In Spain, as elsewhere, the last few days before the transfer windows slams shut were, as usual, filled with gossip, rumours and speculation. Some of the wilder stories saw Robin Van Persie wanting to join Barcelona, Mallorca luring Michael Ballack from Bayer Leverkusen, PSG waving wads of cash at both Gonzalo Higuaín and Kaká and Málaga offering €30m for Barca’s Thiago Alcántara. There were also some more plausible sounding stories, like Villarreal selling Nilmar to Lazio and signing Joan Capdevilla from Benfica, but in the end not even these mid-size moves came off.

The deals that did go through were underwhelming. Espanyol were the biggest movers as the deadline approached, but they did not spend any money as they rescued former Getafe defender Víctor Sánchez and ex-Almería striker Kalu Uche from the wreckage at Neuchâtel Xamax and took Inter’s teenage Brazilian creator Philippe Coutinho on loan until June.

The other last ditch moves were also either loans or frees. Villarreal got 24-year-old forward Alejandro Martinuccio from Fluminese. Real Zaragoza took Catania’s Argentine right-back Pablo Sebastián Álvarez. Levante loaned Algerian striker Abdelkader Ghezzal from Cesena. Granada are trialling 20-year-old Brazilian striker Henrique Almeida until June (after QPR could not get work permit). Sporting signed Villarreal B midfielder Marcos Gullón. The biggest name on the move this week in Spain was leaving the country - with Alex Hleb’s career continuing its slow meander to a halt as he agreed a hefty pay cut and move to Olympiakos.

This was pretty dull stuff, compared to the 2011 winter window, when there was major drama as José Mourinho fought Jorge Valdano for the power to bring Emanuel Adebayor from Manchester City to Real Madrid, and Barcelona signed Ibrahim Afellay from Ajax for €3m, with the Dutchman going on to play a key role in their Champions League semi-final victory at the Bernabéu in April.

12 months ago Atlético (or agents acting on their behalf) spent €11m on Elias from Corinthians and Juanfran from Osasuna. Sevilla shelled out €4.5m to add grit and imagination to their midfield with Gary Medel from Boca Juniors and Ivan Rakitic from Schalke. Valencia got a bargain in Jonas from Grêmio for €1.2m. Two of last summer’s most important summer moves were also agreed with Los Che sealing the €6m signing of Adil Rami from Lille, and Athletic the €7m switch of Ander Herrera from Real Zaragoza.

This added up to a total outlay by Spanish clubs last winter of just over €40m. The corresponding figure this past month was just €11.8m, with €8.5m of that spent by Sevilla. Their sporting director Monchi was busy signing José Antonio Reyes from Atlético Madrid for €3.5 million (potentially rising to €5m), Senegalese striker Babá from Portuguese side Marítimo de Funchal for €3.5m, and young midfielder Javier Hervás from Córdoba for €1.5m. Hervás was loaned straight back to the Segunda side until the summer, but Sevilla also brought Juan Cala back from his loan at AEK Athens. Monchi’s acumen means his club will still make a profit though - they agreed a deal with Juventus which sees Uruguayan defender Martín Cáceres move to Turin on loan for now, with the Italians bound to pay €9.5m in June to make the deal permanent.

Of the other 19 Primera clubs six - including Real, Barca, Valencia and Athletic - signed nobody. Enterprising Granada had the highest net spend - €600,000 between Henrique and defender Borja Gómez from Karpaty Lviv. Zaragoza, Levante and Rayo brought in eleven players between them, but all deals were either loans or frees. These clubs also freed up space on their wage bill by letting unwanted players leave. Only one La Segunda team spent any money - Hércules giving Huesca €120,000 for Brazilian midfielder Gilvan Gomes.

There’s no real mystery why Spain’s clubs have not been spending big this winter - they’re pretty much all broke or worse. The general economic crisis in the country is increasingly affecting football, with attendances down and many club shirts still lacking sponsors. Friends in high places (i.e. banks and local governments) who provided bailouts in the past now have their own debt problems. Last month’s decision by the new Spanish government to hike income tax rates on high earners by seven per cent “has frightened the life out of the football clubs”, who must now find even more money from somewhere.

This somewhere has recently often meant elsewhere, and Qatari-backed Málaga were the biggest spenders in Spain’s two most recent transfer windows. Last winter they brought in Júlio Baptista, Martín Demichelis, Nacho Camacho, Sergio Asenjo and Enzo Maresca to ease some then pretty serious relegation worries. Then they cleverly spent €60m in the summer (or so it seemed then anyway).

This January the only newcomer at La Rosaleda has been Espanyol’s unwanted Cameroonian keeper Carlos Kameni on a free. That deal was complicated when Osasuna and Villarreal protested over money still owed from last summer’s Monreal and Cazorla transfers. Málaga assured journalists and fans this was only a temporary cashflow issue, which the Sheikh would personally clear up asap. With even its nouveau riche struggling to pay their bills, austerity is biting in La Liga.