Piralous, Greece, 1-1 (5-4 penalties) Sevilla, Manchester City's Gervadior celebrates his team's European Super Cup win on August 16, 2023 (Visual China/Photo)
Mr. Billion is frequent
A number of European giants are in desperate need of renewal, which has become the biggest focus of the 2023 summer transfer window. Real Madrid still regard the 70-year-old Toni Kroos and Modric as absolute workhorses in midfield this season. The pair, who had led the Galaxy to four Champions League titles as the core of the midfield, showed their old form when they faced Manchester City away in the Champions League semi-finals, unable to stop the Blue Moon's mercury-like attack, and eventually the team also lost 4-0 away and could not defend their title. After bringing in two young midfielders, Camavinga and Chuameni, Real Madrid bought 20-year-old Bellingham for €103 million this summer. England's rising star has been in a spectacular World Cup in Qatar and has just scored his first goal of his Real Madrid career in the first official match of the new season.
After parting ways with World Footballer of the Year and the team's all-time second goalscorer Lewandowski in the summer of 2022, Bayern, which has always had a tradition of central strikers, actually played "no striker" in many games last season, but the ending was not ideal. Facing Manchester City in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, the Bundesliga giants had a higher total number of shots on two legs than their opponents, but were eliminated by an aggregate score of 1-4, and centre Haaland, who had been rumored to have been rumored to be transferred to Bayern, contributed two goals and one assist. In the summer of 2023, after a long tussle with Tottenham Hotspur, Bayern signed Harry Kane, who has reached the age of 30 with only one year left on his contract for a record 100 million euros. Despite the controversy surrounding the deal, Kane's addition has been evident in Bayern's quality – England's top centre-forward has unquestioned scoring ability, becoming the Premier League silver boot last season after Haaland with 30 goals. At the same time, Kane's pivot role is obvious, his passing ability is outstanding, and he has contributed 3 assists in the 2022 World Cup, tied for first place in the competition. In addition, Bayern also brought in South Korean centre-back Kim Min-ya, who helped Napoli win the Serie A title last season, and the transfer fee of 50 million euros also made him the most expensive player in Asian history. Since leaving Guoan to join Fenerbahce in the summer of 2021, the South Korean centre-back has joined Europe's top giants in just two years, and the speed of his rise is amazing.
As the most profitable league in world football, the Premier League is naturally a frequent destination for blockbuster transfers – Premier League teams have 12 exclusive seats in the top 20 deals for transfer fees in the summer window of 2023 (as of 16 August). Manchester City, who have just become the new "treble" of European football, are not satisfied with the status quo. In the first two years of his tenure at Manchester City, Guardiola frequently spent high prices to bring in defenders and restructured the team's entire backline, and six years later, it is time to renew. In the end, Manchester City brought in Croatian centre-back Gvadior, who had performed well in the World Cup. Despite failing to become Mr. Billion, the €90 million transfer fee still makes him the most expensive centre-back in football history. The other two transfers cost more than 100 million were created by London duo - Arsenal and Chelsea brought in young defenders Rice and Caicedo for around 116 million euros respectively. In addition to this, Arsenal brought in German star Kai Havertz from Chelsea for 75 million euros. Chelsea are offering €60 million to bring in Nkunku, last season's Bundesliga golden boot, and continue Burleigh's style as they took over, continuing to make a big splash of promising stars.
Other Premier League teams are not to be outdone: Manchester United are bringing in young players Hoylund and Mount for €75 million and €64.2 million respectively; After sending off Henderson and Fabinho midfielders, Liverpool brought in younger Sobosroy and McAllister for $70 million and $42 million, the latter of whom helped Argentina win the World Cup in Qatar. In addition, teams outside the "BIG6" have also made big moves of more than 50 million euros, they can even recruit European powerhouses such as AC Milan (Newcastle bring in Tonali) and Atletico Madrid (Wolves bring in Cunha), and Villa have also brought in striker Moussa Diaby from Bayer Leverkusen.
After sending away Lionel Messi and Brazilian core Neymar and Real Madrid and Spanish star Sergio Ramos, Paris Saint-Germain also began to make large-scale signings: the Ligue 1 giants brought in Osman Dembele and Asensio from La Liga duo Barca and Real Madrid respectively to fill the gap left by the two South American superstars, and brought in young French center Ekitique and Portuguese young center Gonzalo Ramos, who scored a hat-trick in the World Cup knockout round. In the midfield, Paris also brought in a succession of strong players - Bayern defender Lucas and Inter central defender Skriniar, while poaching rising midfield star Ugarte from Sporting Portugal for 60 million euros. From the superstar policy to the continuous introduction of young players, the change of blood in Paris is also speculated to please French superstar Mbappe - the superstars who threaten Mbappe's core position have left the team one after another (especially Neymar has been exposed to discord with Mbappe many times) while buying more French players, introducing Zhengyin center forwards to return to the most familiar left wing, strengthening the strength of the central midfield... However, Paris were held to a 0-0 draw by mid-table side Lorient in the first round of Ligue 1, and it can be seen that they still need time to grind after the big change.
Real Madrid signing Bellingham (left) poses with Florentino Pérez (Visual China/Photo) on June 15, 2023, Madrid, Spain
The United States and Saudi capital strongly disrupted the situation
The European giants, who have become accustomed to throwing thousands of dollars every summer, could not have imagined that the spotlight that should have been all aimed at them would one day be divided by teams as far away as West Asia and North America. From the last day of 2022 with the introduction of Cristiano Ronaldo, the "golden era" of the Saudi professional league began and reached its peak in the summer window of 2023: Real Madrid's Benzema, Bayern's Mane, Manchester City's Mahrez, Chelsea's Mendy, Kante and Koulibaly, Liverpool's Henderson, Fabinho and Roberto Firmino, Paris' Neymar (transfer fee of up to 90 million euros), Barca's Kaisi, Inter's Brozovic... There are also Malcolm with 60 million imports, Ruben Neves with 55 million imports, and Milinkovic with 40 million imports, these familiar stars gathered in Saudi Arabia to pan for gold in West Asia after the World Cup. There has been speculation that Saudi Arabia's golden dollar football policy is related to their bid for the World Cup, but according to media reports, Saudi Arabia has given up bidding for the 2030 World Cup.
Major League Soccer (MLS), although not crazy to buy superstars, brought in the only living king Leo Messi, while bringing two of Messi's old club teammates Sergio Busquets and Alba to the United States, which will host the 2026 World Cup. Messi's increase in influence in American soccer has been subversive: after Messi's arrival in the summer window, the number of Instagram followers of his team Miami International soared 13-fold, while ticket prices also increased dozens of times in September. Messi also gave back the world's attention with his performances on the pitch: in six games with Internacional Miami, he scored nine goals and provided one assist, leading the team as the league vice-captain (the bottom one) to the final of the North American League Cup. At present, Messi is ranked third in the Miami International all-time goalscorer list and is expected to lead the team to the first championship in history. Although not ultimately choosing the Saudi Pro League, Messi remained as Saudi Arabia's tourism ambassador under a three-year deal worth about $25 million.
August 11, 2023, Munich, Germany, Kane (right) officially joined Bayern Munich to sign a contract until 2027 (Visual China/Photo)
The United States' investment in football is not limited to domestic leagues, American capital has successively acquired European teams, Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, AC Milan and other giants have been labeled as American (see "American capital invasion, will European football traditions be destroyed?"). 》）。 Among them, Chelsea have been the most crazy in this summer window, with the Blues turning in and in (including loan return) in the double digits. In just three transfer windows since Burleigh arrived, Chelsea have invested more than $1 billion in signings. Despite their large numbers, Chelsea's signings can find common denominators: young age, low salaries, long contracts, and diluted costs per player. In addition, Newcastle in the Premier League was acquired by a consortium from Saudi Arabia, and the Magpies and the strong teams of the Saudi Pro League have a common financial owner - the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has a background in the Saudi royal family.
The strong involvement of US and Saudi capital in the football world has brought the 2023 summer window back to a high climax. Unlike the old stars who have been far from the mainstream leagues in the past, the stars who went to Saudi Arabia to play this year are not too old, and many still have considerable immediate combat power. At the same time, the Saudi national team is not a fishbelly, they are the only team to have defeated champions Argentina at the World Cup in Qatar. There are even fans who joke that the MLS has 7 golden balls (Messi), the Saudi Pro League has 6 golden balls (Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema), and the five major leagues combined have only 1 (Modric).
On August 11, 2023, Burnley, England, lost 3-0 to Manchester City in the first round of the Premier League opener. Manchester City's De Bruyne left the game injured (Visual China/Photo)
Injuries and farces are frequent, and the transfer series is far from over
There is still almost half a month before the window of European football closes. The five major leagues have only started one round, but many of the team's main players have already suffered serious injuries: Manchester City midfield core De Bruyne will be suspended for 3 to 4 months with a hamstring injury; Timberne's newly joined defensive main player Timberbell has an anterior cruciate ligament injury in his right knee and will likely be injured for at least 6 months; Real Madrid's Courtois and Militão both suffered serious knee injuries that required surgery, and it is unclear when they will return this season. At present, Real Madrid has urgently loaned Spanish goalkeeper Kepa from Chelsea, while Manchester City, who have a thin squad, are also urgently looking for midfielders, and West Ham midfielder Paqueta has entered the vision of the Blue Moon.
Paris Saint-Germain player Dembele (left) and Kylian Mbappe participate in team training on August 13, 2023, Boisi, France (Visual China/Photo)
The intensive schedule and longer game time are a big reason for the injuries of the players. In addition to club matches last season, the players also prepared for the World Cup in the season, plus the UEFA Nations League and other competitions, which made the main players of the strong teams miserable; At the same time, both the 2022 World Cup and the new Premier League season have extended stoppage time to increase net game time, which in turn increases the consumption of players per game. Kevin De Bruyne has blasted these new rules: in the 2022 UEFA Nations League match against Wales, the Belgian midfielder bluntly said that this kind of competition is not important and the players need more rest. The Wales captain at the time, Bale supported De Bruyne's remarks and bluntly said that money should not take precedence over the health of players. At the Community Shield match, which ended on 6 August, Kevin De Bruyne also said players and even referees don't like playing for so long.
August 15, 2023, Paris, France, Neymar officially joined Riyadh Crescent to display the team's No. 10 shirt (Visual China/Photo)
In addition to injuries, there are still many stars in the transfer turmoil, the first of which is the farce between Mbappe and Paris. The name of the French superstar has been associated with Real Madrid since last year, and after a summer of serials, Mbappe finally chose to stay with a high salary extension in 2022. However, just one season later, Mbappe broke with the team again over locker room unity issues and loyalty bonus issues, and failed to make the squad for the opening Ligue 1 game, only recently returning to the first team. It is impossible to predict where this farce will go. Chelsea's Romelu Lukaku and Manchester City's Joao Cancelo are well known to have their respective teams, but neither has so far found a home. In addition, La Liga giants Barcelona have even just completed the registration of first-team players for the new season, and they also need to recruit after many people leave. Barca have expressed interest in Joao Cancelo but remain at odds with Manchester City over the size of the transfer fee.
August 15, 2023, Chester, Pennsylvania, USA, North American League Cup semifinals, Philadelphia United 1-4 Miami International. Miami international player Lionel Messi celebrates goal (Visual China/Photo)
With the change of giants, the entry of new capital, the farce of superstars, and frequent injuries, world football in 2023 is destined to be uneven, and the serial drama of summer window transfers is far from over.
Contributing writer of Southern People Weekly Deng Yanxin
Editor-in-charge: Chen Yafeng