Man City Panic Buy, Milan-Juve Patchwork

The 2024-2025 European competition winter transfer window ended on Monday (3/2/2025). In total, the spending of clubs in the top five European leagues was the highest in the last decade since the middle of the 2022-2023 edition of the competition.

For the second time in the modern football era, this year's winter transfer market has exceeded 1 billion euros in total spending, to be exact 1.050 billion euros or around Rp17.7 trillion. The record for the largest spending in the winter transfer window is still held by the 2022-203 season which reached around 1.131 billion euros (Rp19.1 trillion).

The team that was most active and spent the most money to strengthen the squad in the winter this year was Manchester City. City manager Pep Guardiola was even willing to break his tradition of not being active in the mid-season transfer market.

In the previous eight seasons, Guardiola only brought in center-back Aymeric Laporte in the January transfer window. However, this season, Guardiola agreed with the activities of "The Citizens" who bought five players by spending 218 million euros (Rp 3.7 trillion). The nominal expenditure of City is equivalent to 21 percent of the total transfer spending of the 2024-2025 winter transfer market in the top five European leagues.

While bringing in new players is a necessity for City due to a slew of injuries to key players, the players brought to the Etihad Stadium are closer to panic buys than replacing the quality of players entering the treatment room.

With Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake often sidelined, Guardiola brought in two young center-backs, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis. The transfer value of the two players reached 77 million euros (Rp 1.3 trillion).

However, Khusanov and Reis are doubtful of immediately fulfilling Guardiola's high expectations to help City rise in the Premier League, then compete in the Champions League playoff round against Real Madrid.

City also brought in young defender Juma Bah from Real Valladolid. Bah was immediately loaned to Lens as a substitute for Khusanov.

Omar Marmoush, who was brought in from Eintracht Frankfurt, has made two starts against Chelsea and Arsenal. However, the Egyptian still needs time to replace Kevin De Bruyne and Julian Alvarez who have been Erling Haaland's servants in the previous two seasons.

The purchase of Gonzalez is proof that they (City) are very panicked to be able to be in the top four.

On the closing day of the transfer window, City paid the release clause of midfielder Nico Gonzalez from FC Porto for 60 million euros (Rp 1.01 trillion). With seven goals and six assists this season, Gonzalez is City's hope to strengthen a very fragile midfield when it fell 1-5 to Arsenal and in a number of big games this season.

"Nico (Gonzalez) is a very talented young midfielder. He is an ideal acquisition for Manchester City," said City's Director of Football Txiki Begiristain of the arrival of Gonzalez, who City have been monitoring since he was at Barcelona's academy.

Paul Merson, a Premier League expert for Sky Sports, assessed that the purchase of Gonzalez was City's attempt to cover the weaknesses in the midfield after Rodri was out until the end of the season. Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva, said Merson, failed to fulfill Rodri's important duties of being disciplined, reading positions well, and reducing danger in the heart of City's game.

"The signing of Gonzalez is proof that they (City) are very panicked to be in the top four. The issue that arises next is when Rodri is fit, I'm not sure Gonzalez will get enough minutes," said Merson.

In addition to City, Aston Villa are making improvements to be able to compete again in the Champions League zone. Although they were able to break into the top eight in the early stages of the 2024-2025 Champions League, Villa are still struggling in the Premier League because they are sitting in eighth place.

After letting young striker Jhon Duran leave for Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr, Villa manager Unai Emery has strengthened his forward line by bringing in three versatile strikers in Donyell Malen, Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio. Villa's aim is very clear, they want to finish in the top four of the Premier League and perform as well as possible in the Champions League.

"The ambition of the club and (Unai) Emery is the reason I joined Villa. I want to help the club achieve its objectives this season," Asensio told Villa TV.

Outside England, two inconsistent Italian giants, AC Milan and Juventus, have also been very aggressive in the winter transfer market. AC Milan strengthened their squad under new coach Sergio Conceicao by bringing in five new players, three of whom arrived on the final day of the transfer window.

Conceicao successfully persuaded Kyle Walker to leave City. Walker's arrival saw Milan captain Davide Calabria move to Bologna. Milan also brought in Mexican centre-forward Santiago Gimenez from Feyenoord after releasing Alvaro Morata to Galatasaray.

Three players who arrived hours before the transfer window closed were Warren Bondo, Riccardo Sottil and Joao Felix. Bondo was needed by Conceicao to fill the lack of depth and meet the demands of a fresh face that the Portuguese tactician wanted in the midfield.

Meanwhile, Felix and Sottil are Milan's hopes for a more consistent front line performance contributing goals. In five Italian League games with Conceicao, Milan has only won two over mediocre teams, namely Como and Parma.

"I need players with characteristics who can take responsibility for holding the ball and stopping opponents from approaching our goal. Most importantly, players who show personality, ambition and the desire to win games and provide consistency," Conceicao was quoted as saying by La Gazzetta dello Sport about his team's activities in the winter transfer market.

On the other hand, Juve also patched up to cover weaknesses in several positions due to a storm of injuries. Lloyd Kelly and Renato Veiga were brought in to cover the lack of squad depth in the center-back position. Juve also bought Alberto Costa from Vitoria Guimaraes so that Coach Thiago Motta has more options in the wing-back position.

Then, Juve also borrowed Randal Kolo Muani from PSG to overcome the lack of shots and goals in the first half of the season. The French national team striker has scored three goals in two Serie A appearances.

Meanwhile, the two giant Spanish teams, Barcelona and Real Madrid, did not make any buying and selling activities in the winter transfer market. Despite losing players due to injuries, Barca and Real remain confident in the depth of their squads to sail to pursue trophies in the remaining 2024-2025 season.