Top 10 Best Bargains of the Summer Transfer Window

This Summer Transfer Window was a very busy one. Many of the world's top teams significantly improved their squads, and lots of cash was splashed on very expensive big-name players, like Sergio Aguero, Cesc Fabregas, Alexis Sanchez and more.

But many teams managed to sign reputable players for their squads without having to splash the kind of cash that Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona splashed to sign their biggest targets. These teams, working on a stricter budget than the aforementioned clubs, were able to find good players in favorable circumstances that made signing them for bargain prices very possible.

To credit these teams, we will identify the top 10 best bargain signings of the summer, and of course the team they signed for, in this slideshow.

Note: To narrow the range of candidates, only players transferred into the top five leagues in the world (English Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1) were considered.

Honorable Mentions

With so many transfers completed this summer, it was very hard to cut down the list of bargains to only 10 players. Here are the guys who just barely missed out (in no particular order).

Joao Miranda (Free)—Atletico Madrid, Center Back

Although Joao Miranda's name may not ring any bells for those who only follow European soccer, Miranda has been one of the greatest, most reliable center backs in Brazilian club football for five seasons now with Sao Paolo.

He has regularly been featured in Serie A's Team of the Year, has won the Serie A three times and at only 27 years old is still in the prime of his career. He will be a huge asset to Atletico Madrid, especially since defense is usually Atletico's biggest weakness.

Andre Schurrle (€8 million)—Bayer Leverkusen, Winger/Striker

Normally, €8 million would not be considered a bargain transfer fee, but for one of the brightest talents of German football, it is. Last season, Andre Schurrle had his breakout season with Mainz 05, scoring 15 goals and recording five assists to help the historic relegation candidates to a remarkable fifth place finish.

At only 20 years old, Schurrle has tremendous upside, and will be worth more than double his transfer fee in time if he continues to develop at Bayer Leverkusen.

Joaquin (€4 million)—Malaga CF, Winger

A proven winner, Joaquin swapped Valencia for free-spending Malaga this summer, and has shown signs that he will be well worth the transfer fee paid to sign him with his brace in the 4-0 win over Granada.

Joris Mathijsen (€1 million)—Malaga CF, Center Back

Another bargain signing by Malaga. The Dutch center back has earned 74 caps for the Dutch national team and continues to receive call ups to the team. Why Hamburg, who's defense cannot stop leaking goals at the moment, sold Mathijsen for only €1 million to Malaga is something I will never understand.

Luc Castaignos (€3-4 million)—Inter Milan, Striker

 In Castaignos, Inter Milan have signed a greatly talented young striker who will be excellent for them in the near future. Despite being only 18 years old, Castaignos had an excellent 2010-11 season, scoring 15 goals in 34 appearances for Feyenoord. In no time, Castaignos will easily be worth quadruple or more the transfer fee Inter Milan paid to sign him.

10: Diego Lugano

Old Team: Fenerbahce SK

New Team: Paris Saint-Germain

Fee: €3 million

Position: Center Back

Diego Lugano has led a very quiet yet solid career. In three seasons at Sao Paolo and five at Fenerbahce, Diego Lugano has won eight titles, four at each club. At Fenerbahce in particular, Diego Lugano matured into the player he is today and may have just seen out his career at the club, were it not for the match-fixing scandal that engulfed the club this summer.

But Fenerbahce's loss is Paris Saint-Germain's gain, and the French club have truly gained a great leader and center back. Lugano boasts 64 caps of experience and the 2011 Copa America title with Uruguay, and at only €3 million is a real bargain for PSG. 

9: Taye Taiwo

Old Team: Marseille

New Team: AC Milan

Fee: Free

Position: Left Back

It's not often you sign one of the better left backs in the world in their prime for free. 

Actually, it almost never happens. But AC Milan did it.

Prior to the end of the 2010-11 season, Taye Taiwo was already a confirmed signing for AC Milan. His contract was due to run out at the end of the season, and so AC Milan pounced to sign him.

The Nigerian boasts a stellar resume, having made 250 appearances for Marseille over seven seasons and scoring several stunning goals in the process. He will improve AC Milan's defensive quality tremendously and give the team its first quality option at left back since the departure of Paolo Maldini.

8: Philippe Mexes

Old Team: Roma

New Team: AC Milan

Fee: Free

Position: Center Back

Signing a quality left back for free is unheard of in today's transfer market. Signing a top-notch center back for free at the same time is borderline ridiculous.

Philippe Mexes has yet to make his debut for AC Milan due to being sidelined with a cruciate ligament injury he picked up last season in March, but reports indicate that he will be back in training with AC Milan very soon.

He is a player with an excellent resume, having been a regular at Auxerre in France for five years and Roma for another seven years. He has also been regularly called up to the French national team, a team notorious for its wealth of talent in defense.

Mexes will be a huge upgrade over Daniele Bonera and the aging Mario Yepes, who AC Milan have generally had to rely on whenever Alessandro Nesta or Thiago Silva are injured or unavailable.

7: Diego Forlan

Old Team: Atletico Madrid

New Team: Inter Milan

Fee: €5 million

Position: Striker

This will probably be the most controversial selection on this list, considering that Diego Forlan did not have a good club season with Atletico Madrid last season and is now 32 years old. But considering his international form, I could not help but consider Forlan a bargain for only €5 million.

Let's remember that Inter Milan didn't really have many other options. As I discussed in my article mentioning possible replacements for Samuel Eto'o, only Dirk Kuyt and Carlos Tevez seemed to be the other strikers with a chance of moving to Inter Milan.

In the end, Dirk Kuyt decided against a move due to his love for Liverpool (and probably his advanced age), and Carlos Tevez was not allowed to go on loan. That left Inter Milan with Mauro Zarate and Diego Forlan, both of whom were brought in on deadline day.

I don't think Diego Forlan will have a 20-plus goal season at his current age, but I can see him getting into the 10-15 goal range and picking up a few assists. In my opinion, that's good value for only €5 million.

6: Per Mertesacker

Old Team: Werder Bremen

New Team: Arsenal

Fee: £8 million

Position: Center Back

Arsene Wenger is a stickler when it comes to splashing money in the transfer market, so you can practically be assured that every season he will make one of the best bargain purchases of the summer. This season, that bargain purchase is Per Mertesacker.

How a 26-year-old, 6'6" German international center back can be sold for only £8 million in today's transfer economy is beyond me, and surely a testament to Arsenal's negotiating skills. Per Mertesacker may not be the best center back in the world and his lack of speed is frequently cited as a weakness of his, but he comes to Arsenal with loads of experience, decent composure and height on a team greatly lacking in that department.

Per Mertesacker has all the tools needed to be the next great Arsenal center back. Now Arsenal just need to find him a solid partner (and no, that partner is not Laurent Koscielny). 

5: Nuri Sahin

Old Team: Borussia Dortmund

New Team: Real Madrid

Fee: €10 million

Position: Central Midfielder

Near the end of June, I wrote about just how good I thought Nuri Sahin's transfer to Real Madrid was going to be for Los Merengues. I thought he was easily the steal of the summer up to that point, and that he would significantly boost the quality of Real Madrid's midfield.

Unfortunately, Nuri Sahin's injury problems have dampened the excitement of both me and Real Madrid fans around the world. The latest news is that Sahin will be out until November, having experienced multiple relapses on a knee injury picked up in training in July with Real Madrid.

Nuri Sahin faces an uphill battle to get fit and work his way into the rotation at Real Madrid, but if he can still show the quality he showed at Dortmund whenever he does return from injury, then Real Madrid should still get great value for the money they spent signing the Turkish midfielder.

4: Arturo Vidal

Old Team: Bayer Leverkusen

New Team: Juventus

Fee: €10.5 million

Position: Central Midfielder

Arturo Vidal's transfer to Juventus was not exactly cheap, but considering the fact that Vidal is only entering the prime of his career at 24 years old and was easily Bayer Leverkusen's best player last season, his transfer fee was money well spent for a player of his talent.

Arturo Vidal will spend the season competing with Claudio Marchisio for a starting spot in Juventus' midfield, which can only benefit Juventus as both players will likely push themselves to outperform their competitor. Personally though, I'd be very surprised to see Marchisio hold onto the starting spot for very much longer.  

3: Gael Clichy

Old Team: Arsenal

New Team: Manchester City

Fee: £7 million

Position: Left Back

Everything that I have to say about Gael Clichy can be found here. If his transfer fee isn't enough indication, the guy is criminally underrated and one of the best left backs in the world. If you don't believe me, follow the link and check out the statistical breakdown for proof.

2: Maarten Stekelenburg

Old Team: Ajax

New Team: Roma

Fee: €6 million

Position: Goalkeeper

In my recent article on the Top 50 Goalkeepers in World Football, I ranked Maarten Stekelenburg as the 10th best goalkeeper in the world, a suggestion which met no opposition whatsoever. The fact that the 10th best goalkeeper in the world was bought for a mere €6 million makes Stekelenburg a great bargain buy for Roma.

Already, Stekelenburg has displaced Julio Sergio in goal at Roma. In Roma's match vs Inter this past weekend, Stekelenburg lost consciousness after a collision with Inter defender Lucio, but reportedly has recovered well and endured no serious injuries from the clash.

1: Andrea Pirlo

Old Team: AC Milan

New Team: Juventus

Fee: Free

Position: Central Midfielder

After a rough 2010-11 season, in which injuries limited Andrea Pirlo to only 25 appearances in all competitions, Pirlo and AC Milan mutually decided to part ways. As a free agent, Andrea Pirlo then decided to move to Juventus on a free transfer.

Since then, football fans have been anxiously wondering which Andrea Pirlo, the mesmerizing Pirlo of days gone by or the fragile and slow Pirlo of 2010-11, would turn up for the 2011-12 Serie A season.

So far, its been the former. Andrea Pirlo record two assists and was selected as Man of the Match for Juventus' opening day 4-1 win over Parma, and ran play once again in Juventus' tight 1-0 win over manager Antonio Conte's former team, Siena.

No one expected Andrea Pirlo, at 32 years old, to be Juventus' best player, but if he continues to perform the way he has performed in Juventus' first two league games of the season, Juventus will look like absolute geniuses for having taken the risk to sign him after his contract with AC Milan ran out.

Thoughts?

What do you guys think? Is there anybody on the list that you would not have included? Or are there guys that you think should have been included but weren't?

I'm considering making Top 10 bargain lists for the Premier League, Serie A and La Liga, so if you have suggestions for those, feel free to share them as well.

Thanks for reading and commenting!