Top ten biggest spenders in Europe so far this summer…
Here are the ten biggest spenders on Europe so far this summer. The figures are taken from the glorious transfermarkt…
10) Fiorentina – £27.45m
Players bought: Nicolás González (Stuttgart, £20.7m), Igor (SPAL, £4.5m)
Fiorentina don’t like a quiet life but even for La Viola, this has already been a daft summer. They appointed Gennaro Gattuso, then sacked him 22 days later after his agent Jorge Mendes clashed with the club over their transfer policy. Then they appointed Vincenzo Italiano and amid all the palaver over coaches, they signed some players. Though they will likely recoup a decent chunk of their outlay when Nikola Milenkovic moves on.
9) Norwich – £30.29m
Players bought: Milot Rashica (Werder Bremen, £9.9m), Ben Gibson (Burnley, £8.37m), Dimitrios Giannoulis (PAOK Salonika, £6.75m), Angus Gunn (Southampton, £5.27m), Billy Gilmour (Chelsea, loan)
The Canaries may have signed five new players, but they remain in profit following the sale of Emi Buendia to Aston Villa. But Daniel Farke isn’t done yet. Norwich need another midfielder and a centre-back before the window closes. Of the signings so far, most attention will be on Gilmour next season but Rashica is an intriguing purchase. Not long ago, the Kosovan was being linked with Liverpool.
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8) Marseille – £32.85m
Players bought: Gerson (Flamengo, £22.5m), Leonardo Balerdi (Borussia Dortmund, £7.2m), Konrad de la Fuente (Barcelona, £2.7m) Cengiz Ünder (Roma, £450,000 loan fee)
OM aren’t f***ing about this summer. Four players in already and more coming, with Matteo Guendouzi on his way from Arsenal, William Saliba may follow, while Pau Lopez is due for a medical before he takes the gloves.
7) Aston Villa – £34.56m
Players bought: Emiliano Buendía (Norwich, £34.56m), Ashley Young (Inter Milan, free)
The suspicion remains that Villa are spending their Jack Grealish windfall before they’ve banked it, especially while they prepare a third bid for the Croydon De Bruyne, Arsenal’s Emile Smith Rowe. They also have eyes on James Ward Prowse and Axel Tuanzebe. All of which needs paying for somehow…
6) Liverpool – £36m
Players bought: Ibrahima Konaté (RB Leipzig, £36m)
We can expect Liverpool to fly up this list once they’ve signed all of Kylian Mbappe, Donyell Malen, Saul Niguez, Otavio and Kingsley Coman.
5) Shakhtar Donetsk – £36.9m
Players bought: Pedrinho (Benfica, £16.2m), Marlon (Sassuolo, £10.8m), Lassina Traore (Ajax, £9m)
You’ll be shocked and stunned to learn that Shakhtar have signed a couple of Brazilians. And Lassina Traore too, which could be an inspired bit of business as Shakhtar seeks to regain the ascendancy in the Ukraine Premier League after finishing as runners-up last season.
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4) AC Milan – £37.98m
Players bought: Fikayo Tomori (Chelsea, £26.28m), Mike Maignan (Lille, £11.7m)
Milan tried before they bought Tomori, while Maignan serves as a fine goalkeeper and a big f** you to Mino Raiola after the agent pushed the Rossoneri too far in his pursuit of a better deal for Gianluigi Donnarumma. Milan aren’t done yet either, with Isco, Josep Ilicic, Olivier Giroud and Philippe Coutinho among others all being linked with moves to the San Siro.
3) Bayern Munich – £38.25m
Players bought: Dayot Upamecano (RB Leipzig, £38.25m), Omar Richards (Reading, free), Sven Ulreich (Hamburg, free)
Bayern had no choice but to move for a defender with David Alaba, Jerome Boateng and Javi Martinez all departing at the end of their contracts. They also have contracts to renew for Kingsley Coman, Niklas Sule and Leon Goretzka, so even if they don’t sign any more players – they probably will – it could still be an expensive summer for the Bavarians.
2) Leicester – £45m
Players bought: Patson Daka (RB Salzburg, £27m), Boubakary Soumare (Lille, £18m)
This looks to be some really good business yet again from Leicester. The sting in the tail could be the departure of one of their big names since Brendan Rodgers still has his feelers out, while the Foxes net spend tends to be two-thirds of their current outlay. But the prospect of anyone forking out the kind of figures Leicester would expect for James Maddison or Youri Tielemans seems more remote than most summers.
1) RB Leipzig – £82.46m
Players bought: André Silva (Eintracht Frankfurt, £20.7m), Josko Gvardiol (Dinamo Zagreb, £16.92m), Angeliño (Man City, £16.2m), Mohamed Simakan (Strasbourg, £13.5m), Benjamin Henrichs (Monaco, £13.5m), Caden Clark (New York Red Bulls, £1.64m)
Despite the biggest outlay in Europe right now, Leipzig have almost broken even thanks largely to the sale of two centre-backs – Upamecano and Konate. The Germans, under new management with Jesse Marsch having replaced Bayern-bound Julian Nagelsmann – are also likely to sell further assets, with Marcel Sabitzer set to depart having entered the final year of his contract