15 Summer 2014 Transfers That Did Not Get Enough Hype
The 2014 summer transfer window was dominated by star names and mega deals but—away from the spotlight—there were plenty of moves that were executed without the hype.
In this slideshow, we take a look at 15 examples of transfers that could have warranted a little more attention than they did. We're focusing solely on players whose moves went under-the-radar, when compared to their more well-known contemporaries.
These slides are arranged from least to most expensive, based on transfer fees sourced from Transfermarkt. If players have the same fee, they will be ordered according to age (youngest to oldest).
Anyone you would add to the slideshow? Let us know below!
15. Andre Hahn: Augsburg to Borussia Monchengladbach
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Andre Hahn's move from Augsburg to Borussia Monchengladbach was not a splash on all the back pages. In fact, the transfer was hardly reported across a variety of media outlets.
Yet Die Fohlen executed an excellent piece of business—albeit one which was prearranged in March—when they sealed Hahn's deal on July 1, as seen on Bundesliga.com.
After joining Augsburg for just €250,000 in January 2013, from Kickers Offenbach, currently in the German fourth tier, the 24-year-old has had a remarkable rise in recent years.
Last season he put away 12 goals in the Bundesliga and registered nine assists. He also received his first call-up to the German national team which, it's fair to say, he wasn't expecting. As Hahn told sport1.de (h/t FIFA.com), "I thought I was being wound up. I shivered the full length of my body. My career path is anything but normal."
In five games for his new side, Hahn has already scored three goals and set up a further two (in Europa League qualifiers and the DFB Pokal).
At just €2.25 million, the right winger came at a bargain price, in a move that should have been a much bigger story than it was.
In the future, expect Hahn to garner many more column inches.
14. Miguel Angel Moya: Getafe to Atletico Madrid
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The heroics of goalkeepers such as Keylor Navas and Guillermo Ochoa at the 2014 World Cup ensured that most transfer rumours were centred on them this summer. This allowed Miguel Angel Moya's move to Atletico Madrid to go through fairly quietly.
The spotlight was also focused on Thibaut Courtois' return to Chelsea and Jan Oblak's high-profile switch from Benfica to the Vicente Calderon—a transfer that made Oblak La Liga's most expensive goalkeeper of all time.
Meanwhile, Moya put pen to paper with Diego Simeone's side for €3 million. The 30-year-old was cheap, had spent all his career in La Liga and did not provide the kind of exciting fodder that the rumour mill thrives on. But maybe the former Real Mallorca, Valencia and Getafe man should have gathered more column inches.
An impressive pre-season, coupled with an injury to Oblak has seen him fielded as Atleti's No. 1 in the Spanish Super Cup win against Real Madrid, as well as the first two games of the La Liga season.
13. Muhamed Besic: Ferencvaros to Everton
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Muhamed Besic signed for Everton in a week when many Toffees fans were preoccupied by whether Romelu Lukaku would be joining the club from Chelsea on a permanent deal.
Roberto Martinez's side broke their own transfer record to sign Lukaku for €35 million. Meanwhile, Besic had arrived from Ferencvaros for just €4.8 million two days earlier.
For many, the 2014 World Cup offered the first glimpse of the 22-year-old. Going into the tournament, Bosnia and Herzegovina manager Safet Susic discussed Besic with The Guardian's Sasa Ibrulj:
"I always rated him as a big prospect, but now I feel that he significantly improved in all segments of the game. I said that he is the one I believe is able to stop Lionel Messi. It was misinterpreted, but what I meant is that he’ll be the key player in this setup. We've seen that he technically and physically improved, that he is hungry of success and he’ll be pleasant surprise for many.
"
The Berlin-born player went on to make three appearances in Brazil, against Argentina, Iran and Nigeria, respectively, where he displayed his maturity, strength and range of passing in a holding midfield role.
Able to play in central defence or at right-back too, Besic looks like he could be an excellent player at Everton in the future. Let's just try to ignore THAT back-heel against Chelsea...
12. Bryan Cristante: AC Milan to Benfica
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Bryan Cristante parted ways with AC Milan this summer for a fee of €6 million, joining Benfica on deadline day.
The 19-year-old came through the ranks with the Rossoneri, where he was highly rated and widely regarded as a star of the future. However, Cristante made just five first-team appearances for Milan before moving to the Primeira Liga.
In a summer window where the exit of Mario Balotelli and the arrival of Fernando Torres grabbed most of the headlines at the San Siro, Cristante's departure received little hype.
It could prove to be a monumental error on Milan's part. Benfica are a side renowned for combing the world for new talent to nurture, develop and sell on for vastly inflated prices—think Fabio Coentrao, David Luiz, Axel Witsel and Lazar Markovic—in recent years.
As Benfica manager Jorge Jesus told Football-italia.net, "Will he be worth €25m in a couple of years? I don't know, I'm just focusing on helping him to grow as a footballer."
It's a great deal for Jesus' side and an under-the-radar signing that will come back to haunt Milan in the future.
11. Josip Drmic: Nurnberg to Bayer Leverkusen
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Bayer Leverkusen managed to complete a real coup, when they signed Josip Drmic for €6.8 million this summer.
The Switzerland international had just come off the back of an outstanding season with Nurnberg, where he scored 17 goals in his debut Bundesliga season.
Bettered in the German scoring charts by only Robert Lewandowski and Mario Mandzukic last term, this move was wrapped up before the World Cup and—apart from rumours that had been linking the 22-year-old to Arsenal, as seen on Goal.com—there was little hype surrounding the eventual deal.
The two-footed striker appeared in four games at Brazil 2014 for Ottmar Hitzfeld's Switzerland side, and Drmic bagged two assists in his country's 3-0 win against Honduras.
Had this transfer been arranged after the World Cup, it would have attracted a lot more attention.
10. Alfred Finnbogason: Heerenveen to Real Sociedad
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Last season, he topped the goalscoring charts in the Eredivisie with 29 strikes for Heerenveen, while notching the second-highest number of assists with 10. This wasn't a one-off. The season before Alfred Finnbogason notched 24 in the league alone.
After spending two goal-filled years with the Dutch side, the Reykjavik-born player made the switch to Real Sociedad on July 2, for a fee of €8 million.
The club needed to bring in fresh blood after selling Antoine Griezmann and Haris Seferovic, among others, over the summer and have spent wisely on the 25-year-old.
A revelation in the Netherlands, Finnbogason's move would have been much bigger news if his goals had come in any other league outside of the free-scoring Eredivisie. His progress at the Anoeta Stadium should be watched closely.
9. Stefan De Vrij: Feyenoord to Lazio
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Good central defenders are getting increasingly hard to find in the football transfer market and the bloated fees paid for the likes of David Luiz (Chelsea to Paris Saint-Germain) and Eliaquim Mangala (Porto to Manchester City) show just how valuable a commodity they currently are.
Which is why it came as something of a surprise that Stefan de Vrij's summer move to Lazio came with relatively little fanfare.
The 22-year-old Netherlands international played every minute of every game during the Oranje's 2014 World Cup campaign and even scored in his country's 5-1 drubbing of Spain. He's a Feyenoord youth product, with more than 130 Eredivisie appearances to his name, has years ahead of him and comes very highly rated.
Playing under Louis van Gaal in Brazil led to inevitable rumours linking the defender to Manchester United, but De Vrij put pen to paper with Serie A side Lazio in late July, as reported by David Kent in the Daily Mail.
Stefano Pioli's side shelled out just €8.5 million for De Vrij—a move that should have received more hype.
8. Juan Bernat: Valencia to Bayern Munich
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Juan Bernat's move from La Liga to the Bundesliga went somewhat under the radar when he swapped Valencia for Bayern Munich.
Reportedly a target for Manchester United, Milan and Napoli in the weeks leading up to his move to the Allianz Arena, as seen on ESPNFC.com, the 21-year-old cost the Bavarian club just €10 million. He arrived with little of the buzz that surrounded the capture of Thiago Alcantara at the same time last season or Javi Martinez, the summer before.
A member of the 2012 European Under-19 Championship-winning side, Bernat has been capped at every youth level for Spain and made his breakthrough season in 2013/14, where he made 49 appearances (in all competitions) for Valencia.
On a five-year deal and at a very cheap price, Bernat comes with huge potential. It's a wonder the Spaniard's move did not make bigger waves in the press.
7. Remy Cabella: Montpellier to Newcastle United
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Signed by Newcastle United on the day of the 2014 World Cup Final, it's no surprise that Remy Cabella's move from Ligue 1 to the Premier League received little attention at the time.
Cabella was one of six new faces bought by Alan Pardew's side over the summer and the most expensive, at a cost of €10 million.
The 24-year-old won Ligue 1 with Montpellier in 2011/12 and was brought into St James Park to add an attacking threat, following the departure of fellow Frenchman Yohan Cabaye, who joined Paris Saint-Germain last January.
Cabella scored 14 league goals from the wing for La Paillade last season and added a further seven assists. He has gone straight into Pardew's team for the 2014/15 campaign, where he has played every minute in the Premier League so far.
Included in France's World Cup squad, he did not make it off the bench in Brazil—had he received game time, the clamor for his signature would probably have been greater.
6. Gylfi Sigurdsson: Tottenham Hotspur to Swansea City
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Gylfi Sigurdsson's move to Swansea raised few eyebrows in a summer packed with shiny and expensive mega deals.
The 25-year-old had been on loan with the Welsh club when at Hoffenheim in 2012 and his €10 million exit from Tottenham Hotspur, with Ben Davies and Michael Vorm going the other way, looked far from spectacular.
Sigurdsson is a perfect fit for Garry Monk's Swansea and perhaps his move should have received more coverage. Now his arrival at the Liberty Stadium looks like one of the steals of the summer.
The Icelandic midfielder currently tops the Premier League's assist charts, with four. He also bagged the winning goal against Manchester United on the opening day of the current campaign, in a 2-1 Old Trafford victory.
5. Emre Can: Bayer Leverkusen to Liverpool
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Arriving at Anfield at a cost of £9.8/€12 million, in the same week that Adam Lallana pitched up for £25/€31 million from Southampton, it's understandable that Emre Can received little hype when signed by Liverpool.
Can, a German under-21 international of Turkish descent, signed for Brendan Rodgers' side from Bayer Leverkusen—a club he joined less than 12 months earlier from Bayern Munich.
Last season, Can made 29 league appearances and played seven games in the Champions League for Leverkusen, and he can boast Champions League and Bundesliga winners' medals among his collection from his time at Bayern, where he was involved in seven first-team fixtures.
An incredibly versatile player, the 20-year-old defensive midfielder is also at home in both full-back slots and in central defence. As he told Liverpool's official website in August:
"The Brendan Rodgers style suits me, and I can adapt to it quickly. He wants to play football and that's what I do. I am here to play so I hope to be ready to feature quickly. In the Premier League, there are a lot of 'big beasts'.
I am also one of them, so I'm going to give my best. The Premier League style suits me; to be a physical and strong player is important and I am looking forward to putting that to good use.
"
4. Kostas Manolas: Olympiakos to Roma
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While most of us were following Mehdi Benatia's movements this summer, AS Roma went out and brought in a sound replacement in the shape of Kostas Manolas.
Manolas arrived at the Stadio Olimpico on August 26, a day before Benatia put pen to paper with Bayern Munich. The deal was wrapped up without the hype, despite some rumours which had previously linked the Greek with a move to Arsenal, as reported by Tom Sheen in The Independent.
For their €13 million transfer fee, Roma have got an international centre-back, who made it into the last 16 with Greece at the 2014 World Cup, where he impressed against attacking threats from the likes of Joel Campbell and Didier Drogba. The 23-year-old also comes with Champions League experience.
As yet unproven in Europe's top leagues, Manolas went straight into Rudi Garcia's side for their season-opener against Fiorentina.
3. Dusan Tadic: FC Twente to Southampton
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Dusan Tadic's move from FC Twente to Southampton did not cause a stir in the media this summer, with attentions focused more sharply on the exit of several senior players from St Mary's.
However, this under-the-radar buy, who bagged 32 goals and registered 36 assists for Twente after signing for the club in 2012, could go on to be a massive signing for Ronald Koeman's side. Just last term, Tadic notched 16 goals and topped the Eredivisie assist charts with 14.
The 25-year-old winger is a regular fixture in the Serbian national side and looks like he will be an integral member of the Southampton first team, where he has already got two assists in four games (one in the Premier League, one in the League Cup).
Came without the hype for €14 million, will deliver on many fronts.
2. Sadio Mane: Red Bull Salzburg to Southampton
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Talk was focused on who was leaving St Mary's this summer, as opposed to who was arriving, and Southampton's signing of Sadio Mane did not receive a great deal of attention.
Perhaps it just didn't fit the "asset stripped" narrative that has accompanied the south-coast club in recent months.
The 22-year-old enjoyed an incredible season with Red Bull Salzburg last term, where he scored 23 goals and bagged 18 assists over the course of 50 games (in all competitions).
A look at his numbers since joining the Austrian side from Metz in 2012 makes for impressive reading—the Senegalese winger having scored 45 goals and 32 assists during 80 games.
Mane joined the Saints on a four-year deal on deadline day, for a fee reported to be in the region of £10 million/€15 million, as seen in The Guardian.
1. Ivan Rakitic: Sevilla to Barcelona
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When Ivan Rakitic was linked with Barcelona this summer, the deal was quickly and quietly wrapped up. An exciting 2014 World Cup and the arrival of Luis Suarez at Camp Nou stole all the headlines while the Croatian slipped into life at his new club.
The 26-year-old joined Barca for €18 million, after spending three and-a-half seasons with with Sevilla. Last term, he made 52 appearances in all competitions, scoring 15 goals and setting up a further 18, not to mention captaining Sevilla to a Europa League Final win against Benfica.
As one of seven new faces brought into Luis Enrique's club over the summer, Rakitic could arguably become the most important addition of them all, considering Xavi's diminishing force in the Barca engine room and Cesc Fabregas' recent move to Chelsea.
Less than a quarter of the cost of Luis Suarez and €2 million cheaper than 30-year-old defender Jeremy Mathieu, the Croatian ace was a bargain.
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