Yan Diomande was already a rising star at RB Leipzig but shining for Côte d’Ivoire in the US helped push up his price tag before a £115.7m move to Real Madrid. There were other breakout stars: Switzerland’s Johan Manzambi, whose signature Aston Villa pipped Newcastle to; Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Kerim Alajbegovic, who went to Juventus; and Ghana’s Caleb Yirenkyi, who is now in the Premier League with Coventry. Cape Verde’s cult hero Vozinha now keeps net for the Chilean giants Colo-Colo and Morocco’s attacking dynamo, Ismael Saibari, has rocked up at Bayern.
Billy Munday While Europe’s wealthiest clubs generally allowed the World Cup to run its course before moving for their main targets, there were some exceptions. Real Madrid announced the signing of Marc Cucurella for £52m as he was getting ready to start Spain’s opener against Cape Verde, then Bernardo Silva before Portugal began their campaign two days later. Liverpool spent heavily early on as they signed Víctor Muñoz for £34.5m in mid-June and completed their pre-agreed £60m deal for Jérémy Jacquet at the start of July.
Tottenham had spent almost £230m on Jan Paul van Hecke, Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali before the last 16 was over, also adding Andy Robertson and Marcos Senesi on free transfers. Other clubs seemed to treat the World Cup as an opportunity to do deals under the radar. Bayer Leverkusen moved quickly, just as they did in January, to sign promising youngsters in Kennet Eichhorn and Afonso Moreira for a combined £32.8m in June.
Brighton were among the most proactive squad builders in the Premier League, spending just over £50m on Zadok Yohanna, Costinha and Pascal Struijk before the World Cup action had moved beyond the last 32. Will Magee “Think about us like a volcano,” Hull’s owner, Acun Ilicali, said in July. In the end, the promoted Premier League side signed 18 players this summer for a combined sum of £156.5m.
Ipswich went even further, splashing £194.7m on 15 additions, while Coventry spent £122.4m on 11 new signings. It is a far cry from a few years ago when many promoted teams were frugal, often relying on the players who took them to the promised land. As recently as 2021 the three promoted teams, Norwich, Watford and Brentford, spent a combined £98.8m – with the latter’s acquisition of Kristoffer Ajer from Celtic the most expensive signing at £13m.
The fact that Premier League newcomers are spending so lavishly is a reminder of the division’s financial dominance and the game’s increasingly extreme economic disparities. Marcus Christenson In sharp contrast to the Premier League, where eight clubs had a net spend over £100m and only six made a net gain, 15 out of 18 Ligue 1 clubs made money on player trading this summer. Paris Saint-Germain led the way thanks in no small part to the £123m deal which took Bradley Barcola to Liverpool, making a net profit of more than £150m overall.
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