With Kevin De Bruyne joining Manchester City from Wolfsburg for something in the region of £50 million one would think with a day to go in the transfer window it would be panic stations for the German club.
Manchester City are delighted to announce the signing of @DeBruyneKev! Story: http://t.co/paLxppSmsi #welcomeKDB pic.twitter.com/B9N0mu8DST
— Manchester City FC (@MCFC) August 30, 2015
However, before Manchester City announced the signing of the Belgian midfielder Wolfsburg already had scouted a replacement in Julian Draxler who is still only 21-years-old. The German midfielder will be making the short trip from Shalke 04, but has been a target of Arsenal and Real Madrid in the past.
With Wolfsburg receiving such a large some for the young Belgian, they have money to spend and have invested in Bayer Munich centre back Dante. Shrewd business from the Germans compared to that of their English counterparts, many of whom have shown over the summer that they simply cannot seem to get their main targets.
This summer, German superclub Bayern Munich have gone about their business without any major fuss and have made some massive additions. Arturo Vidal made his way to Munich during the Copa America, and many will remember Manchester United spending much of last summer in pursuit of the Chilean.
Douglas Costa also joined the Bavarians, having been a long term target of Chelsea and Arsenal. Today, it was confirmed that Guardiola’s side have also nabbed Kingsley Coman from Juventus, a hot prospect who has already played for Paris Saint-Germain and the Italian giants.
#Coman: "I want to take the next step & play my part in 2 successful years for FCB": http://t.co/VYX2LMvOdt #Welcoman pic.twitter.com/V9l4pZl6Hs
— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) August 30, 2015
Juventus haven’t left themselves short either however, signing Sami Khedira before Vidal was let go and bringing in Mario Mandzukic to spearhead their attack.
The long running saga between Real Madrid and David de Gea looks set to come to a close, but they also bought shrewdly in other departments this summer, with Danilo coming in and providing real competition at right back. Promising young Croatian international Mateo Kovacic is also now at the Bernabeu, happy to earn a spot from the bench despite being linked with Liverpool throughout the off season.
As for the Premier League sides, except for Manchester City, they seem to struggle to get their men, and even when they do, they frequently miss the target. Arsenal have been looking for a prolific striker for three years now, and while being linked with a number of names, they will more than likely go into the rest of the season with Olivier Giroud leaving their attack again.
Image: Frank Augstein / AP/Press Association Images
After several attempts to land John Stones from Everton, Mourinho now faces the prospect of beginning his search to strengthen his defence again with a day to go in the market. He will surely have other targets in mind, but they have made their intentions clear and anyone who they bring in now will know they were second choice.
United have missed out on numerous signings leaving them lacking depth at the back and up front. With Johnny Evans departing for West Brom, Van Gaal's side are thin in the centre half department, and based on today's showing at the Liberty Stadium, they may need cover there.
NEW SIGNING: Jonny Evans completes move to #WBA from @ManUtd for an undisclosed fee. http://t.co/hB0WkZZYC5 pic.twitter.com/U5iAZUHcsA
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBAFCofficial) August 29, 2015
As for Liverpool, their infamous transfer committee has yet to fall in line with the plans of their manager, or vice versa. After just one year at the club where he barely made an impact, Mario Balotelli has returned to Italy to join AC Milan. Highly touted winger Lazar Markovic has just completed a move to join Fenerbahce, something which makes little sense if they hope to have him come back and make an impact next year, having shown flashes of talent when he did eventually get on the field.
Welcome @LMarkec50! pic.twitter.com/VcZyiLDxs7
— Fenerbahce_EN (@Fenerbahce_EN) August 30, 2015
Those two players were bought for a combined £36 million last summer, and after a dismal day at the office against West Ham, you can hardly imagine that the club will consider the £20 million they splashed on Dejan Lovren was money well spent.
Several managers, several transfer committees and several clubs seem to be getting it constantly wrong, despite swelling budgets that other teams around Europe could only dream of. The traditional top tier teams in the Premier League are not getting the quality that they're paying for, and in many cases are overspending because the selling club knows that they have money to burn.
Rather than being the envy of European clubs, it seems that the Premier League is in danger of becoming the Jay Gastby of the party, chasing a dream that is unattainable and, perhaps more importantly, unsustainable.
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