How PL’s priciest XI compares to Europe’s big leagues…
We last did this almost exactly a year ago. Since then, the collective value of these XIs has rocketed by £613.15million. PSG account for almost half of that amount…
PREMIER LEAGUE
GK: Alisson (Roma to Liverpool, £66m) – formerly Ederson (Benfica to Man City, £34.9m)
RB: Kyle Walker (Tottenham to Man City, £51m)
CB: Virgil van Dijk (Southampton to Liverpool, £75m) – formerly John Stones (Everton to Man City, £47.5m)
CB: Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Bilbao to Man City, £57m) – formerly Shkodran Mustafi (Valencia to Arsenal, £35m)
LB: Benjamin Mendy (Monaco to Man City, £52m) – formerly Luke Shaw (Southampton to Man Utd, £27m)
DM: Naby Keita (RB Leipzig to Liverpool, £52.75m) – formerly Tiemoue Bakayoko (Monaco to Chelsea, £39.7m)
DM: Paul Pogba (Juventus to Man Utd, £89m)
AW: Riyad Mahrez (Leicester to Man City, £60m) – formerly Raheem Sterling (Liverpool to Manchester City, £44m)
AM: Kevin De Bruyne (Wolfsburg to Man City, £55m)
AW: Angel Di Maria (Real Madrid to Man Utd, £59.7m)
CF: Romelu Lukaku (Everton to Man Utd, £75m)
TOTAL: £700.75million (up by £142.95m from £557.8m)
The Premier League side shows the highest number of changes, with over half of the XI different to this time last year. Only two deals, though, have been arranged this summer, with the three new defenders signed in January or – in Mendy’s case – towards the end of last summer. Keita was arranged a year ago, meaning the only fresh deals are Alisson and Mahrez.
LA LIGA
GK: Jan Oblak (Benfica to Atletico Madrid, £12.6m)
RB: Nelson Semedo (Benfica to Barcelona, £30.3m)
CB: Inigo Martinez (Real Sociedad to Athletic Bilbao, £28m) – formerly Dmytro Chygrynskiy (Shakhtar Donetsk to Barcelona, £21.4m)
CB: Clement Lenglet (Sevilla to Barcelona £32m) – formerly Samuel Umtiti (Lyon to Barcelona, £24.6m)
LB: Fabio Coentrao (Benfica to Real Madrid, £27m)
DM: Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal to Barcelona £35m)
DM: Paulinho (Tottenham to Barcelona, £36.4m) – formerly Luka Modric (Tottenham to Real Madrid, £30m)
AW: Gareth Bale (Tottenham to Real Madrid, £86m)
AM: Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool to Barcelona £142m) – formerly James Rodriguez (Monaco to Real Madrid, £63m)
AW: Ousmane Dembele (Borussia Dortmund to Barcelona, £96.8m) – formerly Cristiano Ronaldo (Man Utd to Real Madrid, £80m)
ST: Luis Suarez (Liverpool to Barcelona, £75m)
TOTAL: £601.1m (up by £121.2m from £479.9m)
The La Liga XI features a new centre-half pairing and a couple of fresh forwards that were signed in January or towards the end of the summer window last year. Paulinho is also a new entry, even if he has already scarpered back to China. The goalkeeper is almost certain to change when Thibaut Courtois gets his move to Real Madrid, who could also give the attack a more expensive look before the window closes.
SERIE A
GK: Gianluigi Buffon (Parma to Juventus, £32.6m)
RB: Joao Cancelo (Valencia to Juventus, £35.5m) – formerly Lillian Thuram (Parma to Juventus, £22m)
CB: Alessandro Nesta (Lazio to AC Milan, £21m)
CB: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus to AC Milan, £35m)
LB: Alex Sandro (Porto to Juventus, £18.5m)
DM: Miralem Pjanic (Roma to Juventus, £25.4m)
DM: Joao Mario (Sporting to Inter, £38.4m)
AW: Federico Bernardeschi (Fiorentina to Juventus, £35m) – formerly Gaizka Mendieta (Valencia to Lazio, £28m)
AM: Manuel Rui Costa (Fiorentina to AC Milan, £30m)
AW: Douglas Costa (Bayern Munich to Juvenus, £35.2m) – formerly Pavel Nedved (Lazio to Juventus, £24.7m)
ST: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid to Juventus, £99.2m) – formerly Gonzalo Higuain (Napoli to Juventus, £75.3m)
TOTAL: £405.8m (up by £54.9m from £350.9m)
Ronaldo is the only mover this summer, with the three other Juventus signings having already been playing with the Old Lady for at least half a season. Buffon and Rui Costa have been stalwarts in this side for the last 17 years.
BUNDESLIGA
GK: Manuel Neuer (Schalke to Bayern Munich, £19m)
RB: Nordi Mukiele (Montpellier to RB Leipzig, £14.3m) – formerly Evanilson (Parma to Borussia Dortmund, £10.5m)
CB: Javi Martinez (Athletic Bilbao to Bayern Munich, £31.6m)
CB: Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund to Bayern Munich, £30m)
LB: Marcelo Saracchi River Plate to RB Leipzig, £12.1m) – Raphael Guerreiro (Lorient to Borussia Dortmund, £9.5m)
DM: Corentin Tolisso (Lyon to Bayern Munich, £35m)
DM: Renato Sanches (Benfica to Bayern Munich, £27.5m)
AW: Julian Draxler (Schalke to Wolfsburg, £25.5m)
AM: Mario Gotze (Borussia Dortmund to Bayern Munich, £31.5m)
AW: Andre Schurrle (Wolfsburg to Borussia Dortmund, £26.9m)
ST: Mario Gomez (Stuttgart to Bayern Munich, £26.2m)
TOTAL: £279.6m (up by 6.4m from £273.2m)
RB Leipzig provide the only fresh blood in this XI thanks to their purchase of a couple of still reasonably-priced full-backs. Other than that, it’s as you were in Germany until Bayern do something daft.
LIGUE 1
GK: Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt to Paris Saint-Germain, £6.4m)
RB: Djibril Sidibe (Lille to Monaco, £12.7m)
CB: David Luiz (Chelsea to Paris Saint-Germain, £40m)
CB: Thiago Silva (Milan to Paris Saint-Germain, £33m)
LB: Layvin Kurzawa (Monaco to Paris Saint-Germain, £17.8m)
DM: Grzegorz Krychowiak (Sevilla to Paris Saint-Germain, £25.1m)
DM: Youri Tielemans (Anderlecht to Monaco, £21.6m)
AW: Kylian Mbappe (Monaco to PSG, £165.7m) – formerly Angel di Maria (Man Utd to Paris Saint-Germain, £44m)
AM: James Rodriguez (Porto to Monaco, £38.5m)
AW: Neymar (Barcelona to PSG, £198m) – formerly Javier Pastore (Palermo to Paris Saint-Germain, £37m)
ST: Edinson Cavani (Napoli to Paris Saint-Germain, £55.6m)
TOTAL: £614.4 (up by £282.7m from £331.7m)
Ligue 1’s XI features the joint fewest changes but considerably the highest increase in value thanks to PSG’s splurge on Neymar and Mbappe last August. Somehow, Kevin Trapp, at £6.4million, keeps his place in goal despite being the only player of the 55 listed to cost below £10million. It can’t be too long before we see an all-PSG XI…
