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On the last Friday of July most teams around Europe will be looking at their squads as being pretty much ready for the new season ahead. With the elite European leagues starting in two or three weeks time and pre-season well under way, now is a good time to reflect on which clubs are having the best time of it in the markets this summer.
Barring some rapid accelerations in developments with certain deals and the usual transfer deadline day madness the bulk of the work has been done. So which five clubs from around Europe are having the best transfer windows?
Napoli
Major Ins Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid, £32m), Pepe Reina (Liverpool, loan), Dries Mertens (PSV, £9m), Raul Albiol (Real Madrid, £10m), Jose Callejon (Real Madrid, £8m)
Major Outs Edinson Cavani (PSG, £55m)
Net Spend £4m
Summary Despite the loss of Edinson Cavani, Napoli are having an incredible transfer window. Higuain is the jewel in the crown. Napoli have lost Cavani, who is one year older than Higuain and with nothing like the European goalscoring record the Argentine boasts, and replaced him with Higuain at a profit of £23m. Incredible. They won’t suffer any significant down turn in goal scoring output as Higuain’s career record of 107 goals in 187 shows he has more than enough pedigree. Last season a fragile defence cost them a push for the title and this has been rectified with two enormous defensive upgrades, with Reina over De Sanctis of particular note. Mertens and Callejon add goals and pace in wide forward areas to give Napoli a potent range of attacking weaponry in addition to Insigne and Hamsik. They’ve made a real push towards competing for the league title.
Norwich City
Major Ins Ricky van Wolfswinkel (Sporting Lisbon, £8.5m), Leroy Fer (Twente, £4.3m), Gary Hooper (Celtic, £5m), Nathan Redmond (Birmingham, £2m), Martin Olsson (Blackburn, £2.5m)
Major Outs Grant Holt (Wigan, £2m)
Net Spend £19.3m
Summary Last season Norwich’s survival was built on a strong defence, but they were hampered by a struggling forward line. Well, with time to fit them in to the system they have signed two players who combined for 31 league goals last season. Van Wolfswinkel brings pace and dynamism and Hooper brings finishing and toughness. They needed to add players who could finish chances created by Snodgrass in particular. Olsson and Redmond add raw speed to a team which looks like it could be a real threat on the counter attack this season. The key could be Fer though. Assuming he keeps himself out of trouble off the field, and a quiet city like Norwich is a good place to do that, he could be dominant on the pitch. He has the highest grade of any signing I’ve given this summer. His drive and tenacity are ideal both to shield a decent defence and thrust forward to bring goals from midfield.
Benfica
Major Ins Lazar Markovic (Partizan Belgrade, Undisclosed), Miralem Sulejmani (Ajax, Free), Lisandro Lopez (Arsenal Sarandi, £4m), Filip Djuricic (Heerenveen, £5m), Luis Farina (Racing, Undisclosed)
Major Outs None
Net Spend £10m+
Summary I picked Benfica as a club that holds the key to an active transfer market, but that was because of all the talent they might have been selling to other clubs. But they’ve managed to so far keep hold of all of it. Matic, Salvio, Gaitan, Garay, Maxi, John and Rodrigo have all been linked elsewhere, but because of the amount of money they’ve made from previous sales Benfica have scared clubs off with huge prices. So they’ve got a team that only lost once in the league and got to the Europa League final and have added quality to it. Lopez has been signed to either partner or replace Garay. Djuricic could replace or compliment Gaitan. Sulejmani can cover or replace Salvio, and Markovic can play in any attacking midfield area. They have brought in players to cover sales if they get big enough offers, or simply to add class. Pay attention Europe, this is how you should do it.
Fiorentina
Major Ins Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich, £13m) Josep Ilicic (Palermo, £7m) Joaquin (Malaga, £2m) Marcos Alonso (Bolton, Free) Massimo Ambrosini (Milan, Free)
Major Outs Stevan Jovetic (Man City, £22m)
Net Spend £0
Summary Another masterclass in transfer market management from Fiorentina. Although they so far haven’t really done a massive amount about their defensive problems, they’ve added depth and more importantly, experience of winning. Mario Gomez is one of the best signings of the summer across all of Europe. Fiorentina had a host of talented forwards and attackers but no pure goal poacher. Well, they do now, and he’s one of the top pure poachers in the world. They don’t need him to be creating goals or venturing from the box, they just need him to tap them in, and he’s shown over many years that he can do that in spades. Ilicic can be a like for like replacement for the departing Jovetic and Joaquin can help the talented Cuardado and Ljajic improve yet further. What it gives them is a chance to push full steam for the league title whilst still trying to win the Europa League. It’s important for this new incarnation of Fiorentina to win a trophy to legitimise their fresh start and they are going some towards that.
Major Ins Arouna Kone (Wigan, £5m), Antolin Alcaraz (Wigan, Free), Joel Robles (Atletico Madrid, £500,000), Gerard Deulofeu (Barcelona, Loan)
Major Outs None
Net Spend £5.5m
Summary Everton has spent just £5.5m to sign two certain starters who are both upgrades and quite possibly another two as well by season’s end. But, the key thing for them is that as I write this, the club still owns Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini with no imminent sign of either having to be sold either. Of course, the strength of this ranking is heavily influenced because of this, with Baines being one of the most consistent players in the league and Fellaini one of the most destructive, but they wouldn’t be on this list if not for their signings. The first thing they needed was a proper striker. Kone showed that he can score goals in the Premier League last season in a much inferior Wigan side and with the supply of Baines, Pienaar and Deulofeu, he has the talent to get 18 goals or more. Deulofeu could be the ace in the pack. His vibrant, creative and dangerous attacking game makes him a seriously exciting prospect and opposite Mirallas in Everton’s 4-3-3 he could cause carnage if he adapts to the physicality of the league.
The Honorable mentions:
Atletico Madrid A £45.5m profit on the Villa for Falcao swap and it turns out Villa is only two years older and will be massively motivated.
PSG A lot of money spent, but Digne and Marquinhos could become top five in their position in the next few years, and if they get the Cavani/Ibrahimovic pairing to operate effectively it could be a Champions League winner.
Bayern Munich They’ve stolen Mario Gotze from their main domestic rivals and Thiago Alcantara chose them over Barcelona and Man United. Who say’s they’re not the biggest team in Europe?
Chelsea Returning loanees Lukaku and De Bruyne are exceptional talents as are new signings Schurrle and Van Ginkel.
