BILBAO, Spain — Europe’s midseason soccer transfer window is open this month. Among those teams is Athletic Bilbao, which is in 17th place in La Liga, the 20-team Spanish league, and already on its second manager this season. Financially, Athletic, a century-old power on Spain’s northern coast, has little in common with the clubs that find themselves in a similarly grim position. The team is flush with cash, with about 200 million euros, or about $228 million, in reserves, and has access to another 90 million euros that — if deployed to lure talent from soccer’s global marketplace — would probably go a long way toward firing it up the league standings and out of danger. But unlike almost every other team in the market, Bilbao cannot spend those millions on just anyone.

Source: New York Times January 08, 2019 10:00 UTC