Ferland Mendy, Jules Koundé, Thomas Lemar, Aurélien Tchouameni, Eduardo Camavonga, or even Kevin Gameiro, Wissam Ben Yedder, Adil Rami, Steven N'Zonzi, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Karim Benzema or Aymen Abdennour before them; In the 2010s and the early 2020s, many left the French championship to join Spain. And only some of the most glaring and dear examples were mentioned above. The sports directors of Spanish clubs very much appreciated the profile of the players trained in France, who generally had qualities that were not necessarily found in Spain or in the usual markets targeted by Iberian clubs, such as South America or Portugal. Then, the players of Ligue 1 were usually inexpensive, another important data to take into account. Some clubs, such as Seville FC, therefore did not hesitate to do their shopping in France.
“Tactically and physically, the Ligue 1 player is one of the most complete on the market. It adapts perfectly to what I am looking for for our team. For example, Grzegorz Krychowiak had only really played Reims but he did not need time to adapt to the Liga. And financially, the bar is lower: the transfer allowances are in our strings, like wages. Frankly, I was not disappointed only once in ten years ”said for example the sports director of Seville Monchi in 2015 in an interview with JDD. It must be said that he had, with the Andalusian stable, recruited more than twenty Ligue 1 players during his second adventure as a Sevillan sports director, and that paid since the training of the south of Spain won 5 Europa League titles between 2013 and 2023, with many players from the French championship in its ranks therefore.
A different financial reality
But lately, the trend has clearly dropped. Last summer, with the exception of Kylian Mbappé of course, the transfers of France's players to Spain were very rare, with Pope Gueye who left OM for Villarreal as one of the rare examples. In its current workforce, Seville, usually Francophile, has only a player who arrived from Ligue 1, namely Akor Adams, who landed during the winter transfer window. If we take into account nationalities, there are only 18 French players in La Liga currently, and many have been playing in Spain for a while when there have been recruited in other championships. The first explanation is obviously financial. In recent years, La Liga has imposed this famous financial fair play which poses so many problems for certain clubs including Barça. Objective: to clean up club finances, and for the moment the bet is successful. But inevitably, clubs spend less and no longer necessarily live above their means as in such a distant time. Less powerful clubs prefer to bet on the training, and try to blows via loans, players at the end of the contract or go to look for less expensive players in less known markets than put 15 or 20 million euros on a Ligue 1 player.
Financially, Spanish clubs outside Top 3 cannot compete with their English, German or even Italian counterparts, not to mention the appearance of new actors like Saudi Arabia, which does not target that stars but also those called “good championship players”. It is these clubs that recover the best elements of Ligue 1, while in an era not so distant, it would not have been surprising to see players like Martin Terrier, Castello Lukeba or Serhou Guirassy in Liga. At the same time, the price of Ligue 1 also climbed. It would seem for example unthinkable today to see the Wissam Ben Yedder of the time go for 9 million euros as was the case during his transfer from Toulouse to Seville in 2016. The arrival of foreign capital in several Ligue 1 training courses also makes several clubs which must imperatively sell to survive before today are less forced to separate from their best elements.
La Liga is looking for other profiles
Then there is also a reality linked to the field. After several years when Spanish clubs were betting for many on a game based on balance, intensity and a fairly physical game, where we try to hurt the opponent on quick transitions, fashion is changing and within clubs, we want to bet again on a game more based on the control of the ball and the technical quality of the players. We therefore no longer necessarily look for strong or fast players, but profiles at the Pedri, to caricature. Ligue 1 is struggling to get out of players that can adapt to this profile, and continue to make players that shine in contexts where they are asked to have a large volume of play, to be rough and fast. Certain positions where the Ligue 1 clubs still manage to get out of interesting profiles, such as that of a purely recovery defensive midfielder or that of lateral capable of multiplying the races throughout the match, are also less and less sought after because of the tactical evolution of Liga clubs.
This does not mean that Ligue 1 cannot get out of technical and intelligent players capable of playing in Liga, quite the contrary. But when she does, they are generally too expensive for Spanish clubs outside the cadors today. To find this type of player at a lower price, sports directors of Spanish clubs will rather continue to look in South America or in small European championships, like Belgium which is popular with Liga recruiters. THE pipeline Who linked France and Spain therefore clearly drying out in recent years for the reasons mentioned above, and everything indicates that the trend should continue. If some of the best players in Ligue 1 should continue to arrive at the Ogres in the Spanish championship, the other clubs have already made a cross on the players of France and have turned to other profiles …
