World Soccer - October 2016

THE WORLD
THIS MONTH
“It’s not normal to go to Turin, pass the medical
and then go back to square one”
Belgian midfielder Axel Witsel expresses his shock after his
€25million from Zenit St Petersburg to Juventus collapsed
at the eleventh hour
TRANSFERS
Pogba leads
record transfer
spending
“Never go back” used to be the mantra for
players looking for their next transfer. Try
telling that to Manchester United and Paul
Pogba after the world-record deal that
saw United pay Juventus €105m for the
French midfielder, who left England four
years ago to join the Italian champions
after declining to sign a new contract at
Old Trafford.
Juventus also received €30m from
Real Madrid, who exercised their buyback
clause in the contract of Alvaro Morata,
who left the Spanish capital for Juve in
2014 for €20m.
Chelsea sprung a surprise by re-signing
Brazilian defender David Luiz from Paris
Saint-Germain for €38.5m, having sold
the 29-year-old to the French champions
for €50m two years ago.
The Pogba money enabled Juventus to
break the Italian transfer record with a
€90m move for Gonzalo Higuain.
The size of the fee drew criticism in Italy
but Juventus, who also brought in Bosnian
Miralem Pjanic (Roma, €32m) and
Croatian Marko Pjaca (Dinamo Zagreb,
€23m) spent only €25m “netto” in
strengthening their squad.
Premier League clubs, their wallets
boosted by a new TV deal, spent more
than £1.1billion on transfer fees, although
the net figure was closer to £750m.
Roughly £365m of the £1.1bn was
Loan...Mario Balotelli (third left) has joined Nice from Liverpool
24 WORLD SOCCER
Paul Pogba...
the world’s most
expensive player
spent on existing Premier League players,
suggesting that selling clubs had one price
for sales to Premier League clubs and
another, lower one for the rest of Europe.
But it was not just in England that
money talks. Highly regarded teenager
Oliver Burke, who had been linked with a
number of Premier League clubs, became
the most expensive Scottish player of all
time following a €15m switch to
Bundesliga new boys Red Bull Leipzig.
A number of Portugal’s Euro 2016
victorious squad were on the move,
notably midfielder Joao Mario who left
Sporting for Internazionale in a €40m
deal, joining Raphael Guerreiro (Sochaux
to Borussia Dortmund), Renato Sanches
(Benfica to Bayern) and Nani (Fenerbahce
to Valencia).
And it was not just about fees. Leading
players were also available on free
transfers, including Brazilian Dani Alves,
who joined Juventus from Barcelona, while
France keeper Steve Mandanda moved to
Off-loaded...Samir Nasri has joined Sevilla
Crystal Palace after leaving Marseille.
Ironically, Chelsea were priced out of
a number of deals for central defenders
with Italian clubs, such as Napoli’s Kalidou
Koulibaly, with many citing Chelsea’s original
€50m sale of Luiz to PSG as setting the
benchmark for top-quality defenders.
Chelsea now have 37 players out on
loan, including Juan Cuadrado at Juventus.
Other interesting loan deals included
Simone Zaza (Juventus to West Ham
United), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal to