It has been a dramatic summer across Europe as billions have been spent and clubs have scrambled to get deals done

So that’s it for another summer. The circus can stop, the rumours can slow and the football world can finally sit down and take a deep breath.

The transfer window is closed, for a few months at least. Managers now know which players they will be able to count on for the first part of the campaign, while supporters can line up new heroes – and villains. 

In England, around £2billion (€2.3bn/$2.3bn) was spent on signings, a new record which makes a mockery of the idea, floated by some not so long ago, that the coronavirus pandemic would bring about a moment’s pause and force clubs to reconsider their approach to the transfer market.

Across Europe, however, the picture looks a little more bleak, as talent continues to drain away from Italy, Germany, Spain and France and towards the Premier League. How do these leagues hope to compete with a competition that is set to earn upwards of £10bn (€11.6bn/$11.6bn) in TV rights over the next three years alone?

With all that in mind, GOAL takes a look at the winners and losers from a dramatic window…

GettyWinner: Barcelona

Forget they did it, just for a moment. Instead, let’s focus on Barcelona have done in this window.

Strengthening an already-talented squad with the likes of Raphinha, Jules Kounde, Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen and Hector Bellerin is one thing, but adding Robert Lewandowski to the mix? No wonder Xavi has smiled his way through the opening weeks of the campaign.

Sure, there have been plenty of losers from the Catalans’ lever-powered dash through the market – Martin Braithwaite, for example, or Memphis Depay – but in purely footballing terms, Barca have managed to assemble one of the most exciting sides around.

Somehow.

AdvertisementGettyLoser: Cristiano Ronaldo

This was not how Cristiano Ronaldo’s dream homecoming was supposed to play out.

The Portugal legend has spent the summer trying – and miserably failing – to secure a move away from Manchester United, having quickly discovered the Old Trafford grass is not quite as green as when he left in 2009.

All of Europe’s top clubs have been offered the chance to sign Ronaldo, but none were willing to take the plunge on a player who still knows where the net is, but who will be 38 in February and has shown himself not only to be a player around whom a cohesive tactical system is difficult to build, but who seems as though he creates division and uncertainty inside the dressing room with his behaviour.

United may well get some good moments out of him this season, but anyone who thinks his return to Manchester has been a success is deluding themselves.

GettyWinner: Nottingham Forest

It has been a remarkable couple of months at the City Ground, with the newly-promoted Premier League side bringing in no fewer than 21 new players, at a cost of more than £150m (€175m/$175m).

Those include the club-record signing of midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White from Wolves, a pair of Nigerian international forwards in Taiwo Awoniyi and Emmanuel Dennis, goalkeeper Dean Henderson and England forward Jesse Lingard from Manchester United and, perhaps most eye-catching of all, the loan capture of Brazil left-back Renan Lodi from Atletico Madrid.

Whether such investment pays off remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure; manager Steve Cooper is going to have some major selection headaches in the coming weeks and months.

GettyLoser: Serie A

Matthijs De Ligt, Franck Kessie, Ivan Perisic, Fabian Ruiz, Dejan Kulusevski, Lorenzo Insigne, Cristian Romero, Dries Mertens, Alexis Sanchez, Kalidou Koulibaly, Giorgio Chiellini, Fernando Bernadeschi, Gianluca Scamacca, Aaron Hickey, Mikkel Damsgaard, Nahuel Molina, Remo Freuler, Cesare Casadei.

The list of talented players – young and old – to have left Italy this summer is a long one. Serie A had the best title race in Europe last season, but its biggest stars continue to jump ship, most of them seduced by the money on offer in the Premier League.

]New ones will emerge, no doubt, and the league should be ultra-competitive again this season, but it looks unlikely that we will see an Italian side competing for Champions League glory any time soon.

And how sad is that, given their history in the competition?