Ailing VfL Wolfsburg hired five players led by Germany forward Patrick Helmes on transfer deadline day, but invested less than half of the Bundesliga record 35 million euros (47.7 million dollars) they got for Edin Dzeko’s move to England. Manchester City’s cheque for Dzeko was also almost half of the 75 million euros the 18 top flight clubs received for 45 winter sales before the transfer shops closed on Monday night.
The record January income was welcome for many clubs they spent only 45 million euros for 41 new players.
Wolfsburg’s sale of the Bosnian Dzeko to ambitious City made big waves in early January and Steve McClaren’s struggling side was the centre of attention again on Monday with their late signing spree.
Helmes (Leverkusen), Turkey captain Tuncay Sanli (Stoke), Czeck international Jan Polak (Anderlecht) as well as youngsters Koo Ja Choel of South Korea and Yohandry Orozco of Venezuela joined the 2009 champions for an estimated 15 million euros.
“The club worked hard for new hirings and it was worth the effort: We got six new players overall and considerably improved our squad,” said the former England manager McClaren.
Helmes and Tuncay were last—minute signings after Wolfsburg failed to get Peruvian forward Jefferson Farfan from league rivals Schalke.
Cash—strapped Schalke are also in the wrong half of the table and coach Felix Magath hopes for better results in upcoming weeks with Iran veteran Ali Karimi, Greek Euro 2004 hero Angelos Charisteas, plus Ghana midfielder Anthony Annan.
Schalke also have expensive Jermaine Jones (Blackburn Rovers) and Ivan Rakitic (FC Sevilla) off their payroll, and Werder Bremen sold Portugal forward Hugo Almeida to Besiktas Istanbul.
Champions Bayern Munich paid the biggest sum within Germany, 17 million euros, for Brazilian midfielder Luiz Gustavo from Hoffenheim.
Hoffenheim took unwanted Munich players David Alaba and Edson Braafheid in return, Martin Demichelis left Bayern for Malaga and the arrival of Gustavo led to the departure of Munich captain Mark van Bommel to Italian leaders AC Milan.
Hoffenheim not only received the 17 million from Munich, they got another 7 million euros for Senegal forward Demba Ba, who forced a move to West Ham by going on strike at the German club.
They reinvested part of the money in Liverpool’s Dutchman Ryan Babel and in Roberto Firmino.
Farfan had also tried to force his way out of Schalke and so did SV Hamburg’s Dutch veteran Ruud van Nistelrooy once Real Madrid said they were interested in getting him back. However, Hamburg would have none of it and Van Nistelrooy will see out the season there.
