Is this the greatest transfer window ever?

[tentan]

I can't remember a single transfer window this epic. So many top players making moves.


Ronaldo, Sancho, Varane > United

Messi, Ramos, Donnarumma > PSG

Lukaku > Chelsea

Aguero > Barcelona

Grealish > City

Mbappe to Real Madrid maybe


Has to up there with the most memorable ones.

 

[Paranoid Android]

Without a doubt.

 

[Lay]

Memorable yes. Not the greatest. Majority of the leagues across Europe have gotten weaker.

 

[Ramshock]

I mean its no Fred, Dalot and Grant but its a decent window

 

[sp_107]

Is Carmavinga OR Touchameni announced ?

 

[Oly Francis]

Might be but the 09' class was pretty impressive as well :

Ronaldo, Kaka, Xabi Alonzo Benzema > Real

Zlatan > Barcelona

Eto'o> Inter

Robben, Gomez > Bayern.

 

[Wolf1992]

I don't think so, Messi, Ramos, Ronaldo, and Agüero are past their peak and very close to retirement.

You are judging just based on names.

I'm sure there are better transfer windows many years back, with players moving at their peak, and not just looking for a club to retire.

 

[Ayoba]

No doubt about that

 

[Mr Smith]

Always find it weird when people say these kinds of things before most of the signings have even had a chance to play. Let's re-assess at the end of the season (when we've won the league).

 

[Ali Dia]

Might be but the 09' class was pretty impressive as well :

Ronaldo, Kaka, Xabi Alonzo Benzema > Real

Zlatan > Barcelona

Eto'o> Inter

Robben, Gomez > Bayern.

Yup and don’t forget our very own epic summer of Owen, Valencia and Obertan. Those were the days.

 

[tenpoless]

I shed tears the day we signed Bebe hearing about how he was a honest, hardworking man who worked really hard in Portugal League to the point where Jorge Mendes offered him to us. Still cannot top that.

 

[ReddBalls]

"Is this the greatest transfer window ever?"

As a spectacle? Yup. But I get a bad feeling about just a few clubs sweeping up the star players of Europe.

 

[redrobed]

No, it’s good but it’s not the best ever. We still have a gaping hole in the CM position. Been our best window in a while but we are playing catch up after years of under investment in the playing staff. Ronaldo, Sancho and Varane are a good start but we need more before we can be expected to compete with the big spenders.

 

[spaceboyRSA]

No, it’s good but it’s not the best ever. We still have a gaping hole in the CM position. Been our best window in a while but we are playing catch up after years of under investment in the playing staff. Ronaldo, Sancho and Varane are a good start but we need more before we can be expected to compete with the big spenders.

The topic isn’t about uniteds window- it’s about the window as a whole.

And it very much feels like the most blockbuster window I can’t remember.

 

[redrobed]

The topic isn’t about uniteds window- it’s about the window as a whole.

And it very much feels like the most blockbuster window I can’t remember.

Yeah, for me though the greatness of a window is defined by Utd’s and to a lesser extent Madrid’s window. I don’t really follow football beyond those two sides.

 

[Wilt]

No, it’s good but it‘s not the best ever. We still have a gaping hole in the CM position. Been our best window in a while but we are playing catch up after years of under investment in the playing staff. Ronaldo, Sancho and Varane are a good start but we need more before we can be expected to compete with the big spenders.

When was it you think we had a better transfer window?

 

[redrobed]

When was it you think we had a better transfer window?

‘92 when we had Becks, Giggsy, Scolesy and Keano come through the system

 

[Interval]

The Muppet inside any United fan should be dead now. Won't be able to replicate such a transfer window for years. Success or not, the names we got in one window are any transfer fans wet dream. Like taking up United on Football Manager

 

[GlasgowCeltic]

"Is this the greatest transfer window ever?"

As a spectacle? Yup. But I get a bad feeling about just a few clubs sweeping up the star players of Europe.

Feels like about five clubs are making signings and the rest are watching and waiting for any scraps they can muster

 

[Flytan]

The Muppet inside any United fan should be dead now. Won't be able to replicate such a transfer window for years. Success or not, the names we got in one window are any transfer fans wet dream. Like taking up United on Football Manager

Dunno feels like football is adopting the NBA approach of doing crazy random shit just for the drama of it.

I mean would anyone be surprised if Messi is homesick and forces a move back? Haaland is moving for sure next year. I think summers like these are going to be common in the future, especially with players running their contracts down more often

 

[Mrs Smoker]

Old washed up names big, yes.

 

[Interval]

Dunno feels like football is adopting the NBA approach of doing crazy random shit just for the drama of it.

I mean would anyone be surprised if Messi is homesick and forces a move back? Haaland is moving for sure next year. I think summers like these are going to be common in the future, especially with players running their contracts down more often

I agree on the latter. Players WILL wind down contracts to get big paydays. Why should they allow clubs to get a share of what is rightfully theirs?

That's how it's supposed to be. Don't sign contracts you don't wish to honour and get a big move with big sign on bonuses at the end for yourself.

 

[MrMarcello]

2001 was an epic summer: Zidane, Buffon, Thuram, Ruud, Veron, Nedved, Stam, Mendietta, Lampard, Rui Costa, Campbell, van der Sar, few others.

‘92 when we had Becks, Giggsy, Scolesy and Keano come through the system

Keano signed from Forest in 93. You left out Butt, the Nevilles, and Gillespie.

 

[DevilsOwn]

I can't remember a single transfer window this epic. So many top players making moves.


Ronaldo, Sancho, Varane > United

Messi, Ramos, Donnarumma > PSG

Lukaku > Chelsea

Aguero > Barcelona

Grealish > City

Mbappe to Real Madrid maybe


Has to up there with the most memorable ones.

And, Arsenal have spent more than all of these clubs

 

[wrepdrep]

As an outsider, I think this euphoria reminds me of when you signed Di Maria, Falcao and a few others in one window - cant remember the year.
It also reminds me of when my Milan spent over 200m on the likes of Bonucci and Andre Silva in 2017.

Fans were going crazy as if they had already made the top, but I think it'll end in a massive disappointment.
Allegri and Juve didn't want him anymore. Guardiola rejected him because Cristiano pretty much wants to be guaranteed a starting role.
United accepted his ridiculous demands. I don't think your situation was desperate enough to approve this.
But then again, you have the highest non-doped revenue. You could probably afford to dump him if or when he's no longer worth the hassle.

Edited to add:
Misunderstood the thread title. Thought it only referred to your transfers. But the point still stands.

 

[Wilt]

‘92 when we had Becks, Giggsy, Scolesy and Keano come through the system

They’re not transfers …they came through the system. Keane joined in ‘93.

Plus nobody (other than Fergie) could have know as to how good they would become.

 

[Dante]

It's been extremely imbalanced in terms of money. Bar a few oil clubs and Manchester United after a kick up the arse from the protests, nobody has any cash.

So rather than the 'greatest' what we're seeing is the most predatory transfer window ever.

 

[harms]

80's were usually quite entertaining

1982/83
Maradona, Beckenbauer, Platini, Passarella, Boniek, Keegan, Kempes, Pfaff, Völler, Bonhof, Vierchowod, Prohaska, Zmuda, Brady, Ardiles, Shilton...

1987/88
Gullit, van Basten, Rijkaard, Barnes, Shilton, Kohler, Littbarski, Futre, Hughes, Schumacher, Scifo, Völler, Ancelotti, Peruzzi, Dunga, Careca, Beardsley, Hoddle, Lerby, Allofs...

 

[MagooDad]

Might be but the 09' class was pretty impressive as well :

Ronaldo, Kaka, Xabi Alonzo Benzema > Real

Zlatan > Barcelona

Eto'o> Inter

Robben, Gomez > Bayern.

It has to be this. Ronaldo, Kaka and Zlatan were arguably three of the five best players in the World 2009 and they were in their prime.

They also became the three most expensive transfers of all time, one after another.

 

[tentan]

Saul to Chelsea

 

[chiz2kul]

Recency bias

 

[Zaphod2319]

It has been the wildest I can remember of how it all dominoed. I dont think it is the highest quality players changing. Many big names are transferring, but it is retirement moves.

 

[sullydnl]

PL is wild.

 

[antohan]

Bigger at peak profile ones in the past.

What makes this one pretty unique is how easily you could go shopping anywhere on Oxford Street and pay Primark firesale prices. Skint clubs galore, their key players willing to move, no competition...

We've done really well, could and should have leveraged that unique context and made it even better, but we've been spoilt. Imagine being a Barca fan

 

[PieCrust]

And then on top of all that you have Madrid offer €200M for Mbappe, with 1 year on his contract. I don't know which is more crazy, that offer, or PSG turning it down. Really goes to show you that PSG isn't really a club, but a PR project like the other oil clubs. Any real club has to accept that offer and probably takes the first one of €160M - €180M. Crazy.

 

[Judas]

More of the madness needed to happen in the last 48 hours, that's what makes these transfer windows exciting. Plus did 'Arry even do an interview out of his car window?

1/10

 

[Chesterlestreet]

Probably not, in fairness.

It's been pretty wild, granted - but the biggest names who have moved are hardly in their prime.

Circus factor: 10 (both Messi and Ronaldo moving in the same window is enough to make it so). But the possible impact on the overall balance? Who can say? Not obvious, though.

 

[TheLiverBird]

Epic and great in regards to the “names” that have moved

but it’s the lowest spent in a summer transfer window since 2015

the greatest, debatable, one of the greatest absolutely