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September 1, 2024
The transfer window for Europe’s most prominent clubs and competitions has closed for 2024.
The transfer window ended an hour earlier on Friday in France, Italy, and Germany, while in England and Spain, it concluded at 11 p.m. BST (6 p.m. ET). There is little space left for more significant transactions. However, it is still available in a few nations, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the Netherlands.
Now, teams, players, managers, and agents will all step back and evaluate. Some wishes came true, but others didn’t. Over the summer, some people performed exceptionally well in their movements, while others regret losing chances.
Now that we have reviewed the window events let’s divide the results into winners and losers (plus a few between them). Who did well and who didn’t is shown here.
Let’s start with one of Atletico Madrid’s most remarkable—yet startling—spending binges of the window.
They spent nearly €180 million signing four headline players, including Julián Álvarez (€75 million), Conor Gallagher (€42 million), Robin Le Normand (€34.5 million), and Alexander Sørloth (€32 million), along with a few depth players, this summer, after several tranquil years in the market.
A massive purge cleared the way, as the team let go of four center backs, loaned midfielder Saúl Ñíguez once more, and let Samu Omorodion (€15m) and Álvaro Morata (€13m) go to Porto and Milan, respectively. Finally, João Félix transferred permanently to Chelsea for €52m. For Los Colchoneros, it’s the start of an exciting new era.
Arsenal paid €45 million to acquire Riccardo Calafiori to add depth to their defense. Meanwhile, manager Mikel Arteta strengthened his midfield by paying €33 million to Real Sociedad for Spain’s Mikel Merino, a potential Euro 2024 hero.
Goalkeeper David Raya was on loan from Brentford during the previous season and was signed permanently for €30 million. Based on his early performances this year, the club appears to have made the right choice in selecting him as their first choice.
Then, in the last seconds, Raheem Sterling joined on a season-long loan, giving the team much-needed depth on the wings and a heaping helping of championship-winning experience.
Furthermore, the Gunners generated money very efficiently—something they haven’t done well in previous years. They spent more than €80 million to acquire Aaron Ramsdale, Emile Smith Rowe, and Eddie Nketiah, which may be extremely helpful for market flexibility over the coming year.
Even if the team avoided spending a ton of money on a striker, as many supporters had hoped, they are still the winners this transfer window.
PSG maintained composure in the market after their pointless summertime loss of Kylian Mbappé to Real Madrid. When João Neves (€70m), Désiré Doué (€50m), and Willian Pacho (€40m) arrived, they made an investment in very talented, young players rather than automatically signing a mega-money, star-studded successor. The oldest is Pacho, who is 22 years old. Doué is another valuable French connection that the capital club should treasure. Neves is incredibly talented and has already demonstrated this.
PSG has also successfully moved several players who don’t fit manager Luis Enrique’s approach; Manuel Ugarte, for example, went to Manchester United for €50 million. Not only is this a new era for PSG (post-Mbappé), but it also represents a change in transfer strategy. Giving credit where credit is due is essential.
Juventus completely reorganized their roster this summer to better align their team with new manager Thiago Motta. They’ve nailed the brief, except missing out on one target (Bologna defender Riccardo Calafiori, who signed with Arsenal for €45 million).
The midfield will be transformed by Douglas Luiz of Aston Villa, Teun Koopmeiners of Atalanta, and Khephren Thuram of Nice; two Fiorentina loanees, Nicolas Gonzalez and Francisco Conceição, breathe new life into the wings; and Michele Di Gregorio of Monza, a goalkeeper who thrives with the ball at his feet—a vital component of Motta’s style.
Juve had to give up a little to make this work. A significant group of younger players, including Matías Soulè and Dean Huijsen, are leaving, but this puts the team in a position to challenge Inter Milan as maybe the most formidable title contender for 2024–2025.
Since the Saudi Pro League was one of the great, late benefactors of the market’s dying members, it only seems fitting to recognize it as our final winner. On the last day of the European window, it was a significant victory to sign Mohamed Simakan (€45 million) of RB Leipzig and Ivan Toney (€47.5 million) of Brentford for highly affordable prices.
Only a few days before, João Cancelo, the defender for Manchester City, had moved to Al Hilal for €25 million. At the same time, much earlier in the transfer window, Al Ittihad had paid €55 million to acquire Moussa Diaby, the 25-year-old winger for Aston Villa. Saudi Arabia’s transfer window strategies have evolved. These days, the league is a far wiser and calmer power.
Under the new ownership, Man United has changed its transfer policy. It concentrates on developing prime-age players instead of resisting the urge to add experienced players to shore up the roster. In addition, it implemented a “one in, one out” strategy, focusing on several players per position instead of putting all of its money and effort into signing a single player.
United has acquired several quality players for essentially fair prices, including Leny Yoro, a teenager from Lille (€62 million), PSG midfielder Manuel Ugarte (€50 million), Joshua Zirkzee, a striker from Bologna (€42.5 million), and Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui (€15 million) of Bayern Munich. The fact that half of the new arrivals have already collaborated with manager Erik Ten Hag at Ajax facilitates their fit with his planned approach. Finally, the team bid farewell to players like Anthony Martial and Raphaël Varane, who make a lot of money but don’t play much.
Why, then, do they not appear in the winners’ column? This is undoubtedly a step forward for United, but for most other teams, this is standard procedure. Although they signed successfully, they found no standout deals impacting the team.
Parts of Liverpool’s transfer window were quite frustrating. Fears about what the post-Jürgen Klopp era might hold haven’t been alleviated by Real Sociedad defensive midfielder Martín Zubimendi’s public rejection and the transfer window’s stagnant behavior. Fans were already afraid going into the summer.
Ultimately, though, a few signings happened. First, they acquired Giorgi Mamardashvili, perhaps the best young goalkeeper in the world, for €40 million before loaning him back to Valencia; second, they made an exciting gamble on Federico Chiesa, a talented but sometimes injured winger, from Juventus for a pitiful €13 million. Otherwise, the team avoided the urge to sign any old player. One thing going for them is that the Reds avoided that trap; in their hunt for a new No. 6, they did not want to settle for anything less than the best.
Suppose Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Mohamed Salah opt to depart for free the following summer. In that case, the events of this summer might still have a “losing” ripple effect throughout the following year. On that one, though, only time will tell.
The unusual and exceptional Chelsea transfer window has left many perplexed. Here’s a summary of the excellent job ESPN’s Ryan O’Hanlon did earlier this month in challenging the hierarchy’s approach:
Despite all the activity and interest in Napoli’s Victor Osimhen throughout the summer, the team has signed twelve players, gone twenty-one out, goalkeepers galore, homegrown talent like Conor Gallagher and Trevoh Chalobah, Raheem Sterling banished to Arsenal, Ben Chilwell, David Datro Fofana, and Harvey Vale stranded in no man’s land, and still no elite No. 9 striker.
Fans are split on it, and neutrals need clarification. Even though Chelsea eventually reduced its roster, there were once around 40 players who were first-team regulars, and less than half of them trained separately from Enzo Maresca’s selected group. Jadon Sancho arrived on deadline day on loan with an obligation to sign the following summer permanently, just when you thought they were done.
It’s crucial to remember that Chelsea has added many exceptional stars to its roster. Still, the aggressive player stockpiling and treatment of some of the current crop have brought Chelsea under intense scrutiny—which is understandable.
Financially struggling Barcelona had another problematic transfer window. In the first half of the summer, they publicly courted Athletic Club winger Nico Williams but could not sign him. In the second half of the summer, they had been desperately trying to save enough money to sign a new €60 million arrival, Dani Olmo, with the first team. Rarely does a matchday roster list a player’s name with an asterisk next to it.
Fundraising is a skill that Barça has yet to master. Although they did get €10 million each from Julián Araujo and Mikayil Faye’s departures, they were unable to record income or pay off the entire wage bill since they had to accept loans for Clément Lenglet, Vitor Roque (who signed for just €40 million in January), and Oriol Romeu. It may have hurt a little when young striker Marc Guiu left to join Chelsea for a pitiful €6 million (his release clause), but at least they got €2 million in Pau Víctor to take his place.
Ilkay Gündogan was the primary victim of the Olmo deal; he left for Manchester City on a free transfer after just one year. Olmo is an excellent attacker, but there will be worries about whether Barca’s defensive midfield and center-back deficiencies will eventually catch up to them this season.
On deadline day, Newcastle United supporters had been waiting a long time for a signing or two, hoping for some action. Regretfully, fresh people have yet to show up.
This indicates that no one else was signed in place of the summertime failure to sign €80 million-rated Crystal Palace defender Marc Guéhi. It also shows that a persistent pursuit of Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford resulted in nothing, and a failed attempt to acquire Nottingham Forest winger Anthony Elanga failed. Additionally, Miguel Almirón, the winger, could not find a new residence.
To counterbalance the debate, there’s always a case for keeping your top players, which Newcastle did by hanging onto Bruno Guimarães and Alexander Isak. However, the team and the supporters hoped to pick up speed and advance again. Sadly, that was not the case.
This summer, please pray for the domestic players. Everyone aspired to advance through the academy system, make the first team, and play football—many of them on behalf of teams they and their families supported.
Regretfully, some were used like pawns when Premier League teams could not meet Profit and sustainability Regulations.
This resulted in an odd mini-transfer window in late June, during which players like Elliot Anderson (€40m) and Omari Kellyman (€22m) made incredible transfers. Conor Gallagher (€42 million) joined Atletico Madrid later in the window, partly due to Chelsea’s desire for the pure profit academy graduates bring in. Even Scott McTominay’s €30.5 million move to Napoli was influenced by it; manager Erik ten Hag lamented, “It is the [financial] rules.”
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Katarzyna Nowak is a seasoned writer with over five years of experience in editorial content, news reporting, and football sportsbook app reviews. As an author for Football News Today, she combines her deep understanding of the sports betting industry with a passion for football, delivering insightful and accurate content that keeps readers informed and engaged.
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