and Eder Militao are out with season-long injuries. Vinicius Junior is currently missing with a muscular problem. In response, Real have signed just Kepa Arrizabalaga on loan to cover Courtois and have indicated they will otherwise muddle through. All this despite the agreement on Eden Hazard’s contract termination.

Real have been eking out careers and avoiding paying the biggest fees since Hazard in 2019 with some success. Although their parsimony this time – Bellingham aside – has been surprising. Two of the world’s great goalscorers – long-term Real target Kylian Mbappé and also Harry Kane – have been on the market this summer. No serious Real bid has been forthcoming for either despite extensive noise in the Spanish media. Perhaps Mbappé is destined finally to join them next summer as a free agent, although it sounds very much like Paris St-Germain have more cards to play.

It should be said that things are worse at Barcelona. The club have been fined by Uefa for their financial fair play submission, raising serious concerns about their compliancy this year. Barcelona’s need for cash has seen Ousmane Dembele sold to PSG and Ansu Fati loaned to Brighton. Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, the last of the great generation, have departed. Payments were late, this time from a private investor, Libero, on the latest media asset – Barca Vision – auctioned off to raise funds.

Barcelona’s only cash signing has been the €3.5 million return of academy boy Oriol Romeu, most recently of Southampton and Girona and, at 31, not quite the box-office arrival. There were late loans for Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix.

The reasons for Real’s reluctance to spend will be made clearer when they publish full financial results in the autumn. On July 17, the club announced preliminary results for the year ending June 30, 2023 with a profit of €12 million. However, that included the €44 million tranche of profit from last summer’s €360 million sale of future revenue from the new Bernabéu to US investor Sixth Street. Uefa has declared that such deals are “not a relevant income” and not eligible as profit under FFP regulations.

It was the submission of similar earnings by Barcelona, who agreed the sale of €700 million worth of future income streams last year, that earned the club its fine from Uefa in July.

While Real’s July announcement celebrated its rising headline revenue figure and modest profit, cash in the club fell from €425 million in the 2021-2022 results published in October to €128 million. That was despite the boost of the €360 million future revenue sale and the £70 million Manchester United paid for Casemiro. Where has it gone? The club repaid a €50 million government Covid loan and a further €98 million was directed to the Bernabéu refit which now stands at almost €900 million. It is chiefly financed by a separate €800 million loan agreement.

Five days before the publication of those preliminary results by Real in July, Telegraph Sport revealed that 20 per cent of the club’s costs in its results for 2021-2022 were unaccounted for and were referred to only as “other operating expenses. It prompted questions as to whether the €122 million in question was being used  to repay deals with a US financier for the sale of future marketing income. What is not in doubt is that Real’s transfer activity since the beginning of July has been virtually non-existent.

It has been the same at the club’s basketball team, Real Madrid Baloncesto, the current European champions, who have seen an exodus of leading players. There has also been no investment in terms of fees on their second team Real Madrid Castilla, who play currently in the third tier.

As for president Florentino Pérez, there was a club statement in early August “in response to a rumour on some social media” denying that he would be stepping down. It prompted reports in the Spanish media that Perez may indeed step down after the Bernabéu fully reopens.

The forthcoming results will explain how the Bellingham deal was financed. It may well be via the €44 million booked in the financial year ending June 30 2023 from the €360 million sale of future rights in the summer of 2022. Since the start of this July, Real have barely entered the market despite the misfortune that has befallen key members of Carlo Ancelotti’s squad.

They are still a very talented collection of players but there are also holes appearing, in attack and now in defence too. The team that was beaten by Manchester City in the Champions League semi-final second leg in May looked like it was ready for a rebuild. This summer has been a long way from that.