Top ten biggest spenders in Europe this summer…
10) Aston Villa – £130.25m
Players signed: Wesley Moraes (£22m, Club Brugge), Tyrone Mings (£20m, Bournemouth), Matt Targett (£14m, Southampton), Douglas Luiz (£12.5m, Manchester City), Ezri Konsa (£12m, Brentford), Marvelous Nakamba (£11m, Club Brugge), Trezeguet (£8.75m, Kasimpasa), Tom Heaton (£8m, Burnley), Anwar El Ghazi (£8m, Lille), Bjorn Engels (£7m, Stade Reims), Jota (£4m, Birmingham), Kortney Hause (£3m, Wolves)
Doing a Fulham? Probably not. But the Premier League new boys have outspent the likes of PSG, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan to buy a dozen new players, which is a bit mental.
9) Sevilla – £142.4m
Players signed: Jules Kounde (£22.5m, Bordeaux), Rony Lopes (£22.5m, Monaco), Munas Dabbur (£15.3m, RB Salzburg), Lucas Ocampos (£13.5m, Marseille), Diego Carlos (£13.5m, Nantes), Joan Jordan (£12.6m, Eibar), Luuk de Jong (£11.25m, PSV), Oliver Torres (£10.8m, Porto), Max Wober (£9.45m, Ajax), Javier Hernandez (£7m, West Ham), Fernando (£4m, Galatasaray), Sergio Reguilon (loan, Real Madrid)
Israeli international Munas Dabbur scored a barely believable 37 goals in all competitions for RB Salzburg last season so he really could be a bargain for Sevilla, who announced that deal in January. Then Monchi got involved and decided to throw a whole lot of money around – much of it in the direction of Ligue 1 clubs.
8) Manchester City – £147.2m
Players signed: Rodri (£62.8m, Atletico Madrid), Joao Cancelo (£60m, Juventus), Angelino (£5.3m, PSV), Pedro Porro (£11m, Girona), Zach Steffen (£7.2m, Columbus Crew), Ryotaro Meshino (£900,000, Gama Osaka), Scott Carson (loan, Derby)
Pep Guardiola got his annual bonus of a shiny new full-back but most satisfyingly for the City boss, he finally found a replacement for Fernandinho. Beyond his most expensive new toys, don’t expect to see City’s other new recruits around the first team very often. Certainly not Angelino if his pre-season performances were anything to go by.
7) Manchester United – £148m
Players signed: Harry Maguire (£85m, Leicester City), Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£45m, Crystal Palace), Daniel James (£18m, Swansea)
Some solid recruitment from United this summer, with all three signings making a bright start to life at Old Trafford – especially James, who has already scored as many Premier League goals for the Red Devils as Alexis Sanchez. But it still isn’t nearly enough.
6) Arsenal – £151m
Players signed: Nicolas Pepe (£72m, Lille), William Saliba (£27m, St Etienne), Kieran Tierney (£25m, Celtic), David Luiz (£8m), Gabriel Martinelli (£6m, Ituano), Dani Ceballos (£12m loan, Real Madrid)
Remember all those stories that Arsenal were broke and had around £40million to spend this summer? The Gunners spluffed almost four times that figure in the market this summer, even if many of the payments have been structured over Christ knows how many years. A return to the Champions League simply cannot take as long.
5) Inter Milan – £170.5m
Players signed: Romelu Lukaku (£74m, Manchester United), Nicolo Barella (£30m loan with obligation buy, Cagliari), Valentino Lazaro (£20m, Hertha Berlin), Matteo Politano (£18m, Sassuolo), Ionet Radu (£10.8m, Genoa), Eddie Salcedo (£7.2m, Genoa), Stefano Sensi (£4.5m loan, Sassuolo), Lucien Agoume (£4m, Sochaux), Gabriel Brazao (£2m, Parma), Alexis Sanchez (loan, Manchester United), Diego Godin (free, Atletico Madrid).
There was a Man Utd theme running through Inter’s transfer business this summer with the two biggest signings coming straight out of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s bin. Lukaku and Sanchez aside, though, Inter have done nine other deals, even if a few involved returning to sender in loan arrangements. That should keep Antonio Conte quiet. For now.
4) Juventus – £174m
Players signed: Matthijs de Ligt (£67.5m, Ajax), Danilo (£34m, Manchester City), Cristian Romero (£24m, Genoa), Luca Pellegrini (£19.8m, Roma), Merih Demiral (£16m, Sassuolo), Aaron Ramsey (free, Arsenal), Gianluigi Buffon (free, PSG), Adrien Rabiot (free, PSG)
The headline deal of Juve’s summer was undoubtedly the signing of De Ligt, who opted for the Serie A champions over all the other big boys in Europe. For all the fuss it created, the fee was hardly enormous for a player of his ability and potential. Juve were also shrewd in their recruitment of free agents and still managed to turn a profit in the summer market.
3) Atletico Madrid – £218.9m
Players signed: Joao Felix (£113.4m, Benfica), Marcos Llorente (£27m, Real Madrid), Mario Hermoso (£22.5 m, Espanyol), Kieran Trippier (£20m, Tottenham), Felipe (£18m, Porto), Renan Lodi (£18m, Athletico Paranaense), Hector Herrera (free, Porto)
Atletico spent a sodding fortune – but still they stayed in the black to the tune of around £70million this summer. Joao Felix has already shown signs of being a bargain, while Trippier appears to have remembered how to play football again. Diego Simeone isn’t f*cking around this season. Unfortunately, neither are Atletico’s rivals…
2) Barcelona – £229.5m
Players signed: Antoine Griezmann (£108m, Atletico Madrid), Frenkie de Jong (£67.5m, Ajax), Neto (£23.4m, Valencia), Junior Firpo (£16.2m, Real Betis), Max Cucurella (£3.6m, Eibar), Emerson (£10.8m, Atletico MG)
Barca didn’t get the one they wanted with Neymar stranded at PSG for at least half a season after neither Spanish side could copper up enough cash to afford the Brazil superstar. Barca also had to wait for Antoine Griezmann but a year later than planned, they finally got their man. Not that spending almost £230million has done them much good in the short term; Barca have made their worst start in 11 years.
1) Real Madrid – £274.5m
Players signed: Eden Hazard (£90m, Chelsea), Luka Jovic (£54m, Eintracht Frankfurt), Eder Militao (£45m, Porto), Ferland Mendy (£43.2m, Lyon), Rodrygo (£40.5m, Santos), Alphonse Areola (£1.8m loan, PSG)
Real’s summer is also a tale of the one that got away, with Paul Pogba stuck at Manchester United after Ed Woodward refused to roll over and have his belly tickled by Florentino Perez. Presumably the plan was to raise funds for Pogba by trimming the fat around their already bloated squad, but there were no takers for the likes of Gareth Bale, Isco and James Rodriguez. So Pogba has been left hanging and Zinedine Zidane is having to make do, despite having almost £275million chucked at his squad.