Best transfers in one season for a manager world wide

[John Blund]

I had a discussion with some friends supporting other teams this weekend. There we got in to a beer-heated argue about which manager who got the best transfers in one season. Regarding price, how important they became for the club, and for some clubs (smaller club-fan..) price when sold. Disregarding youngsters coming through the ranks. To rate it a good transfer, the player must have performed 4-5 years at the club, or brought in big cash after staying in the club for a shorter period of time.

After googling I felt this season stands out for United as for value and transfers:
Sir Alex 2005/06 with Vidic (£10M), Evra (£7M), Park (£7M) and van der Sar (£3.5M).

Mourinho 2010/11: had a rather good transfer-season in Real Madrid back i 2010/11:
Price (bought/later sold price)
Di Maria (£29M/£67M), Khedira (£12M), Özil (£15M/£42M)

Mancini in City 2010/11 had one of their best windows, despite blowing what seemed to be too much money at the time:
Milner (£20M), Kolarov (£20M), Silva (£26M), Yaya (£27M), Dzeko (£33M)

Others who can think of a transfer season for a club that stands out?

 

[esmufc07]

I'd agree with the first two (SAF's was ridiculous, actually), but Mancini's doesn't seem that great. Silva and Toure become WC admittedly, but the other three never amounted to anything particularly special.

 

[esmufc07]

Also, wasn't Vidic £7m and Evra £5m?

 

[Woodzy]

Doesn’t meet your creteria exactly but it’s hard to look past Madrid signing Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema and Xabi Alonso in the same window.

Incredible really, and surpasses Neymar and Mbappe in the same window as far as profile goes.

 

[MikeUpNorth]

I'd add:

Chelsea 04/05
Drogba, Carvalho, Robben, Cech, Ferreira, Alex... (plus Tiago, Kezman and Jarosik)

Blackburn 92/93
Shearer, Le Saux, Sherwood, Berg, Ripley... that window won them the league a couple of years later.

 

[Korwas]

Inter 2009
Sneijder (18m)
Diego Milito (player swap+13.5m)
Eto'o (for Ibra)
Thiago Motta (player swap, including Bonucci+4.2m)
Lucio (7.85m)
Goran Pandev (Free)

Listed the most important ones. The two biggest core players in the treble was acquired in the same window (Milito and Sneijder). Eto'o, and Lucio were starters (i think) and Eto'o had a monster year the following season. Pandev was an important role player in the squad and Motta played in 40 games that season. The got so much money from player sales that they even made a profit while winning the treble with their transfers. Hard to beat that.

 

[svn]

Blackburn 92/93
Shearer, Le Saux, Sherwood, Berg, Ripley... that window won them the league a couple of years later.

Shearer and Sherwood were the main two, Blackburn would've been midtable without them. Also, just to nitpick, but the transfer window didn't exist back then - you could buy players all season long.

 

[Steven Seagull]

Inter 2009
Sneijder (18m)
Diego Milito (player swap+13.5m)
Eto'o (for Ibra)
Thiago Motta (player swap, including Bonucci+4.2m)
Lucio (7.85m)
Goran Pandev (Free)

Listed the most important ones. The two biggest core players in the treble was acquired in the same window (Milito and Sneijder). Eto'o, and Lucio were starters (i think) and Eto'o had a monster year the following season. Pandev was an important role player in the squad and Motta played in 40 games that season. The got so much money from player sales that they even made a profit while winning the treble with their transfers. Hard to beat that.

Inter got Hleb and 40m for Ibra as well didn’t they? Madness. Equivalent to about 100m today

 

[RC89]

Also, wasn't Vidic £7m and Evra £5m?

That's what I remember to. Maybe they rose due to performance?

 

[roonster09]

Also, wasn't Vidic £7m and Evra £5m?

Even Park was 5 Million. Maybe because of today's exchange rate, transfermarkt site updated it wrongly?

 

[SV_Planegg]

FC Bayern 92/93 - Erich Ribbeck

Thomas Helmer 3,75 Mio. €
Jorginho 2,80 Mio. €
Mehmet Scholl 2,50 Mio. €
Lothar Matthäus 2,00 Mio. €


Those fees

 

[Trizy]

SAF 2007:

Anderson, Tevez, Nani, Hargreaves.

All 4 played in the 2008 CL and all 4 scores their penalties.

 

[harms]

Mancini in City 2010/11 had one of their best windows, despite blowing what seemed to be too much money at the time:
Milner (£20M), Kolarov (£20M), Silva (£26M), Yaya (£27M), Dzeko (£33M)

2 great transfers out of 5 is not a great output. Even though Milner, Kolarov and Dzeko all contributed, not one of them justified the sum paid for them.

 

[harms]

Inter signing both Matthäus and Brehme in 1988, plus Nicola Berti (surprisingly he was worth almost as much as two Germans combined) had an amazing transfer window. They won the next league title as well, thanks to them.

Milan signing both Van Basten and Gullit a season before can say that they've had an even better transfer window, plus they've signed Arrigo Sacchi as well.
edit: they've also returned Costacurta from a loan that season, who now has more than 450 league games for them. A clear winner here, AC Milan 1987/88.

 

[DanClancy]

As mentioned several times buying 3 players who all went on to be one of the worlds best players in their position a few years later in 05/006 was Fergie' best business.

Buying VDS, Evra & Vidic for about £15m was sensational business.

What Mourhino did with Inter was very impressive too.

 

[DanClancy]

Inter signing both Matthäus and Brehme in 1988, plus Nicola Berti (surprisingly he was worth almost as much as two Germans combined) had an amazing transfer window. They won the next league title as well, thanks to them.

Milan signing both Van Basten and Gullit a season before can say that they've had an even better transfer window, plus they've signed Arrigo Sacchi as well

I know Van Basten & Gullit went for huge fees but how much did the 2 Germans cost Inter?

 

[Jib]

Inter 2009

 

[JustFootballFan]

Dortmund 09/10

Hummels, Barrios, Bender, Großkreutz = €9M

Dortmund 10/11

Lewandowski, Kagawa, Piszczek = €5M

Leverkusen 11/12

Schuerrle, Leno, Toprak, Bellarabi = €19M

Leverkusen 13/14

Son, Brandt, Can = €15M

 

[harms]

I know Van Basten & Gullit went for huge fees but how much did the 2 Germans cost Inter?

Brehme — 1,8 milliards, Matthäus — 5,6 milliards (in Italian lires, I don't know the exchange rate though.).

 

[roonster09]

Liverpool 2014-15 should be up there too.

Sold Suarez and signed Lovren, Balotelli, Lambert, Origi, Moreno, Markovic, Lallana, Can.

 

[ROFLUTION]

Liverpool 2014-15 should be up there too.

Sold Suarez and signed Lovren, Balotelli, Lambert, Origi, Moreno, Markovic, Lallana, Can.

Quantity

 

[padzilla]

Sir Alex 2007/ 08 - Nani, Anderson, Tevez, Hargreaves.

 

[John Blund]

Also, wasn't Vidic £7m and Evra £5m?

I thought so too, but updated with prices listet on Transfermarkt.

Liverpool 2014-15 should be up there too.
Sold Suarez and signed Lovren, Balotelli, Lambert, Origi, Moreno, Markovic, Lallana, Can.

I'd rather have Suarez than Lovren, Balotelli, Lambert, Markovic and Origi all together. Lallana and Moreno I rate as OK, but not even close to other transfers listed in this thread. Emre Can would be great, if he resigned a new contract or got sold for a proper fee to Juventus. Now I don't feel he stands out as a better transfer than Suarez or Torres alone.

Blackburn 92/93 stands out. That window was the start of an operation leading to the title in 95.

Inter transfers back in 2009 looks good on paper, but they did have 4 Scudetto, back to back, before summerwindow 2009 and they haven't won Serie A after 2009/2010 season. Sure, they made a lot of money, and won 3 titles 2009/2010, but the window didn't bring in players who improved them for an era. All of them were out 3-4 years later?

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Man City 2017/18 - Ederson, Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy, Danilo, Bernardo Silva.

 

[BlueViper]

Chelsea 12/13 isn't too shabby.

Hazard £32m
Oscar (£19-25m/~sold for £60m)
Azpilicueta £7m
Moses £7m


Also brought in Christensen that year.

Best of all though is that we let Sturridge go that winter and brought in Demba Ba, setting events into motion that would culminate in a certain team and player slipping up the the following year at Stamford Bridge. If that's not good foresight, I don't know what is.

 

[BluesJr]

Disagree with those saying that City window wasn’t a success. They all featured heavily in their first PL win a year later and that laid the ground for the huge issues we’re having now. Not signing Silva was such a massive mistake, from all clubs not just us.

 

[Zlatattack]

Good thread!

 

[John Blund]

Sir Alex 2007/ 08 - Nani, Anderson, Tevez, Hargreaves.

Names and transfers are bigger than impact over time here. Nani and Anderson never got as good as we hoped with their talent and price tag. Anderson £30M. Nani £25M. Same window: Torres £35M (to Liverpool), Ribbery £30M (Bayern), Ivanovic £15M.. Chelsea.

 

[padzilla]

Sir Alex 1998/99 - Dwight Yorke, Jaap Stam, Jesper Blomqvist (Eh...). He managed to rebuild and improve an entire squad with a few key signings.

 

[breakout67]

Inter 2009
Sneijder (18m)
Diego Milito (player swap+13.5m)
Eto'o (for Ibra)
Thiago Motta (player swap, including Bonucci+4.2m)
Lucio (7.85m)
Goran Pandev (Free)

Listed the most important ones. The two biggest core players in the treble was acquired in the same window (Milito and Sneijder). Eto'o, and Lucio were starters (i think) and Eto'o had a monster year the following season. Pandev was an important role player in the squad and Motta played in 40 games that season. The got so much money from player sales that they even made a profit while winning the treble with their transfers. Hard to beat that.

This

He created the spine of a treble winning team in one transfer window. One of the greatest achievements in the modern game. SAF has multiple times where he made ridiculous transfer windows. Both Mourinho and SAF are pinpoint accurate in their recruitment.

 

[2cents]

Juventus 2001:

Thuram
Buffon
Nedved
Salas (can't remember was he any good for them?)

Juventus 1996:

Boksic
Vieri
Zidane
Montero

Lazio 1998:

Vieri
Salas
Mihajlovic
Stankovic
de la Pena
Conceicao
Couto

 

[Jagga7]

Rijkaard's second season for Barca ended up being pretty spectacular.

He bought in Eto'o, Deco, Edmilson, Guily, Henrik Larsson and Sylvinho. They all played a role in their success they had.

 

[Nedved]

Juventus 2001:

Thuram
Buffon
Nedved
Salas (can't remember was he any good for them?)


Juventus 1996:

Boksic
Vieri
Zidane
Montero

Lazio 1998:

Vieri
Salas
Mihajlovic
Stankovic
de la Pena
Conceicao
Couto

Super flop and injured all the time. Conte 2011/2012 had great value and was essential in transforming Juve from a Europa League side:

Pirlo (free)
Vidal €12 m
Lichtsteiner €10m
Vucinic €15m
Pepe €7m

 

[JamesO]

For Liverpool the one that stood out straightaway in my head is 87/88.

John Barnes £900,000
Peter Beardsley £1,900,000
Ray Houghton £825,000

Basically spent the £3,200,000 received for Ian Rush and revamped the team's attacking play. All 3 contributed hugely to that team over the season.

 

[B20]

For Liverpool the one that stood out straightaway in my head is 87/88.

John Barnes £900,000
Peter Beardsley £1,900,000
Ray Houghton £825,000

Basically spent the £3,200,000 received for Ian Rush and revamped the team's attacking play. All 3 contributed hugely to that team over the season.

You forgot Rush' direct replacement: John Aldridge.

 

[Kostur]

Henderson, Downing, Carroll.

 

[JamesO]

You forgot Rush' direct replacement: John Aldridge.

I was gonna throw Aldo in but cos he was signed in Feb 87 he technically doesn't count for the single season rule. He's definitely linked with the signings mentioned though as it was all 4 who replaced Rushie.

 

[whatwha]

I had a discussion with some friends supporting other teams this weekend. There we got in to a beer-heated argue about which manager who got the best transfers in one season. Regarding price, how important they became for the club, and for some clubs (smaller club-fan..) price when sold. Disregarding youngsters coming through the ranks. To rate it a good transfer, the player must have performed 4-5 years at the club, or brought in big cash after staying in the club for a shorter period of time.

After googling I felt this season stands out for United as for value and transfers:
Sir Alex 2005/06 with Vidic (£10M), Evra (£7M), Park (£7M) and van der Sar (£3.5M).

Mourinho 2010/11: had a rather good transfer-season in Real Madrid back i 2010/11:
Price (bought/later sold price)
Di Maria (£29M/£67M), Khedira (£12M), Özil (£15M/£42M)

Mancini in City 2010/11 had one of their best windows, despite blowing what seemed to be too much money at the time:
Milner (£20M), Kolarov (£20M), Silva (£26M), Yaya (£27M), Dzeko (£33M)

Others who can think of a transfer season for a club that stands out?

You've got all the prices wrong. Vidic was £7m, Evra £5.5m, Park £4m. Seem to remember VDS was only £2m but I'm unsure about that one.

 

[DannyCAFC]

I think you've got pretty much every single fee wrong , I agree with United 05/06 window, getting Vidic, Evra, Park and Van Der Sar for around a combined £18m is ridiculous. Also he added Ben Foster for a mil and later sold him for 6, and got rid of some proper shite like Kleberson and Bellion, and got £12m for Obi Mikel - a player they never even had! Net profit I think over the whole season, which when you look at the turnaround and improvement in the squad is remarkable.

Arsenal in one window paid about £5m in total on RvP (£2.75m), Clichy (can't find a fee, nominal), Fabregas (same as Clichy), Lehmann (£1.5m) which is also ridiculous in hindsight.

Of more recent times, Spurs had a great 15/16. Shifted tonnes of deadwood and made a profit, and signed Trippier (£3.5m), Alderweireld (£11m), Son (£22m - biggish money but worth a lot more than that now). They also signed Wimmer and made a £12-13m profit on him.

 

[BBRBB]

PSG 12/13

Thiago Silva €42m
Lucas €40m
Ezequiel Lavezzi €29m
Zlatan Ibrahimovic €21m
Marco Verratti €12m
Gregory van der Wiel €6m
David Beckham free

€150m well spent