Valencia’s transfer outlay since 2020 scrutinised amid six-season slump | OneFootball

Valencia’s crisis-era recruitment has delivered scant return, with more than 57m spent on 46 players across 50 deals. The club have operated on one of LaLiga’s leanest budgets.

According to Superdeporte, there have been 29 loans, 15 permanent signings and six free agents, averaging 1.3m per player. Justin de Haas and Aliou Dieng will take the free-transfer tally to eight, and Valencia even moved early on de Haas with a 1m January bid to Famalicão after tying the 26-year-old.

A low-investment policy under Peter Lim since the pandemic has shaped this approach. The team are six seasons without UEFA and five without breaching 50 points.

Homegrown Javi Guerra, Diego López and César Tárrega, plus goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, initially signed for the B team, steadied the side in 2022/23 and again late in 2025/26. The five costliest buys since 2020 are Marcos André, André Almeida, Umar Sadiq, Cenk Özkacar and Pepelu, a list that reflects poorly, especially the top two. Almeida is on the market awaiting bids, while Marcos André has lost prominence even at Valladolid.

Only Sadiq and Pepelu feature in Carlos Corberán’s plans and he wants more goals and a first-choice holding midfielder ahead of Pepelu. Cenk Özkacar returns from loan to Cologne after the Germans declined their option. Four of the 15 paid recruits since 2020 arrived last season under CEO of Football Ron Gourlay, namely Sadiq, Filip Ugrinic, José Copete and Baptiste Santamaría.

Source: Superdeporte