Which European Team has had the Best Transfer Window?
It has been another summer where billions have been spent in the football transfer window. This year the Saudi Pro League showed itself as a real powerhouse in terms of spending and attracting talent, luring players in with lucrative contracts with incredible wage packets. Ronaldo was the first big transfer they made and since then many other top players have followed suit, such as Mahrez, Mane, Benzema, Firmino, Neves, Kante, Fabinho and many others. However, here we will be focusing on the European transfer window and the clubs that have had the most success in it. £5.7 billion was spent across the top 5 European leagues, with the Premier League making up £2.36 billion of that sum.
Todd Boehly’s incredible spending with Chelsea continued, spending a staggering £424m this summer. They broke the British transfer record on defensive midfielder Moises Caicedo for £115m, who has just 45 games of premier league experience for Brighton. Liverpool were in for him too, with a bid accepted by Brighton but Caicedo's mind was made, and he kept his word to Chelsea and now joins Enzo in their enormously expensive midfield. They also snatched up Nkunku who won the Bundesliga Golden Boot last year at Leipzig, unfortunately, he suffered a knee injury in pre-season and won’t make an appearance for Chelsea until 2024. Another Liverpool transfer target, Romeo Lavia, ended up at Chelsea to play second fiddle to Caicedo, paying £60m for a player who was relegated last season with Southampton. Cole Palmer, who has only played very limited minutes for Man City was sold to Chelsea for £45m, which does feel odd given the amount of wide attacking talent that they have signed over the last few windows. Goalkeeper Sanchez joins from Brighton as well, replacing Kepa as their new No.1 who has left on loan to Real Madrid. Axel Disasi, Nicholas Jackson, David Dantro Fofana and Andrey Santos make up the rest of Chelsea's £424m spending. Although it is easy to criticize the amount they have spent, it’s clear that they have managed to attract some great talents, but even with their £1 billion of spending in the Todd Boehly era, they are without an elite centre-forward.
Not only did they spend a lot of money to improve their squad, but they also let a lot of players go. Havertz to Arsenal for £50m + £15m in add-ons, fan favourite Mason Mount to Man United for £55m + £5m in add-ons and Kovacic to Man City for £30m. Mendy and Koulibaly were sold to the Saudi Pro League, with Loftus Cheek and Pulisic both being sold to AC Milan, with Chelsea cashing in over £70m for those four players. Overall, they have had a successful window, buying a lot of young talent and there is a real emphasis on this team being young, Caicedo is 21, Lavia 19, Palmer 21, and Jackson only 22. They have also managed to sell some dead wood in the club and freed up funds to spend on their new squad under Pochettino. It's yet to be seen if Chelsea will be successful this year, but it's clear this is a project for the future.
One club who have bought already-made stars is Bayern Munich, who had a very different approach to Chelsea. They have signed Harry Kane from Tottenham for £86m + add-ons. That is a great deal for them, they were missing a striker in the absence of Lewandoski with Choupo-Moting being their main man up front last season. Now, they have a world-class striker, a World Cup Golden Boot holder who is desperate to win his first trophy. Kim Min-Jae was the outstanding defender in Serie A last year helping Napoli to win the Scudetto for the first time since 89/90, Bayern Munich have managed to secure his services ahead of Man United who were also in for the player. It's hard to imagine him not having a great season in the most dominant team in Germany. On a free transfer, they signed Guerreiro from rivals Dortmund and Konrad Laimer from Leipzig.
On top of some great transfers, they managed to command good fees for some unwanted players. Lucas Hernandez to PSG for £41m, Mane for £24m, Gravenberch for £40m and Pavard for £26m. When all the transfers were completed, Bayern made a profit this summer and managed to build a squad that they hope will be able to compete for the most illustrious trophy in European football, the Champions League. With Kane who completes their frontline and Kim Min-Jae who strengthens their back line as well as adding Guerreiro who can fit in both the midfield and defence, it gives them a real fighting chance to compete against Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Man City.
Speaking of Man City, they have also had a solid window. They bought Kovacic from Chelsea which we have already touched on, he is a 4-time Champions League winner with tons of experience for just £30m. The 21-year-old Croatian defender Gvardiol cost them £77.6m and has slotted into their team on the left side of the defence and already looks like he has adapted to Guardiola's system. He will be a valuable player for them over the coming years in the best defence in the world. Jeremy Doku is also only 21, the Belgian international is a tricky winger who loves to get on the ball and run at defenders. He set Man City back £55m and has a clear place set out for him in the team on the right flank. Their last signing is Mattheus Nunes from Wolves for a very similar price to Doku. He only signed for Wolves last year and it didn’t seem as if he had a great campaign individually, however, if Pep wants a player there is usually a reason for that. We saw Kalvin Phillips sign last season for £50m and he played extremely few minutes last season, indicating that it could be a slow start for the Brazilian.
The treble winners also sold a few players, Cole Palmer was their biggest outgoing for £45m to Chelsea. He only had limited minutes for City and that is a significant fee for a 21-year-old who has not proven himself yet. They also secured a fee of £25m for Laporte from Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, he did not feature as much last season as he would’ve liked, having performed well in prior seasons. Mahrez joins Laporte in Saudi Arabia for a fee of £30m going to Al-Hilal, getting rid of a couple of older players for respectable fees to fuel their new and younger signings.
Potentially the most intuitive, well-budgeted and our favourite summer transfer window has to go to AC Milan. They’ve signed a lot of new players, all were cheap, all of great ages with room to grow. They funded this by selling their star player Tonali to Newcastle for £55m, who was devastated to be leaving his childhood club. In his place, they bought Loftus Cheek from Chelsea for just £15m and has already proven himself, being crucial in Milan's win over Roma last week, winning his team a penalty and putting in a monster shift in the middle of the park before being subbed off due to Tomori’s red card. Pulisic also came in from Chelsea for £18.8m who has been playing on the right side of their attack and has already bagged 2 goals in 3 games. The second USA international they signed was 20-year-old Yunus Musah from Valencia for the same price as Pulisic who shined in the Qatar World Cup. He is a central midfielder, whose best numbers came under Gattuso where he played in a box-to-box role, being able to utilise all of his impressive skillset. The former Villareal winger Samuel Chukwueze made the switch to Milan for a similar price to the prior, he likes to play off a striker and is extremely dangerous on the wings and we could see him and Pulisic share a lot of minutes this season. In search for another centre-forward to succeed the 36-year-old Giroud, they signed Noah Okafor from RB Salzburg who amounted 10 G+A in 996 minutes in the league, whilst amassing 3 goals in 6 games in the Champions League. He has only featured as a substitute for AC Milan so far but will see more game time as the season progresses. Reijnders, another central midfielder, was signed from AZ Alkmaar for £16m strengthening their depth and midfield, he has played every minute of their first 3 games.
They have managed to address issues in their squad, their backline and keeper were already sorted but needed to focus on midfield and their frontline because when Leao was out injured, they lacked any firepower and that showed during the Champions League semi-finals against their bitter rivals. They currently sit second in the Serie A and are one of only two teams who have won their opening 3 games.
