Stories from the Summer Transfer Window

The 2021 Summer transfer window finally shut up shop on Tuesday night at 11pm, ending a very memorable transfer season that we would discuss for years to come. Circulation of money across Europe was not much as the game is still suffering the effects from the coronavirus pandemic as various teams have made huge losses over the past eighteen months with little to no matchday income, reduction of merchandise sales, and the lowering of broadcasting rights from the 2020/2021 season. This made it a buyers market rather than a seller's market as those who had the capability to buy did whilst those who turned to make sales over the window struggled as they were lack of suitors. So, here's the four major stories to come out from the summer transfer window.

PSG: THE NEW GALACTICOS

Paris Saint-Germain was looking to make a statement after an underwhelming season which saw them lose the Ligue 1 title to Lille and failing to win the Champions League, losing to Manchester City in the semifinals. With close to unlimited cash and everyone struggling for funds, they took advantage more from free transfers, signing Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum, Euro 2020 winner Gianluigi Donnarumma, Sergio Ramos, and remarkably Lionel Messi. All on free transfers. The only players they have signed with a transfer fee were Achraf Hakimi from Inter Milan, Danilo Pereria on a permanent deal and Nuno Mendes from Sporting from a combined total of 83 million euros. Despite making a lot of free transfers, the Parisians spent more on wages to get these deals done, taking advantage of UEFA relaxing Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules. They managed to keep Kylian Mbappe for a least one more season as the French forward is in the final twelve months of his contracts, with Real Madrid making three bids for him. All were turned down by PSG. Following their decision not to join the failed European Super League in April, PSG chairman Nasser Al-Khelafi have has more power to change the transfer window now that he's the chairman of the European Club Association (ECA). With Real Madrid and Barcelona making some big signings over the past two decades, PSG has become the new galacticos with superstar signings, making Mauricio Pochettino's job difficult to not just build a winning team but to keep all these egos in check.

BARCELONA'S FINANCIAL MESS

After years of overspending on both transfer fees and player wages, Barcelona looks to be suffering the effects of their own mismanagement that could affect them for the next few years. Having the highest wage bill in world sport, Barcelona has found it difficult to move players on having tried to get rid of players like Samuel Umtiti, Miralem Pjanic, Ousmane Dembele, and Philipe Coutinho. This ultimately led to Lionel Messi's departure from the Camp Nou, as despite taking a fifty per cent wage cut, La Liga rules on wages and revenue forced the club to end their efforts of turning to sign Messi to a new contract. With Antonie Griezmann now returning to Atletico Madrid, Emerson Royal moving to Tottenham on a profit, and the likes of Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba, and Sergio Busquets all taking wage cuts, Barcelona have now registered their new signings in Sergio Aguero, Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia and Luuk de Jong but they are still in a poor financial situation as their turnover to wages is at ninety-five per cent, with La Liga's maximum level being at seventy per cent. Joan Laporta now has a lot on his hands to clean up Barca's financial struggles and despite Messi's wages off the wage bill, Barcelona needs to find some way of getting their finances to compete with the top dogs of European Football.

IT'S NOT SHINING IN MILAN

Barcelona is not the only team suffering financial woes, as Inter Milan are also experiencing the same struggles. Despite winning the Scudetto last season, Inter's parent owners Suning Group have been struggling in China and their operations at Inter. In July, they signed a 275 million euro deal with American capital venture Oaktree to deal with the financial hit the club has suffered from the global pandemic. This made manager Antonio Conte leave the San Siro just days after their title success with key players Achraf Hakimi and Romelu Lukaku also leaving the club for a combined total of close to 200 million euros with Denzel Dumfries, Joaquin Correa, Hakan Calhanoglu and Edin Dzeko coming in with former Lazio boss Simone Inzaghi coming in to replace Conte. They have managed to keep hold of the likes of Nicolo Barella, Lautaro Martinez and Milan Skriniar but they have to finish in the Champions League places this season and the next few seasons to still be in a stable financial state or could risk losing more key players over the next few years. Since Suning acquired Inter in 2016, they have spent millions to compete with Juventus in Italy and although they have won their first league title in over a decade, their celebrations could be short-lived.

LACK OF SALES

The Coronavirus pandemic has affected the finances of football over the past eighteen months, which could still carry on with the financial records of teams from the past season that need to be published. Whilst this could affect teams in their spending spree, making sales look to be more difficult now, affecting teams who rely a lot on player sales or move players on. The likes of Barcelona and Arsenal have found it difficult to make good sales as a number of their assets are either on huge wages or are not of high value for teams to consider making an offer. Liverpool, who have found success in player sales in recent years, struggled to make a decent amount of money from the likes of Harry Wilson and Xherdan Shaqiri who have left Anfield plus lacking suitors for Nat Phillips, Divock Origi and Neco Williams who remain at the club. The only team that has been successful in player sales has been Chelsea having acquired over a hundred million euros in player sales, the fourth time they have achieved this is in the last ten years. This has helped various teams keep hold of some of their key players like Lille, Leicester and Villarreal which keeps them competitive for a few more years.