Juventus becomes No.1 spending club in 2018 summer

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Europe

Since the 2018 summer transfer market opened, teams of major soccer leagues all over the world have been wielding their checkbooks chasing the players they want. So far, Juventus from Serie A topped the spending list with 259.2 million US dollars, reported Tencent Sports on July 29.

“The old lady” of Italy has taken six players this summer. Besides Emre Can who joined as a free agent and cost the club nothing, the other five all came with big price tags. Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival cost Juventus some 140 million dollars while Joao Cancelo and Douglas Costa followed both with over 46 million dollars. Juventus has also paid in total 22.7 million dollars for Mattia Perin and Andrea Favilli.

Alisson's transfer to Liverpool sets a new record price for goalkeepers. /VCG Photo

Premier League’s Liverpool came second on the list with 212.7 million dollars, which brought four players to Anfield. Alisson joined from Roma in exchange for 72.9 million dollars, setting a new record for the transfer fee of a goalkeeper. The team also paid over 70 million dollars for Naby Keïta and 52.5 million for Fabinho. Swiss winger Xherdan Shaqiri came after Stoke City received 17.1 million dollars.

Ligue 1’s Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) ranked third with 157.6 million dollars. All of this money went to Monaco in return for 19-year-old Kylian Mbappe. Roma followed at No.4 by spending 128.3 million. The money from Alisson’s transfer has enabled the Italian club to fill their shopping cart with Javier Pastore, Justin Kluivert and others.

Bundesliga's Bayern München (L) and Dortmund (R) did not spend much this summer. /VCG Photo

Barcelona and Real Madrid, rivals of El Clásico, ranked respectively No.5 and No.9 on the list. Barcelona bought only three players: 36.2 million dollars for Arthur Melo, 41.9 million for Clément Lenglet and 47.8 million for Malcom. Real Madrid spent 104.2 million dollars but did not make any market-shocking deals as buyer.

Top 10 rankings all went to teams from Serie A, Premier League, La Liga and Ligue 1. Not one from Bundesliga made it into the Top 20. Dortmund ranked No.21 with 61.9 million dollars and is the highest-spending German club this summer. Bayern München was only No.97 with only 11.6 million.