The transfer madness of the January window will soon be over, but Argentina's biggest teams have made the most of the month by splashing the cash around with wild, almost unheard-of abandon. An oft-cited study released last week placed the Liga Profesional de Fùtbol in fifth place WORLDWIDE in transfer spending, outstripping such venerable leagues as the Bundesliga and Serie A (this writer was so surprised he accidentally left his thumb on the shift button while typing worldwide and decided he liked how it looked).
Entirely befitting of these greed is good, every man for himself, kill thy neighbour if he looks a little bit poor times a great deal of the world appears to be living under, the millions shelled out – 83 million euros, the study says, to be precise – were of course heavily weighted towards a few clubs. Boca and River alone account for just under 55 percent of the total figure, product of a transfer window that has seen the Xeneixe reinforce with the likes of Chile star Carlos Palacios and ex-Independiente wonderkid Alan Velasco, while the aptly-nicknamed Millionario repatriated Sebastián Driussi, Gonzalo Montiel and Lucas Martínez Quarta, among other big name deals.
With that financial muscle, towering over the rest of the league, it was thus no surprise to see the Superclásico duo start the season with… (checks notes) two draws each?
Money can buy you a lot, but it can't buy three points on the road in Vicente López. River were held by neighbours Platense after veteran goalkeeper Franco Armani committed a dreadful howler to give the home team the lead, and it was only a similarly disastrous blunder from his Platense counterpart three minutes from the end that allowed another new signing, Matías Rojas, to head home and level. That at least had some excitement and intrigue, elements mostly missing from Boca's 0-0 snorefest opener against Argentinos Juniors.
Fernando Gago's men did not look much better on Wednesday in allowing Unión to clinch a 1-1 draw in injury time. Back at the Monumental, meanwhile, River barely escaped their own scoreless stalemate midweek against Instituto thanks to Montiel's last-gasp winner, at least providing a moment of relief to end an opening week that brought frustration to the Buenos Aires giants and their fans and a smirk to the faces of most other football supporters around the country.
Fellow big spenders Estudiantes dela Plata, Foster Gillett's millions burning a hole in their pockets, did fare slightly better in winning their first game before being ground out to a draw midweek by Huracán. Then there is Talleres, ranked fifth in the money list behind the aforementioned clubs and Racing Club, who are still looking for their first points having lost both of their matches to date.
Conversely, one of the few teams to kick off with back-to-back wins was hard-up San Lorenzo. Lacking the proverbial receptacle in which to micturate, facing a reported ban from all transfer activity from FIFA and with a budget consisting largely of happy thoughts and fairy dust – not to mention an injury to Iker Muniain, the Spanish star and the only player fans weren't keen to rip limb from limb by the end of last year - the Cuervo sit pretty with six points after disposing of Talleres and Gimnasia without conceding a single goal.
Time will tell if money talks during this Liga and the big spenders come to the fore, but for the time being we can enjoy the likes of San Lorenzo, Banfield and Rosario Central – hell, even Independiente, no strangers to financial headaches in recent years – thumbing their nose from the top of the standings.
One of the joys of this league, after all, is its ability to constantly surprise us, and a few million here or there is unlikely to be enough to completely destroy that delightful unpredictability.
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