European football enters a new season in a few weeks. Some clubs have been busy negotiating for their high profile transfer targets, while others are busy convincing their players to stay. While it may look like most selling clubs have estimated incredibly high prices on their players, the potential suitor clubs have been more than willing to match these high transfer values as well as the wage expectations. Not to say that all has gone smoothly as some clubs have faced problems in these exchanges with Southampton's accusation of Liverpool being a prime example.
Done deals
The biggest transfer of the summer has been the £90M move of Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku from Everton to Manchester United. The 24-year-old reunites with Jose Mourinho, who was his manager at Chelsea. Chelsea have been actively looking for a striker given the news of Costa's pending departure and their search was completed with the signing of Alvaro Morata with the 24-year-old signing on after Real Madrid accepted a £70M bid. Manchester City have spent £99.2M acquiring two full-backs in 23-year-old French left-back Benjamin Mendy and 27-year-old England right-back Kyle Walker, while also signing 22-year-old Portuguese midfielder Bernardo Silva for £43M. Arsenal have signed France striker Alexandre Lacazette for a club record £52M while Liverpool have signed Mohamed Salah for £34.3M from AS Roma.
Outside of England, things have been relatively much calmer with Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona spending only £25.50M and £25.93M respectively on their top signings for Theo Hernandez and Nelson Semedo. New Atletico signed 27-year-old Vitolo which cost the club a hefty £30.60M. In Germany, Bayern Munich paid £35.28M to acquire the services of the highly talented 22-year-old France midfielder Corentin Tolisso.
In Italy, Juventus signed Federico Bernardeschi, the 23-year-old winger arriving for £34M from Fiorentina. AC Milan have been one of the busiest clubs in the transfer market with high profile signings of Leonardo Bonucci for £35.70M and Andre Silva for £32.30M.
Rumours
Notice how you did not see a mention of the French Ligue 1 on the 'Done Deals' sections above.
That is mostly due to the fact that PSG have not yet made their mark on the transfer market and if the current rumours are anything to go by, when they do make their mark, it will shatter previous records with Neymar rumoured to be the top target of the club from Paris and reports of a bid of £199M. Barcelona themselves are said to be preparing a bid closer to £100M for Liverpool attacking midfielder Philippe Coutinho. The cycle continues to Liverpool, who are expected to pay at least £65M for 22-year-old Naby Keita from Leipzig.
Kylian Mbappe, the 18-year-old French striker is reportedly close to joining Real Madrid in a deal worth £161m. Other notable rumours flying around have been those of Virgil van Dijk favouring a move to Liverpool, Ousmane Dembele's potential departure to Juventus who are also targeting Liverpool man Emre Can, and Ross Barkley touted to leave Everton in another high-value departure from Goodison Park this summer.
However high these transfer valuations might seem, there seems to be no end to them as there is no shortage of clubs ready to pay. Transfer negotiations increasingly seem like a term used to delay deals till the parent clubs eventually get their valuations met. With a lot of time still to go until August 31 and the closure of the transfer window, hold on to your seats and enjoy this crazy show of the European football transfer market.
