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Manchester United spent big on deadline day to get Radamel Falcao.The transfer window is an exciting period for fans of every club. As fans we look forward to see which player the club will bring in and who will the club finally get rid of. With the conclusion of the summer transfer window, here is a look at the 5 winners and the 5 losers of this transfer window.Clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool and Manchester United have had a good transfer window, but they have also seen a massive change in the squad or the departure of key players, hence these clubs haven’t made their way into the Top 5 list. Other notable clubs who have had an excellent transfer window are Everton, Internazionale and Bayern Munich.Note: The opinion expressed below is purely that of the author’s and not that of the website.
#10 Loser: AS Monaco
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Major Transfers In: Aymen Abdennour and Marteen Stekelenbur.
Major Transfers Out: James Rodriguez, Radamel Falcao, Eric Abidal and Emmanuel Riviere.
Last season, the way AS Monaco were spending money, it looked like they would be serious contenders with PSG this season. Now it looks like the club owners have lost interest and are trying to cut their losses and move on.
Monaco have had very, very big transfers out of the club and very insignificant players coming in. They sold Colombians James Rodriguez and Radamel Falcao for huge fees and did absolutely nothing to replace any of the players who left.
Fans of Monaco will be feeling let down by what is happening at the club.
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#9 Loser: SL Benifica
Major Transfers In: Bebe, Julio Cesar, Silvio, Bryan Cristante, Samaris and Eliseu.
Major Transfers Out: Ezequiel Garay, Lazar Markovic, Jan Oblak, Oscar Cardozo, Guilhereme Siqueira (loan return), Filip Duricic, Rodrigo Moreno and Joao Cancelo.
Benifica lost a lot of key players after winning the domestic treble and reaching the final of the Europa League last season. A similar thing happened with Atletico Madrid, but Benifica unlike Atletico Madrid haven’t replaced their outgoing players with quality recruits. One of their biggest transfers in this season was that of Manchester United flop – Bebe.
Things will be even more difficult for Benifica this season after their biggest competitors FC Porto had a good transfer window, while Sporting managed to keep almost all their major players.
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#8 Loser: Tottenham Hotspur
Major Transfers In: Ben Davies, Eric Dier, Michel Vorm, DeAndreYedlin (loaned back to Seattle Sounders), Federico Fazio and Benjamin Stambouli.
Major Transfers Out: Gylfi Sigurðsson, Lewis Holtby, Michael Dawson, Sandro, Jake Livermore, Zeki Fryers and Iago Falque.
Tottenham failed to land all their major targets apart from Ben Davies. They failed to land Mateo Musacchio, Morgan Schneiderlin, Memphis Depay and Danny Welbeck.
In addition to this they failed to find suitors for under-performers like Etienne Capoue and Roberto Soldado.
The addition of Michel Vorm also doesn’t make much sense as Hugo Lloris is the undisputed Number 1 and Brad Friedel was already available as a more than capable backup option.
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#7 Loser: Paris Saint Germain
Major Transfers In: David Luiz and Serge Aurier.
Major Transfers Out: Alex, Jeremy Menez and Kingsley Coman.
PSG were punished by UEFA for breaching Financial Fair Play rules, which meant that the French Champions could only spend €50 million on transfers and any money they get from outgoing players.
All three of outgoing players from PSG went on free transfers and PSG spent all the money they could on David Luiz.
€50 million on a 27-year-old central defender whose defensive abilities have been questioned several times was just unbelievably stupid. PSG signed Thiago Silva for a much lesser fee. Looking at the fee they spent on Luiz, one would be forced to say that Bayern Munich got Mehdi Benatia for cheap.
This transfer fee spent on Luiz affected PSG as they wanted to buy Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid. But the restriction due to FFP meant that the move could never materialize.
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#6 Loser: Arsenal
Major Transfers In: Alexis Sanchez, Mathieu Debuchy, David Ospina, Calum Chambers and Danny Welbeck.
Major Transfers Out: Bacary Sagna, Thomas Vermaelen, Lukasz Fabianski, Carl Jenkinson, Ryo Miyaichi, Nicklas Bendtner and Johan Djourou.
Arsenal’s transfers were mainly just replacing outgoing players – Debuchy for Sagna, Chambers for Vermaelen and Ospina for Fabianski. It’s hard to say Bendtner was replaced because he hardly ever played.
Arsenal have finally got a striker to compete with Olivier Giroud, but they paid over the odds for Danny Welbeck. Liverpool managed to get Mario Balotelli for the same fee (£16 million). Arsenal could have purchased Balotelli earlier and were heavily linked with the Italian, but Arsene Wenger opted not to buy him. Welbeck’s fee looks even more ridiculous when you know that Liverpool managed to get Daniel Sturridge for just £12 million.
Arsenal on the other hand strengthened in an area where they already had competition. Sanchez predominantly plays on the right hand side of attack where the Gunners already have Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott.
The transfers have once again left Arsenal’s very weak in their defensive depth. Calum Chambers is the only defensive cover for Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker. Chambers played as a right back before joining Arsenal and he is not an experienced player. An injury to one of their main centre backs could test Arsenal in big matches. Chambers is also the cover for right back Mathieu Debuchy. Injuries to two of their main defenders would put Arsenal in serious trouble.
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#5 Winner: AS Roma
Major Transfers In: Ashley Cole, Seydou Keita, Kostas Manolas, Urby Emmanuelson, Salih Ucan, Davide Astori, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa and Juan Iturbe.
Major Transfers Out: Mehdi Benatia.
Roma managed to keep all but one major player player from their team that finished second last season in Serie A.
Rudi Garcia managed to add to his squad depth and strengthen certain positions this transfer window. Roma got veteran left-back Ashley Cole on a free transfer. Cole brings with him tremendous experience. Roma also got former Barcelona midfiler Seydou Keita and former AC Milan player Urby Emmanuelson on free transfers.
Their major expenditure was to bring in Juan Iturbe, who had a terrific season with Hellas Verona last time around and Greek defender Kostas Manolas, who had a good World Cup, from Olympiacos.
Roma also secured the loan deals of Salih Ucan, Davide Astori and Mbiwa with an option to make the deal permanent.
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#4 Winner: Borussia Dortmund
Major Transfers In: Shinji Kagawa, Nuri Sahin (loan deal made permanent), Ciro Immobile, Adrian Ramos, Matthias Ginter and Ji Dong-won.
Major Transfers Out: Robert Lewandowski and Julian Schieber.
Borussia Dortmund lost Robert Lewandowski - yet another key player of their squad and once again it was to fellow Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich.
Jurgen Klopp wanted to ensure that his side wouldn’t miss Lewandowski and he did this by bringing in Ciro Immobile who the Serie A top scorer last season with Torino. To ensure that his team would still be banging in goals even if Immobile doesn’t gel with the team, Dortmund secured the services of Adrian Ramos who was the fourth highest goal scorer in Bundesliga last season with 16 goals.
Klopp brought back Nuri Sahin on loan from Real Madrid back in 2013 and he made the move permanent for just €7 million, three years after selling the Turkish International to Real Madrid for €10 million. Another player who returned to Dortmund is Shinji Kagawa. The Japanese playmaker joined Manchester United for €16 million two seasons ago and returned for half the fee. Jurgen Klopp was happy and enthusiastic about the return of a player whom he had made a star.
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#3 Winner: AC Milan
Major Transfers In: Fernando Torres, Alex, Diego Lopez, Adil Rami, Jeremy Menez, Marco Van Ginkel, Pablo Armero and Giacomo Bonaventura.
Major Transfers Out: Mario Balotelli, Kaka, Alessandro Matri, Kevin Constant, Bryan Cristante , Urby Emmanuelson and Adel Taarabt (Loan Return).
Everyone knows that AC Milan are in serious financial trouble, but to be able to put together a starting 11 without paying as much as a penny as transfer fee is simply outstanding.
Milan’s free transfers and incoming loanees consist of players with plenty of experience at the top level and proven winners.
Earlier this year in January, they got Keisuke Honda, Michael Essien and Adel Taarabt (loan with option to purchase).
This time they secured the services of Jeremy Menez and Alex both from PSG on free transfers, Pablo Armero, the Colombian left back who scored the country’s opening goal at the World Cup, on loan from Udinese, Fernando Torres and Marco Van Ginkel, both on loan from Chelsea, and Diego Lopez for free from Real Madrid. They also got Adil Rami from Valencia after the defender himself paid half a million euros to secure the move.
Milan have got a balanced squad now and a starting 11 they put together without paying any transfer fees. They have started their quest to return to Champions League again with an impressive win over Lazio in the Serie A opener.
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#2 Winner: Atletico Madrid
Major Transfers In: Mario Mandzukic, Antoine Greizmann, Alessio Cerci, Raul Jimenez, Jan Oblak, Miguel Angel Moya, Guihereme Siqueira and Cristian Ansaldi.
Major Transfers Out: Diego Costa, Filipe Luis, Thibaut Courtois (Loan Return), David Villa, Adrian, Toby Alderweireld, Jose Sosa (Loan Return), Diego Ribas and Javi Manquillo.
Atletico Madrid lost 4 of the 11 players that started the final of the 2014 UEFA Champions League as well as all three substitutes they used in the final.
Diego Simeone invested the money he received from all the outgoing players wisely. Atletico secured the services of Mario Mandzukic to replace Diego Costa. Mandzukic is not a hard working player like Costa, but the tall Croatian provides strength, aerial threat and clinical finishing up front. Mexican Raul Jimenez joins Mandzukic in the striker department which saw the departure of all three strikers from the previous season.
The other two voids Simeone had to fill were that of a goalkeeper and a left back. The Argentine got two players for both position. The experienced Miguel Angel Moya was roped in from Getafe along with the promising Jan Oblak from Benifica to compete for the place in between the sticks. Siqueira who was on loan at Benifica last season joined the Spanish Champions from Granada and Cristian Ansaldi is brought in to provide competition for the left back position.
But the best buys were that of Anotine Greizmann and Alessio Cerci. Greizmann has experience playing in the La Liga and has been in terrific form over the previous two seasons. And Cerci is a very underrated player, but the Italian scored 13 goals last season and gave a league high 11 assists.
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#1 Winner: Chelsea
Major Transfers In: Diego Costa, Filipe Luis, Cesc Fabregas, Didier Drogba and Loic Remy.
Major Transfers Out: David Luiz, Romelu Lukaku, Demba Ba, Fernando Torres, Marco Van Ginkel, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Ryan Bertran, Marko Marin and Samuel Eto’o.
Without any doubt, Chelsea are the biggest winners of this transfer window. They did their major business early in the window and strengthened where they needed to the most. But their biggest achievement was selling David Luiz for £50 million to PSG.
It was no secret that Chelsea needed a new striker whom Jose Mourinho could rely on. Chelsea made a complete overhaul in that department. They chose not to extend Samuel Eto’o’s contract, they sold Demba Ba to Besiktas and loaned their most expensive player Fernando Torres to AC Milan. They also sold Romelu Lukaku who returned from a loan spell at Everton back to the same club for a massive £28 million.
They purchased Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid who had an amazing season in Spain. Costa can hold up play, uses his strength well, is an aerial threat and has immense work rate along with deadly finishing. Costa has fit into Mourinho’s team as if he was the last piece of a Jigsaw puzzle.
Chelsea then brought in Didier Drogba to play second fiddle to Costa. Drogba brings with him valuable experience and there is no doubt that he can still score plenty of goals even at his age.
Another department Chelsea needed to strengthen was their left back position after the departure of veteran Ashley Cole. Chelsea roped in Filipe Luis from Ateletico Madrid. Luis was one of the best left backs last season across Europe and his addition will provide valuable competition for both full back positions as Azpilicueta can play on either side.
Chelsea also purchased former Arsenal man Cesc Fabregas and Mourinho said that Barcelona played Fabregas in the wrong position and he will not make the same mistake. Mourinho has so far shown us that he is right, as Fabregas has looked deadly for Chelsea in the three league matches played.
With the loan return of Thibaut Courtois, Chelsea have now added competition to the goal keeping department as Petr Cech is still with the club after the conclusion of the transfer window. Kurt Zouma’s return from loan adds depth and a mixture of youth and experience to the center of defence.
Chelsea also purchased Loic Remy from QPR after the departure of Fernando Torres to AC Milan. Remy had a decent season with Newcastle last year and will add to the depth of Chelsea’s well balanced squad.
In addition to this Chelsea have loaned out as many as 26 players!
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