MILAN (AP) — A quiet deadline day in Italy brought to an end a winter transfer period that saw the lowest spending by Serie A clubs in almost two decades.
Serie A clubs spent a total of 28.42 million euros ($30.89 million) on transfers in January, their lowest expenditure since 2006, when they spent 13.56 million euros ($14.7 million).
The biggest outlay was by Fiorentina — for a player already at the club.
Fiorentina made Antonín Barák’s move from Hellas Verona permanent on deadline day on Tuesday, paying 8.5 million euros ($9.24 million) for the Czech Republic international, who had been on loan at the Tuscan club since August.
January transfer windows are usually less exciting than those in the summer and Italian soccer is still recovering financially from the coronavirus pandemic. But even last year, Serie A clubs splashed out 185 million euros ($201 million).
None of the top four teams — Napoli, Inter Milan, Lazio, Atalanta — spent anything this month. Defending champion AC Milan and sixth-place Roma, who are also both pushing hard for the Champions League qualifying places, spent just 500,000 euros ($543,000) on loan deals.
Roma signed Spain defender Diego Llorente from Leeds until the end of the season on Tuesday, while Milan brought in goalkeeper Devis Vásquez from Paraguayan outfit Guaraní earlier this month.
There was also no outlay by Juventus this month, although defender Luca Pellegrini joined Lazio on loan. The 23-year-old Pellegrini, who has spent most of his Juventus career out on loan, progressed through the ranks at Lazio's fierce rival Roma.
Juventus is only 10 points above the relegation zone after being penalized 15 points for false accounting earlier this month.
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