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The top moves of the 2016 Summer Transfer Window so far!

By on June 9, 2016

The summer transfer mill is already speeding up and with big names such as Kevin de Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, and Anthony Martial making high-profile moves last summer we can expect nothing less this year! The superclubs across Europe have been attempting to snap up the odd deal or two before the Euros kick-off, with the best talent often gone before the summer window even opens on July 1st. A few big deals have already begun to hit the papers as new managers look ahead to pre-season and Richard Lewis is on hand to dissect the best of the bunch:

Granit an Arsenal fit!

Arsene Wenger has pleasantly surprised many an Arsenal fan by splashing the checkbooks so far this summer. This past season painfully highlighted their needs — an all-action holding midfield, a deadly striker in the box and a world class centre-back — and Wenger has already set about filling in the holes.

The midfield piece of the puzzle may have been finally filled this summer with the signing of Granit Xhaka from Borussia Monchengladbach. The twenty-three-year-old arrives in London on a long-term contract for an undisclosed fee, reported to be around the £34 million mark; big money by Monsieur Wenger’s usual standards. Xhaka is the second or third most expensive Arsenal signing ever, depending on whose figures you believe, and only Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez have potentially cost the club more in hard cash.

Xhaka has a lot of expectation on his shoulders but having captained Monchengladbach and won forty-one international caps for Switzerland at such a young age, he seems ready to take the next jump up in his career.

He will replace the departing Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky at the Emirates Stadium and will take up the number twenty-nine jersey. The former Basel man scored six goals in 108 Bundesliga appearances from a deep-lying position in the midfield for Monchengladbach and will join up with his new North London based team-mates after Euro 2016.

Xhaka is in fact set for a family feud in France, as the Swiss face Albania on Saturday in the second game of Group A, which means Granit is likely to come up against his brother Taulant Xhaka. Taulant is the older of the two rival Xhaka brothers and plays as a defender for Basel.

In other news around the Emirates, Arsenal could also tick a deadly striker off the summer wish list if England forward Jamie Vardy ever listens to his missed messages on the answering machine and responds to the £20 million release clause bid lodged to current employers Leicester City. That move, however, will likely stall until the end of the Euros.

Mor makes it four!

If there is one club that has had more ins and outs this summer than a televised EU Referendum debate, it’s Borussia Dortmund. The German club have yet again had to sell some of their best players (more on that later) but have smartly reinvested that cash into rebuilding their squad.

The runners-up in the German top flight have just made their fourth signing of the summer, midfielder Emer Mor. The so-called “wonder-kid” of Turkish football has been recruited from FC Nordsjaelland on a five-year deal for an undisclosed fee, which rumors suggest could be in the region of £12.5 million. The eighteen-year-old winger is the third-youngest player at Euro 2016 with the Turkey squad, after previously playing for Denmark up to the Under-19 level.

Mor signings have also come through the door at Dortmund this summer, including twenty-year-old Spanish defender Marc Bartra, who signed for £6.25 million spent on from Barcelona. Meanwhile, defender Mats Hummels left Dortmund for Bayern Munich and midfielder Sebastian Rode came the other way.

At the very beginning of the window, Thomas Tuchel’s side completed quite the coup with yet another talented footballer with the surname Dembele signing on from Stade Rennais. Many clubs had been eyeing Ousmane Dembele in Ligue 1 during his breakthrough 2015/2016 campaign, but it was Dortmund who got in there first.

The nineteen-year-old can play as either a winger or forward, with the talented Frenchman comparable to Antony Martial. Dembele scored twelve goals and made five assists for his previous side and was subsequently voted the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year. Germany and England have dominated the open market so far this summer, perhaps feeling as if they have some catching up to do with Spain after Real Madrid and Sevilla captured Europe’s top continental prizes this season.

City arm their midfield with a Gun!

At this point, you might be wondering what happened to my promise to get around to Borussia Dortmund’s departures. You needn’t worry because Ilkay Gundogan is the perfect example of a top Premier League signing to have come through Dortmund’s ranks.

Pep Guardiola wants to go into a Manchester shoot-out with Jose Mourinho with the right weapons, so arming his midfield with a powerful Gun is one way to boost his side’s chances. Gundogan has joined Man City for around £20 million, despite suffering from an injury that will more than likely see him miss the start of the season for the Sky Blues. He will certainly miss Euro 2016 and has also been unavailable for some big games for Dortmund since scoring in the 2013 Champions League final.

The German midfielder has been courted by multiple English sides for years, but the Guardiola factor has finally convinced to move to the Premier League. The twenty-five-year-old is set to be an upgrade on the underwhelming Fernando and a potential midfield partner for Fernandinho at the heart of the Etihad pitch. Yaya Toure’s birthday cake may also be sent to a new address next May if Gundogan’s presence squeezes the Ivorian out of City’s plans for the future.

City have been linked with another Dortmund superstar, as striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang seems to be another key target for Guardiola’s revolution. There have been rumors that advanced talks have already taken place between the respective clubs and City could make a £55 million bid for the Gabon international. Aubameyang scored twenty-five goals in twenty-nine games last season, so his value has obviously skyrocketed for interested European parties, but the queue for his signature still remains as long as the line to see the new Harry Potter play.

Mourinho was Looking for Eric!

 

 

Jose Mourinho was Looking for Eric this summer and he has found him in the form of centre-back Eric Bailly. The first signing under the Mourinho era at Old Trafford cost a smooth £30 million for the Red Devils hierarchy as the Ivory Coast international joins from Villarreal on a four-year contract. The defender could be a new partner for Chris Smalling in front of David De Gea’s goal, subject to a successful work permit. Suddenly, established squad members such as Daley Blind might be hoping that Van Gaal was still around!

Bailly has played a total of forty times in La Liga, his first five games being for Espanyol. He then joined Villarreal for £4.4 million in January 2015 and played in every match as Ivory Coast won the Africa Cup of Nations that same year.

The deal for the New Bailly came as a slight surprise for some, considering it was expected Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic would be Mourinho’s first recruit during his United reign. However, the thirty-four-year-old Sweden striker has kept us all waiting by teasing the press with “major announcements” about clothes lines, rather than his footballing future.

Ban in Milan!

Inter Milan have had a pretty decent summer so far — first signing Sevilla midfielder Ever Banega on a free transfer and then having Chinese investment pumped into the Italian club. Milan are now under the majority ownership of Chinese billionaire Zhang Jindong and have immediately turned to the transfer market in hopes of becoming a European superpower once more.

Banega won the Europa League twice with Sevilla and will have yet another crack at it with Inter next season. He will bring international experience to Inter, having won an Olympic medal with his country at the 2008 games and currently playing in America for Argentina in the Copa Centenario.

He also had a long spell with Valencia before joining the successful Sevilla side and will now face Italy’s elite under Roberto Mancini.

Richard Lewis’ Starting XI of this summer’s top signings:

GK: Loris Karius
DF: Joel Matip
DF: Eric Bailly
DF: Marc Bartra
DF: Mats Hummels
MF: Granit Xhaka
MF: Ilkay Gundogan
MF: Emre Mor
MF: Havard Nordtveit
MF: Ever Banega
ST: Ousmane Dembele

About Richard Lewis

Richard Lewis can relate almost anything to football and quite often does! You may have seen Richard's previous ideas and work in the BBC Match of the Day Magazine, from 2011 to present. He is a Manchester United and England fan, but has gone to see Leyton Orient play with his O's season ticket in the 2013/14 campaign. Aside from football, Richard has written articles on Doctor Who and studies English Language and Linguistics at the University of Westminster. Aspiring sports journalist.