Football Transfers - The story so far

Real Madrid may have been outwitted by the wily Rafael Benitez. The Napoli coach signed on Raul Albiol and Jose Callejon – both class players. He further added Spanish flavour with Pepe Reina, and all three signings came at a fraction of selling Edinson Cavani Ligue 1 champions PSG. Napoli fans will miss Cavani, but reasonable ones can see Benitez doing a fine balancing act. And like Manchester City, he moved in early.

Juventus trumped Serie A on the back of one of the best defences in the world – conceding just 24 goals. Only Jupp Heynckes’s Bayern Munich and Carlo Ancelloti’s PSG conceded fewer domestically.

Antonio Conte realised, though, that the strike force lacked an edge in their Champions League humiliation to Bayern Munich. He quickly shopped for Carlos Tevez and a wild card in (yet another Spanish player) Fernando Llorente. Llorente was as big a name 365 days ago as forgotten he is now, just like his namesake Torres. But Conte may have pulled a rabbit out of the hat.

A summary of transfer season will be incomplete without two big names - Radamel Falcao and Jose Mourinho.

Radamel Falcao

Falcao has been a summer blockbuster signing for AS Monaco FC. Claudio Ranieri also drafted in a mix of experienced big names (Eric Abidal, Ricardo Carvalho) and exciting prospects (James Rodriguez, Joao Moutinho).

How the team will gel, only time will tell, but you can trust Monaco with two things – Ranieri is a top notch manager and jersey sales are guaranteed. PSG won the Ligue 1 after 19 years and will need some serious defending this season.

Hence, with five more weeks of the transfer window remaining, as fans, we can rightfully expect a few big movements as a number of questions remain unanswered.

Mourinho’s Chelsea has offloaded 19 players and drafted in 11 more, but will the summer be lit up with a Mou-Rooney style signing? If yes, where does Torres go?

Or is the Mou-Rooney saga a cunning mind game being played over David Moyes?

Andre Villas Boas has already signed a goal scorer and is also approaching (yet another Spaniard!) Roberto Soldado; is he preparing to bail Bale out soon?

Does Christiano Ronaldo love United more, or Mourinho more, or money more?

Will Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino opt for Thiago Silva to ramp up Barcelona’s creaky makeshift defence?

Or pick little heard talents from the leagues where he has been a smash hit – Paraguay and Argentina?

Does Gonzalo Higuain have the arsenal to join Arsene Wenger’s team?

Is Luiz Suarez staying put with a sixth placed team in a country where he feels hounded by the press? If Suarez leaves, who fills his place?

Have the Milanese teams done enough to fight for the top rung?

Who fills up the gaps in Manchester United’s title defence?

Here’s awaiting more blockbuster transfers and an exciting season ahead.