Football transfer market in Argentina enjoys new spring

Football in Argentina has gone from being the preferred destination of South American players to losing ground with Brazil. But now, supported by a cheaper dollar thanks to President Javier Milei’s policies, the local game has a second wind and is moving millions.

Unlike Brazil, its eternal rival, which co-opts figures from the entire region and even Europe, the resurgence of domestic economic power has focused on repatriating legends from the land of Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi based on juicy contracts.

In the last year and a half, five world champions from the national team who played in the Qatar 2022 triumph have returned home: River Plate, the club driving the new era with fresh dollars, has brought defenders Gonzalo Montiel, Germán Pezzella and Marcos Acuña.

Its arch-rival, Boca Juniors, in the midst of a downturn, has signed midfielder Leandro Paredes from Italy’s AS Roma. Rosario Central have brought their hometown hero, forward Ángel Di María, back from Benfica. They returned to their country from the most powerful European leagues.

In the last five years, the Liga Profesional de Fútbol has seen exponential growth in spending on transfers: from US$11.5 million in 2020, when the league hit rock bottom amid an economic and inflationary crisis, to US$120 million in 2024, according to FIFA data. 

Sales also broke records last campaign, US$348 million – an amount which is, still, 70 percent lower than that obtained by Brazilian clubs, which won the six last Copa Libertadores titles.

The resurgence of a competition which in the past gathered South American promises and realities, except for the then-closed Brazilian market, is due to a cheaper dollar owing to Milei’s devaluations, explained economist Christian Buteler.

Since taking office December 2023, Milei has introduced fierce austerity measures which allowed Argentina to record the first surplus in public accounts since 2010. Inflation has been slashed too, from 79.8 percent in the first half of 2024 to 15.1 percent in the same period of 2025.

“Salaries in dollars improved,” Buteler, president of BSF consultancy firm, told AFP in an interview, warning that this situation also increased the prices of such basic products as milk and beef. 

Now pesos “are worth more dollars, which allowed River, Boca and many clubs to hire players of that calibre ... you can’t pay them what they’re paid abroad, but you’re not that far off,” he pointed out.

River, still in the Libertadores, ranked fourth among CONMEBOL clubs with the biggest investment in transfer spend in 2023 and 2024, and was the only Argentine club in the regional top 10 last year, according to FIFA. 

Between 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 River spent the equivalent of US$100 million, a considerable increase from the prior 2021-2023 two-year period, when it spent some US$33 million, according to specialist portal Transfermarkt.

In addition to World Cup stars, the Millonarios signed Colombian Kevin Castaño for US$14.6 million and Argentine forward Sebastián Driussi for US$11.3 million, figures which are way above the norm in Argentina.

“Today players are far better off coming back, because maybe they can make as much as they did in other markets,” whereas in “previous years the difference was too great,” football agent Gustavo Goñi said in an interview.

But it’s not all about money, according to Goñi. Argentine teams usually also benefit from having generated a “sense of belonging” among players who started their careers there or the appeal of the football atmosphere in a nation where football is king.

International figures such as Uruguayan forward Edinson Cavani and Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera landed in Boca in 2023 and 2025 respectively, seduced by the aura of La Bombonera and its faithful fandom.

Yet the Xeneize, six-time Libertadores champion and the second biggest spender in Argentina (US$20 million on average between 2023 and 2025), is not enjoying good times. The side has suffered  its worst historic streak of 12 straight losses and has no international action to look forward to.

Despite being reinforced across all lines, Marcelo Gallardo’s River have suffered to replicate the successes of El Muñeco’s previous spell in charge, when they won the Libertadores in 2015 and 2018. 

“River supporters are happier with everything done institutionally than with the present of the team,” said Nahuel Celli, 28-year-old River fan.