Real Madrid to freeze all transfer activity for the upcoming window

Forget Pogba, Camavinga, Haaland, or Mbappe — according to a report from ABC Deportes, Real Madrid will be freezing any and all transfer activity for the 2020-2021 season. Major transfers cannot come to fruition when there is such a significant reduction to overall income. Real Madrid are projected to lose up to 25% of their annual income due to the impact of COVID19 and the inability to earn revenue from match-day sales, the Bernabeu tour, and the Bernabeu shop.

There is no justification in such difficult economic circumstances for a major signing to fill the Bernabeu, when the Santiago Bernabeu legally cannot be filled. Real Madrid will rely heavily on the revenues from the television rights. If La Liga is ultimately voided without the payment of the TV revenues then the impact could be even more dramatic. According to ABC, the only new additions to the Real Madrid squad for the 2020-2021 season will be Odegaard, Achraf, and Lunin.

Javier Tebas, the president of the League, has confirmed the impact of empty stadiums, especially to the bigger clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atletic Madrid: “The big clubs are the ones who suffer the most when the door is closed because they will lose a high percentage of their income, between twenty and thirty percent, depending on each case.”

Irene Lozano, president of the Consejo Superior de Deportes, has said that Spanish football must plan its future with the idea of playing “behind closed doors until 2021”.

The other problem Madrid has is that no players wants to leave or no club is willing to pay for the players that would be open to leaving like James Rodriguez or Gareth Bale. To recall Odegaard and Achraf, at least two players would need to leave. The difficult economic situation of all football clubs globally, means that “nobody wants to leave Real Madrid and nobody wants to pay Real Madrid level transfer fees or salaries for new recruits.