Chelsea’s epic sale also included…
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Is this the weirdest transfer XI of the summer?
GK) Claudio Bravo
It’s long been known that Barcelona were signing young German Marc Adre ter Stegen to come in and replace the departing Victor Valdes, so when the Catalan giants then went and spent nearly £10m on the 31-year-old Chilean, eyebrows were raised! To be fair, ter Stegen’s injured now, and Bravo will be starting the season between the posts!
DR) Javier Manquillo
This one’s bizarre. The Reds signed Manquillo, a fullback who’s only made six professional appearances, on a two year long from Atletico Madrid! The loan deal isn’t one year with an option to extend – it’s a straight two year loan. That’s pretty unusual.
DC) Jeremy Mathieu
Barcelona can normally take their pick in the transfer market, so when they spent £16m on French 30-year-old centre-half Mathieu, who can’t get anywhere near his international squad, fans were wondering if they couldn’t have set their sights a little higher. Shelling out £15m on Thomas Vermaelen is almost as weird.
DC) David Luiz
PSG spent £50m on a a centre-back who can’t, and often won’t defend. Chelsea are still in disbelief, probably.
DL) Luke Shaw
Total and utter proof that the transfer market has gone completely crazy. Yes, he could turn out to be brilliant, but paying around £30m for any left-back is madness. Doing it for one without any Champions League experience takes it to another level.
MC) Gary Medel
Have a rubbish season with Cardiff in the Premier League, get relegated – earn a big money move to Inter Milan. Fair play, Gary Medel!
MC) Jake Livermore
Tottenham would surely have accepted virtually any offers for Livermore, who was totally surplus to requirements at White Hart Lane. Hull ended up paying £8.8m for him…
AMC) Mathieu Valbuena
A real star of the World Cup, and everyone’s favourite diminutive Frenchman, Valbeuna’s transfer to Spartak Moscow caused a collective sigh of disappointment. Why would you move to cold Russia, when English fans would have adored you, Mathieu?
FC) Ross McCormack
McCormack has never played Premier League football, but still commanded an £11m transfer fee from Leeds to Fulham this summer. Hilariously inflated.
FC) Rickie Lambert
Sell Luis Suarez for £75m. Buy Rickie Lambert for £4m. While the Reds have spent the money lavishly on other areas, surely most of this fee should have been aimed at a top notch forward…. Surely?!
FC) Shane Long
Long has never reached double figures for goals in his entire Premier League career, but Southampton still decided to spend £12m on him. The world’s gone mad!
