Ligue 1 transfer window: Only Monaco splash the cash

Coronavirus pandemic caused a serious financial crisis around the world and has affected football clubs around the world. Ligue 1 teams have been put under extra pressure because of recent Mediapro television deal that’s left gaping holes in clubs’ budgets. This is why most clubs looked to save money by offloading players that could live without while trying to find a bargain or two.

Big spenders – AS Monaco

The red and whites from the Principality of Monaco are enjoying the good life. The rich and famous in Monte Carlo live in the world’s second-smallest country and are economically way ahead of France, the country that’s literally in their neighbourhood. It’s certainly proved in this transfer window as head coach Niko Kovač bought 21-year-old Senegalese Krepin Diatta from Club Brugge for a fee of $22 million. The Dakar-born winger has been in excellent form for the Belgian club, scoring an impressive 10 goals in 19 games. The Monégasques let Serbian defender Strahinja Pavlović and Nigerian winger Henry Onyekuru out on loans to Cercle Brugge and Galatasaray, respectively.

Most active – Olimpique de Marseille

L’OM have had a turbulent month that ended in their Portuguese coach Andre Villas-Boas handing in his resignation because the club went and signed Celtic’s Olivier Ntcham behind his back. Up to that point, Marseille’s transfer window looked pretty good, with Polish striker Arkadiusz Milik arriving from Napoli on an 18-month-loan with an option to buy. The arrivals of young attacking midfielder Franco Tongya from Juventus and Fiorentina’s Spanish right-back Pol Lirola were secured, while playmaker Morgan Sanson left for Aston Villa in a $15m transfer. Underused players Nemanja Radonjić and Kevin Strootman were loaned out, Kostas Mitroglou was released and Marley Ake went to Juventus in exchange for Tongya.

Ligue 1 top three kept it quiet

Moneybags Paris Saint-Germain hired Mauricio Pochettino as their new tactician, but have refrained from signing new players – although they’ve been linked with English international Dele Alli for a long time. Their only piece of business was releasing Spanish winger Jese, who joined Les Parisiens in 2016 from Real Madrid with great expectations but turned out to one of the worst buys in club’s history. The champions did pull of a coup, though, as they tied their star player Neymar to a new four-year contract. Table-topping LOSC Lille let two fringe players out on loan, while second-placed Olympique Lyonnais replaced the new Atletico Madrid striker Moussa Dembele with Leicester City’s Algerian international Islam Slimani.

Loans all around

OGC Nice secured a couple of solid defenders on loan as Arsenal’s William Saliba and Barcelona’s Jean-Clair Todibo came into the centre of defence. Saint-Etienne completed a temporary transfer of striker Anthony Modeste from Koln and Girondins de Bordeaux loaned Jean-Michael Seri from Fulham. In a seemingly endless string of cheap loan transfers, Lorient got defender Tiago Ilori from Sporting CP, Angers signed forward Yassin Fortune of FC Sion and Brest secured PSG’s young midfielder Bandiougou Fadiga.

Few sales for little money

In terms of player sales, Bordeaux received a fee of $2.4 million from Lokomotiv Moscow as their Brazilian defender Pablo moved to the Russian capital. FC Nantes sold their Algerian midfielder Mehdi Abeid to Al Nasr for $1.5 m. The sales of Sanson and Ake by Marseille have been Ligue 1’s biggest sales by far. There are a few loans with future transfer fees agreed, but those transfers may not materialise – especially if the financial climate doesn’t improve in the coming months.