The transfer obsessions of Madrid, Arsenal, other top clubs

Everyone has a “guy”. This concept of preference extends from afar, to all horizons, and can ring particularly true in football, where managers and clubs cannot hide what they really want.

Sometimes the wish is simple: the best players in the world, whatever the cost. But sometimes, it is strangely specific, like Real Madrid targeting free transfers, or the taste of Arsenal Mikel Arteta manager in defenders.

This transfer window once again exposed the numbers – and sometimes the obsessions limits – which have developed in sport. So, with the tongue firmly housed, take a look at what the movements of this summer revealed on the obsessions of elite clubs.

Mikel Arteta and the hybrid / rear central back

In Bukayo Saka, Martin Ødegaard & Co., Arteta has some of the most luxurious attack talents in the world with which to work. He also has a brand new striker in Viktor Gyökeres to go wild and an incredible midfielder’s swimming pool to call. But do you know what really excites him? Players who can play both in the center and back.

– Tighe: how the players use the data to display the value of the contractual negotiations
– O’Hanlon: the best 50 most expensive summer transfers, classified by real cost
– Marcotti: give meaning to the record expenses of premier league clubs

The Spaniard has fulfilled his squad over the years. It started with Ben White and continued with Jakub Kiwior, Jurriën Timber and Riccardo Calafiori. Then at the end of the window this summer, Arsenal added Piero Hincapié de Bayer Leverkusen.

Arteta probably attributes that bonus points to an agreement if the player can cover the two rear positions (like wood), or if they are on the left (like Calafiori and Hincapié) because it makes them even more versatile or coveted. Even the most “regular” rear of Arteta seem barely traditional: Oleksandr Zinchenko and Myles Lewis-Skelly love to reverse in midfield and are undoubtedly more at home in central positions.

Chelsea and signing adolescents whenever they can

In 2022, their first summer transfer window in charge of Chelsea, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital made folies on a series of experienced talents. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (33), Kalidou Koulibaly (31) and Raheem Sterling (27) were the most notable names of a group which, frankly, failed.

Was it a healing experience, or was the imminent pivot always always on cards? It was perhaps a bit of both, because the ownership group suddenly focused on signing exciting perspectives, many of whom were still adolescents, long-term agreements.

From January 2023 to now, they signed 22 amazing teenagers – a figure that includes the awaiting transfers of Geovany Quenda and Denner, in 2026.

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There have been times when Chelsea has too much induced on prospects and ignored the gaping holes in their squad makeup which, if they were blocked, could have allowed them to compete more closely with Liverpool and Arsenal in the last two seasons. The first example of this is in Goal Garden, which has long been dismissed.

An interesting oddity of the relentless acquisition by the Blues of the best hopes is the number of players they have signed from the Man City Academy. There could easily be a match this season when you would see five players developed by City – Romeo Lavia, Cole Palmer, Tosin Adarabioyo, Jamie Gittens, Liam Delap – Play for the first Chelsea team. This quintet cost a combined total of at least 171 million pounds sterling. It may be the real obsession here.

Manchester United and buying specific players for specific managers

Manchester United operates in total contrast with Chelsea on the transfer market.

Chelsea’s Scattergun approach gives so many players that any manager they use would find impossible not to create a team achievable from the available talent. United Sign of incredibly specific players that suit their chosen manager. There is nothing wrong with that in principle – why wouldn’t players sign that your manager can use effectively? – But the extent to which the Red Devils lean in this can be very damaging if things go wrong, in part because they fly between managers whose styles differ so brutally.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who was signed for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s counter-attack style, is signed for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s counter-attack style in the summer of 2022, but in November, the Gegenpress Ralf Rangnick magnate. It is a ridiculous situation to find you.

Erik Ten Hag was appointed in 2022 and when he was dismissed, in 2024, the club had provided him six former Ajax players (Lisandro Martínez, Antony, Christian Eriksen, André Onana, Matthijs de Ligt, Ussir Mazraoui), perhaps thinking of Erroné that he would recruit total football.

Current director Rúben Amorim abandoned Antony and Onana, while Eriksen left. He also voluntarily agitated goodbye to Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho this summer, actually setting the department of the winger to sign Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, which are suitable for “wide n ° 10” roles in his 3-4-2-1 system.

What happens if Amorim leaves the club and the next manager asks where all the wingers are? It seems too silly a situation, except that it has already been in other forms.

Real Madrid free transfers and illustrious

After winning the UEFA Champions League an incredible 15th time in 2023-24, it seems that Real Madrid began to think that things had become too easy and decided to increase the level of difficulty.

They have apparently chosen to spend as few transfer fees as possible while remaining a dominant force. Over the past five years, they have signed four players of elite level on pre-contracts, approaching a fifth. Antonio Rüdiger (Chelsea), David Alaba (Bayern Munich), Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool) were all free of rivals close to the upper table of Europe. (OK, they ended up paying costs for Alexander-Arnold, but only to record it early so that he could appear during the FIFA club World Cup this summer.)

For a large part of the 2024-25 season, it seemed that they would also add Alphonso Davies of Bayern in this way, but in the end, the Canadian international renewed with the German giants.

Los blancos“Prestige and traction mean that they are really able to convince elite players to see their contracts and patiently wait a move to the Bernabéu. For a longtime club for its Galactico Philosophy is an intriguing and surprisingly responsible ride.

Barcelona and signature players when they should probably not

The following two declarations are unequivocal:

1. Barcelona has more than 1 billion euros in debt
2. Barcelona has one of – if not the – best academies and the most prolific in the world

One would think that a combination of these points would cause an almost complete reduction in expenses and a complete dependence at the Masia, which, in the past five years only, has pumped Alejandro Baldé, Pau Cubarsí, Nico González, Gavi, Fermín López and, of course, the Lamine Yamal – and even the complete list. But this is not the case. Barça is a competitive animal, therefore rather than living a couple of seasons withdrawn, they fired all the possible lever (literally) to allow continuous expenses, which have seen the Blaugrana Sell ​​the main sources of future income and put a constant war against Laliga spending limits.

This summer, the signature of Joan García captured these internal conflicts. The opportunity to sign an incredible goalkeeper directly from Crosstown Rivals Espanyol was simply too good to pass, but in order to record it, they forced the captain of Club Marc-André Ter Stegen to sign an injury report that would allow them to take advantage of a long-term injury rule in Laliga.

Last summer, they signed Dani Olmo for 55 million euros on the rear of an impressive Euro 2024 campaign, despite having to really need a player in his position and the fact that they would find it difficult to record it – so much so that they had to go to court to keep him registered for the second half of the season.

For millions of spectators, the Barcelona solution seems relatively simple: stop spending big, count on current culture and the Burgeoning Academy, and leave the reopening of the Camp Nou fill the chests to reimburse these debts. But it is simply not as well as President Joan Laporta Rollote.