Gustavo Puerta to Olympiacos
Greek football's record fee

1. 1 Sept
   Transfer confirmed

   Racing Santander announced it had transferred Puerta's sporting rights to Olympiacos after the Greek club paid his release clause in full.
2. 31 Aug
   Release clause paid

   Olympiacos paid the reported release clause to Racing Santander, with reports saying the move briefly stalled amid interest from Benfica.

Colombia international Gustavo Puerta has completed a move from Racing Santander to Olympiacos, in the most expensive transfer in Greek football history.

Olympiacos have completed the signing of Colombian midfielder Gustavo Puerta from Racing Santander. Racing confirmed the move in an official statement on 1 September, saying they had "transferred the sporting rights of Gustavo Puerta to Olympiacos of Piraeus" after the Greek club paid the full release clause written into his contract. The fee is reported at around €20m once add-ons, agent costs and solidarity payments on top of the core release-clause payment are included — a club-record fee for Olympiacos and the most expensive transfer in Greek football history, surpassing the €13.5m Olympiacos paid for Zlatko Zahovič back in 1999.

The move ends a saga that ran through the final days of the window. Reports in Colombia had Puerta initially weighing up a switch to Benfica even after Olympiacos moved to trigger his clause, but the deal was pushed through and he flew to Greece to be presented as Olympiacos's marquee summer arrival.

Olympiacos wanted a midfielder who could add legs and physicality to a squad built for a serious European push. Club owner Evangelos Marinakis has made no secret of wanting manager José Luis Mendilibar to go deep into the Europa League this season, and Puerta's mix of ball-carrying, ground covered and physical duels was seen as exactly what that midfield was missing — a player who can operate at a faster tempo than a purely possession-based option.

For Racing Santander, it's a big midfielder to lose. Puerta made 33 appearances in the second tier last season as Racing won promotion, then featured three times in La Liga once they were back in the top flight. He was a regular fixture in the middle of the park throughout the promotion campaign, and the club's farewell statement thanked him directly, wishing him luck "in his next professional challenges."

His form has been on an upward curve for a while. Puerta came through in Germany with Bayer Leverkusen and Nuremberg before a loan spell at Hull City in the Championship, then established himself at Racing Santander as they climbed back into Spain's top division. This summer he was one of Colombia's key midfielders at the 2026 World Cup, playing every minute of all five of their matches — exposure that raised his profile considerably before the move to Greece went through.

At Olympiacos he becomes the fifth Colombian to play for the club, following Jorge Bermúdez, Juan Pablo Pino, Felipe Pardo and James Rodríguez. He joins a Mendilibar midfield already built for a Europa League campaign, and the scale of the fee suggests he's expected to go straight into contention for a starting role rather than easing in gradually.

• Announced by the clubs100

A sourcing score, not a chance of completion: it grades how solid the reporting behind the move is. The stage and the evidence come from the sources listed below; the arithmetic is fixed in code, the same for every deal.

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