Ranking the Best 20 Value-for-Money Moves of the Summer Transfer Window
You'd think finding value-for-money moves in a transfer window that ripped the record books to shreds would be difficult, but the truth is plenty of shrewd business still went on.
Away from the glare of Neymar's €222 million move and Barcelona's wild bidding strategy, the likes of Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Sevilla, Inter Milan and more all pulled off steals in the market.
Our short (long) list contained 49 names, and we had to remove excellent deals as we whittled things down.
It was a hard process, and it's bound to leave one or two readers feeling jilted, but trust us when we say we examined the transfers made by Europe's top five leagues and scoured them for the best deals.
A few housekeeping notes on what will not feature here:
- Free transfers: If we allowed them, the list would consist of just 20 free transfers. That would be a bit boring, don't you think? Also, details of how big the signing-on fees players receive in lieu of a cut of the transfer fee are not well publicised, so these can be difficult to judge; wages are often hiked, too, making players expensive on the wage bill (example: Jermain Defoe, Sead Kolasinac).
- Loans, for obvious reasons.
- Transfer fees that were agreed last summer (2016-17) as part of season-long loan deals. Given the distortion in the market this summer, those will all now naturally look quite cheap by comparison (example Pablo Piatti, Yevhen Konoplyanka).
- Any transfer involving a player moving outside of Europe's top five leagues. Some were very good, but we've had to set a limit somewhere (example: Olivier Ntcham to Celtic, Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez to Olympiakos).
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20. Blaise Matuidi, Paris Saint-Germain to Juventus (£18 million)
This transfer fee could rise with add-ons, and there's the question mark of how Matuidi deals with the impending physical decline given how explosive his game is, but for this season at least, this is a brilliant capture for Juventus at a bargain initial price.
19. Valere Germain, Monaco to Marseille (£7 million)
Germain's an underrated, wily playmaking forward who probably doesn't receive the praise he deserves because he doesn't score a ton of goals. But in terms of attacking facilitators, you don't find many better, and this is a steal for Marseille.
18. Harry Maguire, Hull City to Leicester City (£12 million)
Like Matuidi, Maguire's fee could and likely will rise higher (to around £17 million), but even the full price is cheap considering how good he is. Strong and commanding in the box, but also dangerous slaloming forward, he's unlike anything England has in his position at the moment.
17. Niklas Sule, Hoffenheim to Bayern Munich (£17 million)
There are a lot of similiarities between Sule and Maguire, though Sule is the better player. Bayern now have a reliable, healthy young centre-back who can cover their existing oft-injured trio. He's not as good as Mats Hummels or Jerome Boateng, but he'll get gametime when one goes down.
16. Aaron Mooy, Manchester City to Huddersfield Town (£8 million)
Mooy's start to Premier League life has been amazing, but this is about more than just his performances. He was the heart and soul of the Terriers' formation last season, and losing him would have been a disaster, so to secure him for just an initial £8 million is incredible and potentially season-defining.
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15. Mahmoud Dahoud, Borussia Monchengladbach to Borussia Dortmund (£11 million)
Dahoud's the midfield presence Dortmund have been missing since Ilkay Gundogan left, with his surging ability in midfield an attractive quality. BVB might well have secured the future of Germany's national midfield for just over £10 million.
14. Serge Gnabry, Werder Bremen to Bayern Munich (£7 million)
One year after leaving Arsenal, Gnabry ends up on Bayern's books; it's another big ball dropped by Gunners boss Arsene Wenger. The German will spend 2017-18 on loan at Hoffenheim, as he's not quite ready for the Allianz Arena just yet, but this is stellar value.
13. Stevan Jovetic, Inter Milan to Monaco (£10 million)
Jovetic's on-paper partnership with natural No. 9 Radamel Falcao looks so, so dreamy; they suit each other so well. There's going to be a question mark over how Jovetic settles here—he's struggled with it in the past—but if things go as smoothly as they did in Seville earlier this year, Monaco are onto a winner.
12. Enis Bardhi, Ujpest to Levante (£1.3 million)
Bardhi rocked the UEFA European Under-21 Championship with Macedonia and led them through a respectable campaign. At £1.3 million, you can't really go wrong.
11. Dani Ceballos, Real Betis to Real Madrid (£15 million)
Ceballos is a talented young player with attributes to die for, but one big red flag in his career so far has been his attitude and temperament. If he can buckle down at Real Madrid, he'll soon make a mockery of this writer's decision to leave him out of the top 10.
10. Maxime Gonalons, Lyon to Roma
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Fee: £4.5 million
It wasn't necessarily a surprise to see Lyon sell Maxime Gonalons this summer, but to do so for so little was.
His run in Les Gones' first-team had reached a natural end, with Lucas Tousart emerging from the academy to take his place in holding midfield, and the club captain was right to take on a new challenge.
AS Roma have acquired a veteran midfield warhorse in need of a little picking up, but it's a task worth taking on given he was available for such a small fee. Gonalons adds needed depth to midfield, European experience and leadership qualities.
9. Andres Guardado, PSV Eindhoven to Real Betis
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Fee: £2 million
Andres Guardado is back in La Liga, and he's already found form.
No longer a flying wing-back (as he was during his time with Valencia) but more a controlling central midfielder, the 30-year-old bagged two assists last weekend as Real Betis picked up their first points of the season.
He's adapted his game as he's aged, refining his technique and set piece delivery in lieu of speed, and at £2 million he's an absolute bargain acquisition.
8. Sebastien Corchia, Lille to Sevilla
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Fee: £4.5 million
Sevilla's business this summer hasn't felt as typically strong as it used to, and that's likely because vaunted transfer guru Monchi has departed the club.
But there is one diamond in their haul: Sebastien Corchia, arguably Lille's best player in 2016-17, represents an absolute steal at £4.5 million.
The French right-back comes in to replace Mariano, who was so impressive last season but sold to Galatasaray, and makes Los Rojiblancos five years younger in that position with no real drop in quality.
7. Jorge Mere, Sporting Gijon to FC Koln
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Fee: £6 million
FC Koln need their summer's star signing, Jorge Mere, to return to action quickly. They've played two matches so far this season without him, and they've lost both.
That the German side were the ones to land Mere shocked many. He looked very, very good at the Under-21 European Championship and had enjoyed a strong individual season in 2016-17 despite Sporting Gijon's eventual relegation.
The fee is cheap due to a release clause activated upon Sporting dropping to the Segunda. Had that not happened, Mere would easily have commanded a price twice or three times larger.
6. Serge Aurier, Paris Saint-Germain to Tottenham
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Fee: £22.5 million
Paris Saint-Germain got taken to the cleaners in sales this summer. First, it was the aforementioned Blaise Matuidi for just £18 million, and later it was Serge Aurier for £22.5 million. That's what happens when you buy Neymar for €222 million and are suddenly required to balance the books.
The Ivorian full-back comes with off-field baggage that will have lowered his price, but looking at this deal from a purely football perspective, it represents ridiculous value for money for Tottenham.
They've bought a player who offers most, if not all of what Kyle Walker did (and plays in a similar way) for half the price the Englishman was sold to Manchester City for. Spurs chairman Daniel Levy strikes again.
5. Sandro Ramirez, Malaga to Everton
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Fee: £5 million
This summer's transfer window saw prices rocket for average players, with strikers, in particular, becoming expensive commodities. They've always cost the most, but 2017 saw the likes of Alvaro Morata, Romelu Lukaku and Kylian Mbappe (eventually) exchange clubs for gargantuan sums.
So the fact the Everton secured Sandro Ramirez from Malaga for just £5 million is amazing. Sure, it was a buyout clause, but the club scouted him throughout the back end of last season and sealed the deal just days after the Under-21 European Championship finished. They were ahead of the game.
4. Leonardo Bonucci, Juventus to Milan
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Fee: £38 million
You have to be a special player to be considered "value for money" at £38 million, but that's exactly what Leonardo Bonucci is.
It's not a bargain deal, and it's not cheap on the grand scale, but how often do you get the chance to sign a player who is in the top three in his position worldwide for such a price?
Think of all the players who moved for around £40 million this summer—Nemanja Matic, Mohamed Salah, Tiemoue Bakayoko—and those who went for more! Bonucci is better than all of them bar Neymar, and his acquisition turned Milan's summer of spending from fanciful to potentially title-contending.
3. Nathaniel Chalobah, Chelsea to Watford
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Fee: £5.5 million
This summer, Watford made the impossible possible: They bought an English player for what is essentially a bargain fee.
It helped that Nathaniel Chalobah only had a year left on his deal and wanted to leave, but this is still pretty jarring. When you see Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the same situation moving for six or seven times more, it hammers into perspective how cheap the man pictured was.
He's started brilliantly at Vicarage Road, and has helped transform last season's weakness (midfield play) into this season's core strength. That's earned him a maiden call to the England senior setup.
2. Fabian Schar, Hoffenheim to Deportivo La Coruna
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Fee: £2 million
Fabian Schar jumped the Hoffenheim ship this summer, opting for a move to Deportivo La Coruna. On the face of it, that might seem strange, but players do this sort of thing quite often in a World Cup year.
He wasn't getting games in Germany, and with his place in the Switzerland XI coming under scrutiny, he moved to a club where he'd start every week when fit. Depor were only too happy to take him, and they are already benefitting from his comfort on the ball in defensive areas.
1. Borja Valero, Fiorentina to Inter Milan
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Fee: £5 million
Inter Milan lucked out this summer. Getting a player of Borja Valero's quality for just £5 million is absurd.
He might be 32, but with the style the Spaniard utilises and the way he plays football, age isn't a concern right now. His ability to control the flows in midfield and share the ball around evenly makes him a poor man's Xavi—and that's a good thing!
Valero is at the top of his game and has settled in Milan instantly, contributing heavily to the team's first two victories. The club can feasibly expect to get another two or three more years out of him at this level, making him value for money to the extreme.
All statistics via Transfermarkt.co.uk
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