La Liga clubs try to close gap on Barcelona and Real Madrid

Both Atletico Madrid and Sevilla make record signings to try and close the gap on Barcelona and Real Madrid. Find the latest odds on the La Liga title plus get the William hill promo codes

Atletico Madrid sign Benfica star

Atletico Madrid have officially completed the signing of rising star Joao Felix from Benfica. The signing is a bit of a coup for Atleti given that Felix had attracted the attention of several top European heavyweights.

However, the deal didn’t come cheap, with Los Colchoneros having to stump up 126 million euros for the teenager’s signing. It makes Felix the third costliest transfer in world football (not including bonuses) after Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

Felix is therefore the most expensive Portuguese player ever, and is expected to wear the No.7 jersey at the Wanda Metropolitano. That shirt is currently worn by French star Antoine Griezmann, who is expected to move to Barcelona later this summer, with the money from the latter’s departure largely expected to fund Felix’s arrival.

Atleti will pay Benfica 30 million euros upfront. The transfer has been “sold” to a bank, with the Spanish outfit to pay 90 million euros in installments, with six million euros as interest fees.

12 million euros will also have to paid to agent Jorge Mendes, with a sum (around 1.2 million euros, according to the Spanish press) going to FC Porto, the club where Felix began his youth career.

Lopetegui and Monchi continue Sevilla signing spree

Sevilla have moved to make yet another transfer in the current summer window after officially announcing the acquisition of Lucas Ocampos from French side Marseille.

The 24 year old winger has inked a five year contract which will keep him at Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan till 2024, with Sevilla paying L’OM a 15 million euro transfer fee.

Burnley and Everton were also reportedly interested in Ocampos, but the Argentine star has chosen to continue his career on the continent. He started his career with River Plate before moving to Monaco in 2012, and has also had loan stints in Serie A with Genoa and AC Milan.

Marseille reportedly had to sell players in order to confirm with FIFA’s FFP regulations. Ocampos is Sevilla’s third new arrival from France this summer, following moves for Jules Kounde from Bordeaux and Diego Carlos from Nantes. Other notable acquisitions for the Andalusian outfit include Ajax defender Maximilian Wober, Salzburg striker Munas Dabbur and PSV midfielder Luuk de Jong.

Sevilla, who finished 6th in La Liga last season, broke their transfer record with the signing of Kounde this summer (25 million euros, beating the previous record of 21.5m euros spent for Luis Muriel)