Elche CF’s transfer limbo: 51 days without a single new signing

Elche CF has now gone 51 days without signing a single new player in the 2026 summer transfer window, a period that edges closer to historic highs and fits the pattern of the Bragarnik era. The franjiverdes, who finished the 2025-26 season in 14th place in La Liga (5th in La Liga, 0 pts.), have only activated three pre-agreed buy options from loans: Sangare, Gonzalo Villar and Víctor Chust. Meanwhile, the squad is already in pre-season training with the only new faces arriving in the dugout —the exit of Eder Sarabia and the arrival of Martín Anselmi— while no new player has set foot on the pitch.

Why is Elche CF still without signings?

The Alicante-based club blames the delay on financial uncertainty and a strategy focused on activating pre-agreed buy options. These three arrivals —Sangare (defender, 26), Villar (midfielder, 30) and Chust (center-back, 28)— came at no extra cost thanks to clauses included in their prior loan deals. Yet the club still lacks deals for key areas such as midfield or right-back, even as the squad resumed training in July with internationals like Affengruber and European U19 champion Buba Sangare as the only active internationals in camp.

Historic comparison: heading for a record?

Elche CF’s current wait is only surpassed twice in the 21st century: 2015 (72 days after administrative relegation) and 2022 (60 days before a disastrous start that ended in relegation). Since Juan Antonio Pizzi took charge in 2020, signings have never arrived before 23 days, with cases like Pedro Bigas (46 days in 2021, still at the club) or Léo Petrot (40 days in 2025). The pattern repeats: delays that contrast sharply with earlier eras, when names like José Luis Rondo (18 days in 2001) or Manu del Moral (27 days in 2013) arrived quickly.

The ghost of 2022: relegation after a tense wait

The closest precedent is summer 2022, when Clerc became the first signing 60 days after the final match of the 2021-22 season. That campaign kicked off with a 0-3 loss at Real Madrid and ended with Elche CF in Segunda. The current board, mindful of the risk, is avoiding haste despite fan frustration over the lack of movement with the season just around the corner. The squad, meanwhile, keeps training with what it has: only coaching changes and winter-market reinforcements already confirmed.

League standing: 5th in La Liga, 0 pts.