Top ten biggest spenders in Europe so far this summer

Ian Watson

The signing of Jadon Sancho sees Manchester United rocket into the top ten at No.2…

Here are the ten biggest spenders in Europe so far this summer. The figures are taken from the glorious transfermarkt…

 

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 – Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima 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

 

2) Manchester United £76.5m 
Players bought: Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund, £76.5m), Tom Heaton (Aston Villa, free)

We were beginning to think Manchester United had just forgotten to unveil Sancho when it reached the 10th day after his medical without any announcement. But the England winger, raised in London a Chelsea fan before playing for Manchester City, is ‘home’.

 

3) Paris Saint-Germain – £68.4m
Players bought: Achraf Hakimi (Inter Milan, £54m), Danilo Pereira (Porto, £14.4m), Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool, free), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid, free), Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan, free)

PSG there, wining the summer transfer window so far. Wijnaldum, Ramos and Donnarumma all came as freebies – if you discount their eye-watering salaries – and go three-quarters of the way to a new spine. Another £45million should be enough to land Paul Pogba too. But they really have to start shedding their deadwood.

 

4) AC Milan – £52.29m 
Players bought: Fikayo Tomori (Chelsea, £26.28m), Mike Maignan (Lille, £11.7m), Sandro Tonali (Brescia, £6.21m), Fodé Ballo-Toure (Monaco, £4.5m), Brahim Díaz (£2.5m loan fee, Real Madrid), Olivier Giroud (Chelsea, £900,000)

Milan tried before they bought Tomori and Tonali, 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 Donnarumma. Giroud will be a bargain too.

 


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5) Leicester – £45m 
Players bought: Patson Daka (RB Salzburg, £27m), Boubakary Soumare (Lille, £18m), Ryan Bertrand (Southampton, free)

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.

 

6) Shakhtar Donetsk – £42.3m 
Players bought: Pedrinho (Benfica, £16.2m), Marlon (Sassuolo, £10.8m), Lassina Traore (Ajax, £9m), Vinicius Tobias (Internacional, £5.4m)

You’ll be shocked and stunned to learn that Shakhtar have signed a load 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.

 

7) Marseille – £40.25m 
Players bought: Gerson (Flamengo, £22.5m), Leonardo Balerdi (Borussia Dortmund, £7.2m), Luan Peres (Santos, £4.05m), Konrad de la Fuente (Barcelona, £2.7m), Pau Lopez (Roma, £648,000 loan fee), Cengiz Ünder (Roma, £450,000 loan fee), William Saliba (Arsenal, loan), Matteo Guendouzi (Arsenal, loan).

OM are doing their very best to keep up with PSG’s summer recruitment while pacifying the fans who earlier this year stormed their training ground. All this despite £84million losses during 2019-20. PSG don’t have such worries, but Marseille are bucking the trend in the rest of Ligue 1, where clubs are concentrating more on surviving than signing.

 

8) 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.

Konate Liverpool

 

9) 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, Kingsley Coman and Jarrod Bowen.

 

10) Norwich – £35.69m
Players bought: Milot Rashica (Werder Bremen, £9.9m), Ben Gibson (Burnley, £8.37m), Pierre Lees Melou (nice, £5.4m), Dimitrios Giannoulis (PAOK Salonika, £6.75m), Angus Gunn (Southampton, £5.27m), Billy Gilmour (Chelsea, loan)

The Canaries may have signed six new players, but the sale of Emi Buendia to Aston Villa keeps them close to the breakeven mark. Most attention will be on Gilmour next season but Rashica is an intriguing purchase. Not long ago, the Kosovan was being linked with Liverpool. Their most important signing? Daniel Farke.