NFL
By: Emanuel Ortiz
Premier League
It has been a little over one month since the European transfer window opened and to say the least this has to be one of the busiest transfer windows in recent memory. Teams from all over the continent mainly in England have been busy building for the upcoming season and as it stands things are shaping up quite nicely. While there have been some notable acquisitions this summer there have also been some that quite frankly have left us scratching our heads. Here we cover the best and worst transfers from all across the Premier League.
Let’s start in Manchester where Jose Mourhino’s Manchester United has possibly made one of the biggest transfers in all of Europe acquiring last season’s runner up top scorer Romelu Lukaku for an estimated fee of 75 million pounds. Now this is a stroke of genius from the Red Devils with Lukaku hitting double figures in his last five premier league campaigns and being only 24 Lukaku seems to be a future world beater. Aside from Lukaku Manchester United has also acquired highly rated CB Victor Lindelof from Benfica. Lindelof has impressed immensely for Benfica over the last few seasons and only being 22 years old he can possibly hold down the United CB position for the next decade. Now let’s travel across town where Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City have also been busy spending ahead of the new season. Most notably City have brought in Portuguese wonder kid Bernardo Silva in from Monaco for a reported 50 million pounds. Now if his last few seasons are anything to go by this kid is going to be a star. Only 22 years old Silva has just come off a title campaign with a high flying Monaco side who also made it into the semifinals of the Champions League. Coming off a season where he scored 11 and assisted 10 for a Monaco side full of young exciting talent this transfer seems to have all the signs of a steal. In addition to the signing of Silva City have also recruited Brazilian GK Ederson from Benfica. With Claudio Bravo having a nightmare of a campaign last season signing from Barcelona it was only natural that Pep had to strengthen the position between the sticks. Ederson seems to be a great signing for City but for a fee of 32.5 million he has a lot to prove before he can justify his price tag.
On to Merseyside where Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool has spent a hefty fee to sign Mohamed Salah from Roma for an initial 42 million. Now Salah has played in England before being subject to many loan stints by parent club Chelsea until last year when they made his transfer to Roma permanent only for a measly 15 million pound fee. Since his days at Chelsea Salah has slowly grown into one of Europe’s hottest stars last year alone providing 19 goals and 12 assists for the Giallorossi catching the eyes of many top European clubs. With Salah’s pace combined with Jurgen Klopp’s gegenpressing system this signing may well be a match made in heaven. To North London where Arsenal have made a huge statement signing in the form of Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette. Arsenal have been known to make dodgy transfers over the years but have truly signed one of Europe’s deadliest strikers in the form of Lacazette. The numbers speak for themselves scoring a combined 113 goals in his last four seasons playing in France and also in Europe. This signing addresses a long standing problem that Arsenal has had over the last few seasons of not having a notable striker in their ranks to lead the Arsenal front line. Now with the signing of Lacazette complete Arsenal have to follow it up with another big signing if they hope to mount a title challenge this upcoming season. Although most clubs in England have been busy completing transfers the teams who were first and second in the Premier League last year Chelsea and Tottenham respectively have been relatively quiet this transfer market. While Tottenham hasn’t yet signed anyone in this transfer market Chelsea have signed highly touted German CB Antonio Rudiger. Rudiger is great signing being one of the standout players of the confederations cup this summer attracting interest from all across Europe. Aside from Rudiger Chelsea have also added the services of Tiemoué Bakayoko from Monaco. Bakayoko is a strong work horse of a midfielder at the center of the pitch and should slot in Antonio Conte’s 3-4-3 formation perfectly. Although these are two great signings Chelsea must sign one notable CF before the window closes if they’re to retain their status as Premier League champions. Now hearing all this great news of clubs acquiring world class talent it would be hard to understand how highly touted Portuguese teenager Ruben Neves has made the switch from Porto to Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers. Yes your eyes aren’t deceiving you the youngest captain in Champions League history has just made the switch to England’s second division for only 18 million pounds and it quite frankly has the footballing world scratching their heads. Neves could have easily been a bargain signing for any of Europe’s top sides but somehow someway he has found himself in probably one of the strangest transfers in recent times. Still only aged 20 Neves still has a whole career ahead of him and I think I speak for everyone when I say that I hope it lies very far away from the English second division.
That was the best and worst transfers from the Premier League so far. We still have a little over a month of the window open and let’s hope it provides us with as much entertainment as the first half.
