Strikers are on the move in Spain. Memphis Depay has made his way from La Liga leaders Barcelona to Atletico Madrid in a loan move, while a pair of Villarreal strikers have been shipped off to the Premier League.
Meanwhile, a couple of midfielders – one from Real Madrid and another from Barca – are apparently not going anywhere despite speculation that they could be on the move.
Read on below as SBOTOP rounds up all the latest transfer news surrounding the Spanish top flight.
Memphis Depay moves to Atleti, makes debut in big win
Arguably the biggest move in the winter transfer market with La Liga implications has to be Atletico Madrid signing Memphis Depay to a loan deal from Barcelona.
Memphis has found himself on the fringes of Xavi’s squad this season. After a decent debut season where he scored 12 goals in 28 La Liga appearances, the Dutchman made just two appearances for the Catalans with one goal amid the arrival of Robert Lewandowski.
Memphis now makes his way to Atletico Madrid, whose La Liga 2023 odds of cracking the top four are in the balance. The Rojiblancos are in need of attacking reinforcements after loaning out Joao Felix and Matheus Cunha to Premier League clubs Chelsea and Wolves, respectively.
With Antoine Griezmann transitioning into more of a midfield playmaker, Memphis will be competing with the likes of Alvaro Morata and Angel Correa for playing time up front.
Memphis made his debut in Atleti’s 3-0 win over Real Villarreal last weekend. Griezmann starred as he scored a goal and set up Alvaro Morata for the team’s opener. With Atleti 3-0 up inside just half an hour, Memphis came on in place of Morata for the final 15 minutes.
Memphis will hope to feature once again in Atleti’s next match, which is a quarter-final clash with city rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey.
Villarreal strikers Arnaut Danjuma, Nico Jackson off to Premier League
Villarreal have offloaded two of their strikers, Arnaut Danjuma and Nico Jackson, who are both headed to the Premier League.
Danjuma had supposedly sealed a loan move to relegation strugglers Everton, but he made a shocking reversal and instead signed for Tottenham Hotspur. Meanwhile, Jackson has been sold to Danjuma’s old club Bournemouth for a fee of €23m fee plus €2.5m in add-ons.
After a breakout campaign last season in which he scored 16 goals in 34 games in all competitions, Danjuma has produced few La Liga 2023 highlights this year. He had just 4 goals in 15 appearances for the Yellow Submarine.
Danjuma will now join a deep Tottenham attacking unit that already boasts Harry Kane, Golden Boot winner Son Heung-Min, Richarlison, and Dejan Kulusevski.
As for Jackson, he has been unable to make much of an impact in the first team since coming up from Villarreal B. He scored just 3 goals in 24 appearances this season.
Jackson will now be tasked with improving a struggling Bournemouth attack that has scored just 19 goals in 20 Premier League games this season. Kieffer Moore and Philip Billing are the team’s co-leading scorers this season with 4 goals each.
With the departures of Danjuma and Jackson, Villarreal now have Gerard Moreno and 35-year-old Jose Luis Morales as the team’s recognised strikers. Although, they have been linked with a move for Blackburn Rovers stiker Ben Brereton Diaz.
Eduardo Camavinga and Franck Kessie set to stay
Real Madrid’s Eduardo Camavinga and Barcelona’s Franck Kessie are both expected to stay at their respective clubs amid speculation that they might leave during this transfer window.
Top football insider Fabrizio Romano wrote in his Substack column that neither Camavinga nor Real want to part ways at this time.
“Camavinga is not leaving in January, he’s untouchable at Real Madrid, and he doesn’t want to leave,” he said. “I don’t know about the summer, but as of today, Camavinga is 100% part of Real Madrid’s project.”
While fellow Frenchman Aurelien Tchoameni has quickly established himself in the Real midfield in his debut season, Camavinga has yet to secure a starting spot in his second season in Spain. He has only started six of the champions’ 17 La Liga matches thus far, with no goals and just one assist.
But despite his somewhat disappointing campaign to date, Real remain confident that Camavinga will come good and be a contributor in their title defence.
As for Kessie, he has also seen limited playing time upon moving to Barcelona on a free transfer from Italian champions Ac Milan. The 26-year-old has made just nine league appearances thus far owing to a combination of injuries and the fact that Xavi has settled on Sergio Busquets, Pedri and Gavi as his first-choice midfield trio.
But Xavi himself has confirmed that Kessie will not be leaving the Camp Nou this winter and considers the Ivorian a key piece of his squad.
“Kessié is a player I like, he gives us many variants in a game and he can be really important,” Xavi said via Romano.
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