3 Shocking transfers this summer

The summer transfer window is up and running and although the deadline day for all the Premier League teams is 9 August, the rest of the major European Leagues can carry on their proceedings till the 31st of August.

Although there haven't been any record-breaking signings, this summer has seen its fair share of shocking transfers which came out of the blue.

Even though the transfer window has always been unpredictable, some of the transfers were not in the pipeline even though the transfer window had proceeded for a considerable period of time. So without any further ado, here are the 3 summer signings of 2018, which shocked the world.

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#3 Malcom

Malcom was hijacked by Barcelona from AS Roma.

In one of the weirdest possible ways, Barcelona hijacked the Brazilian winger Malcom from Malcom and AS Roma would probably have felt hard done by the fact that the player was snatched from their grasp after they officially announced his arrival.

The 21-year-old former Bordeaux was all set to join the capital when suddenly out of nowhere, Barcelona came calling and it was too difficult for the player as well as the club to resist the temptation.

All the preparations required were completed by AS Roma and Malcom was about to fly to Rome to undergo the medical test when all of a sudden, Barcelona lured Bordeaux into submission when the Catalans offered €41m (£36.5m) to the French club for the winger, which was roughly £6.5m more than the amount Roma was supposed to pay(excluding add-ons).

Roma's sporting director, Monchi, commented on their failed move for Malcom in a video on the club’s official Twitter feed – and appeared to lay the blame with Bordeaux. He even claimed that Bordeaux also refused to let the player fly to Rome after Barcelona submitted the higher bid.

In the end, the Italian side was forced to exit the negotiations and were left gutted at the loss of a quality player, which would have been a cheaper option in an otherwise exorbitant transfer market.

#2 Leonardo Bonucci

Leonardo Bonucci moved to Turin after a dismal campaign with AC Milan.

Last year during the summer transfer window, Leonardo Bonucci decided to part ways with Juventus after a fruitful spell of 7 years. It was shocking to see the disintegration of the famed BBC ( Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini) trio of Juventus.

However, it did make sense because he had not always been on the same page as that of his Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri and the move to a fierce domestic rival certainly looked like the end of his Juventus career.

But what is even more shocking is the return of Bonucci to Turin after a frustrating campaign with AC Milan. Although the temptation of playing with Cristiano Ronaldo and winning major silverware might have been a huge driving factor, the move seemed far-fetched because of Allegri's presence.

But a shocking turn of events saw Leonardo Bonucci's return to Turin which was facilitated by Gonzalo Higuain's move to the Milan based club. Although Bonucci is indeed a terrific player, his relationship with club's coach could prove to be detrimental to the 'Old lady's' cause.

Only time will tell whether this move will work out or not, but it certainly turned out to be one of the most shocking moves of this year's summer transfer window.

#1 Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo's move to Turin was the biggest talking point this summer.

Perhaps the biggest talking point this summer, Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Juventus was nothing short of a thriller movie, which even seemed to surpass the hype surrounding the ongoing World Cup in Russia.

Nobody in their right mind would have thought about Ronaldo leaving the Madrid based club even though CR7 hinted at his impending departure from the club.

Most of the people thought of this to be yet another gimmick from the Portuguese forward in order to stay in the limelight. Moreover, the rumors surrounding Cristiano's transfer have been resurfacing for the past few seasons and even after he was charged with tax evasion in June 2017, he stayed at Madrid and went on to win the Champions League in 2018.

For once, Ronaldo even admitted about his intentions of retiring at the Santiago Bernabeu. But ever since his comments after Los Blancos's historic Champions League treble, the rumors surrounding his departure spread like wildfire and in the end, the improbable happened as Ronaldo decided to switch allegiances and joined Juventus.

Thereby becoming the most expensive transfer for a player aged over 30. It was the end of an era at Madrid and it will be interesting to see how Real Madrid and Ronaldo will cope in the absence of each other as the 2018-19 season goes underway.