Lack Of Transfers Makes Real Madrid Stand Out In The Champions League

In a post written by Marca early Tuesday morning, the news site stated that Real Madrid was the only club left in the Champions League not to change their roster during the recent winter transfer window.

This type of frugal behavior comes to no surprise for Real Madrid. Under Zinedine Zidane, the club has been reluctant to spend any kind of money. This is nothing new.

With reports suggesting that Real have plans on signing major stars such as Thibaut Courtois and Mauro Icardi in the summer, it makes sense for Real to sit on their money now and save it for later.

Without having a realistic way of winning La Liga this season, it is understandable for them not to rush these transfers. With the league and the cup out of the way, there is only one thing for Real to keep their eye on during the first half of 2018: The Champions League.

Winning the Champions League three years in a row is an extraordinary accomplishment no other team has done before. The chance of winning once is numerically impossible, winning a two-in-a-row is significantly smaller, and winning a third consecutive trophy is utterly dumbfounding and implausible. Nevertheless, Real Madrid has the opportunity to do so.

But, will the lack of transfers ruin Real’s UCL run?

For now, let’s forget about the shaky season and keep our eyes focused on the Champions League.

Here is a quick recap of the cup’s group stage. It went well for the most part except for the loss against Tottenham. Apart from that, Zinedine Zidane’s side looked their same-old-self. They made it out of the group stage and were drawn with Paris Saint-Germain in the first knockout round of the cup.

Now, according to Marca’s early report, Madrid fans should feel a bit concerned about their club not making any moves. However, most Champions League clubs that did make moves, made minimal shifts.

Real’s opponents PSG only signed one player in the transfer window and it was former Madrid midfielder Lass Diarra. Paris offloaded four out-of-favor players including Remy Descamps, Alec Georgen, Moussa Diaby, and Lucas Moura.

These moves were nothing major.

Fellow Champions League knockout stage side Manchester United signed Alexis Sanchez but saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan and James Wilson find new homes. Once again, these transfers did not make Manchester United significantly better off.

This list can go on-and-on but there is one common theme: none of these winter transfers benefited these Champions League clubs significantly.

Although this is a great fact that Marca wrote about, fans should not take it in a negative context.

Madrid did this right. There is no point of reinforcing a squad when the league is out of reach. Also, it is always pertinent to remember that if Madrid wanted to sign any huge stars from clubs that participated in the UCL, those signings could have been cup-tied, meaning they could not have even participated in the draw against PSG.

All in all, Madrid made a smart move by keeping their wallets closed.

Save your money and get ready for the summer.