Why Barcelona Have Beaten Real Madrid in Summer Transfer Window

Barcelona have had a better summer transfer window than Real Madrid, although you would expect supporters of Los Blancos to disagree.

In fact, if you were to consider the net costs of both incoming and outgoing deals, there is a strong case for saying Real Madrid have made the better deals.

Having sold Angel Di Maria to Manchester United for an eye-watering £59.7 million, per Sport, as well as Xabi Alonso to Bayern Munich, Florentino Perez has not had to dig too deep for his signings. 

Toni Kroos, from Bayern, will add both creativity and graft to the midfield, while James Rodriguez was the star of the World Cup.

He is someone who can impress now, but his true value will be seen in the years to come.

Daniel Ochoa de Olza/Associated Press

Meanwhile, Keylor Navas helps sort out the goalkeeping situation, with Diego Lopez leaving for AC Milan.

The Costa Rican will be more comfortable sitting behind Casillas but is also talented enough to be the first choice, if Carlo Ancelotti decides that is what he wants.

However, when you consider the overall impact on the squad this summer, you can't really say Real Madrid have improved.

Losing Di Maria will be a big blow, because there is no other player quite like him in world football at the moment.

A key part of the club's success in the Champions League and the Copa del Rey last season, the Argentine is one of the trickiest and most unpredictable players around.

To be able to utilise that in a central midfield position is quite incredible, because usually those type of players feature on the wings, where their lack of work ethic doesn't harm the team so much.

But Di Maria has incredible stamina and energy and grew to be well at home playing in Ancelotti's central three last season, developing from his previous role as a winger.

Daniel Ochoa de Olza/Associated Press

Alonso was the most defensive-minded midfielder in the squad and unless a new man is brought in, or Asier Illarramendi is given more chances, the pressure on Kroos and Luka Modric in bigger matches could break Madrid. 

Barcelona on the other hand, while far from conducting perfect transfer business this window, have clearly strengthened.

They have addressed the main two areas of concern in central defence and central midfield.

On top of that, they have added one of the finest players around to their armoury up front, in Luis Suarez.

While spending €40 million on Jeremy Mathieu and Thomas Vermaelen is far from perfect, the fact is they needed two centre-backs and they have got them.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

What is actually very good business indeed is the signing of Sevilla's Ivan Rakitic.

The Croatian is a brilliant and versatile midfielder, who brings a lot of athleticism to the side, lacking last year when they played veteran pass-master Xavi.

They have also added two new goalkeepers to the squad, which was necessary with Victor Valdes and Jose Manuel Pinto leaving.

While neither of them are outstanding, Claudio Bravo should prove decent back-up to Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Two big names left, with Cesc Fabregas' move to Chelsea a win-win for all concerned.

Sang Tan/Associated Press

The player will be happier back in the Premier League, Chelsea needed a playmaker of his profile, and Barcelona used the money to fund part of the move for Suarez.

The rest of that deal was financed by the sale of Alexis Sanchez to Arsenal.

While he was useful at the Camp Nou, Suarez is a better player than Sanchez and there was not room for both of them in the squad, especially with Neymar and Lionel Messi shoo-ins for two starting places already.

Overall, Barcelona have done better business than Real Madrid this summer, targeting the areas they needed to improve upon and doing so. 

However, as we've seen, the players they have bought are far from perfect, but they needed to buy because they may be banned from signing until January 2016, unless the Court of Arbitration for Sport takes their side in their battle against FIFA. 

It could be next summer that Real Madrid strike some killer blows, while Barcelona are left impotent.