Soccer 360 - CA (2020-03 & 2020-04)

winter^2020

TRANSFERS

BY^

THE

NU

MBE

RS

£55M – After a long public transfer
saga between Sporting, Bruno Fernandes
and Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United
made a late move and got their man, paying
£55m for the creative midfielder, the most
expensive January transfer since Philippe
Coutinho's move to Barcelona in 2018.
Fernandes joins Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis
Nani in swapping the Portuguese capital for
the Red Devils.

€78M – Ambitious Bundesliga side
Hertha Berlin shocked Europe upon their
announcement of capturing Milan hitman
Krystof Piatek for almost €30m. The Polish
No 9 was joined by exciting Brazilian striker
Matheus Cunha and Lyon's Lucas Tousart
will arrive in the summer. Will Bundesliga's
capital club overtake Bayern as Germany's
biggest?

£230M – As always, Premier League
sides spent the most money in January,
with around £230m spent, an average
of approximately £11.5m per club. Bruno
Fernandes was the most expensive player
at £55m, while Steven Bergwijn joined
Tottenham Hotspur for £31m, making
him the league’s second most expensive
acquisition. Serie A clubs spent the second
most money at approximately £208m.

£19M – With only six months left on his
deal at Tottenham Hotspur, Inter snapped up
Denmark star Christian Eriksen for just £19m,
a player arguably worth four times that in
today’s crazy market. With an orthodox
No 10 added to Antonio Conte’s arsenal,
Juventus’ grip on Serie A is under greater
threat than ever.

5 – Napoli’s horror start to the season
saw the legendary Carlo Ancelotti depart
but in truth the squad had become stale,
something president Aurelio Di Laurentiis
has acknowledged and addressed with
five new recruits – Diego Demme, Stanislav
Lobotka and Matteo Politano, with Andrea
Petagna and Amir Rrahmani also signing,
but will remain with their old clubs for the
rest of the season. They’ll need them when
facing Barcelona in the Champions League
round of 16.

£86M – Since before the rise of Kylian
Mbappe, teenagers have become hot
properties in European football and three of
Europe’s most important clubs signed the
three most impressive of the season so far.
Juventus paid £37m for Atalanta’s Dejan
Kulusevski, Barcelona spent £31m on getting
Francisco Trincao from Braga and Borussia
Dortmund snapped up Red Bull Salzburg’s
Erling Braut Haaland for just £18m.

2 – Some players used January to

begin a second spell at a previous club.

Yannick Carrasco, a name connected with

a number of suitors, returned to Atletico

Madrid after a spell in China with Dalian,

Genoa fan favourite Mattia Perin went

back from Juventus, and Republic of

Ireland goalkeeper Darren Randolph left

Middlesbrough and the Championship for

West Ham.

5 – Barcelona had the most outgoings

of Europe’s major clubs with five players

leaving Camp Nou on a full-time or

temporary basis. Carles Alena, Carles Perez,

Jean-Clair Todibo, Moussa Wague and Abel

Ruiz all moved on, potentially to clear the

way for a move for Neymar this summer.

0 – Chelsea didn’t make any signings in the

January transfer window, a state of affairs

made all the more ironic by it being the first

window since January 2019 that the Premier

League club were able to do so. A transfer

embargo was reduced to just one window

• summer 2019 – and Frank Lampard had
  publically stated an intention to sign a
  striker. But failure to do so scuppered Olivier
  Giroud’s departure, with Lazio, Inter and
  Tottenham having shown interest.

£42M – West Ham spent £42m to

try and stave off relegation, shortly after

sacking Manuel Pellegrini and bringing

David Moyes back to the club. Midfielder

Tomas Soucek was brought in on loan from

Slavia Prague, Jarrod Bowen added from

Hull City where he had caught the eye as a

goalscoring winger, and Darren Randolph

returned to provide competition and back-

up for Lukasz Fabianski in goal after Ricardo

struggled when called upon.

Manchester United

are hoping Bruno

Fernandes can

provide the creative

spark they lack

Inter Milan are

hopeful Christian

Eriksen and Romelu

Lukaku can form a

title-winning

partnership as

the race for the

Scudetto hots up

Touted across

Europe, it was

a surprise when

Krystof Piatek left

Milan for Hertha

Berlin

Matteo Politano

will look to

jumpstart his

career with a

move to Napoli

Frank Lampard

said he wanted

to sign a striker

in January but

Chelsea’s window

closed without any

incomings

Neymar will wait

his turn come

summertime.