Top 10 transfer buys of the 2016 summer window (Non-Free)

During the 3-month football summer break, teams try to improve their squad by buying new players as well as selling some. With my team of Experts, I have decided upon the top 10 transfers this summer transfer window.
P.S: this list does not include free transfers

#10 Nico Gaitan to Atletico Madrid (from Benfica) for 25 million euros

Gaitan has been on the radar for many big clubs since his 2014/15 at Benfica and unlike last season Benfica couldn’t retain him as Atletico have signed the argentine for 25 million euros. This could be a great buy for Atletico.

#9 Kevin Volland to Bayer Leverkusen (from Hoffenheim) for 20 million euros

Volland has been Hoffenheim’s best attacking player for the last few seasons and one of the best in the Bundesliga. At 20 million (euros), Bayer Leverkusen have made a great signing in a player who can at either wings, in the no. 10 role or as a striker. 

#8 Miralem Pjanic to Juventus (From Roma) for 32 million euros

Pjanic was one of the best if not the best Serie A midfielder during his tenure in Rome. In Turin(Juventus), he can expect more domestic trophies but also challenging for European trophies. In return, his team can expect a complete midfielder who can not only pass well but also have deadly shooting and good defensive skills. Pjanic is a versatile central midfielder who can play at CDM, CM or CAM equally effectively.

#7 Renato Sanches to Bayern Munich (From Benfica) for 35 million euros

The Portuguese made his senior team debut in November 2015 but his meteoric rise has seen him become the young player of the euros, win the euros and become a Bayern munich player for 35 million euros just 8 months later.

#6 Grzegorz Krychowiak to PSG (From Sevilla) for 34 million euros

The polish midfielder has been one of the best holding midfielders of La-Liga and showed his class in the euros by putting in some excellent performances. He was instrumental in Sevilla’s 3 back to back Europa league wins with Current PSG (and ex-sevilla) manager Unai Emery and PSG would be hoping for european glory (champions league) with duo in Paris too.

#5 Granit Xhaka to Arsenal (From B. Monchengladbach) for 45 million euros

The Swiss International has been solid with both country and club by providing defensive strength to his team as well as fluidity in attack with his passing and clutch goals. The young midfielder is a very versatile central midfielder who play in a holding role as well as no. 10 with the same quality/efficiency.  

#4 Ilkey Gundogan to Manchester City (From B.Dortmund) for 27 million euros

The German was great during his time at Dortmund and moving to Manchester City under Guardiola seems the perfect move for Gundogan. The german is one of finest and versatile midfielders in Europe. Gundogan’s perfect position would be one of the two holding midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 as not only can he do the defensive work well but his passing and vision combined with his great shooting skills means he can be an attacking asset too despite playing in deep role.

#3 Mats Hummels to Bayern Munich (From B.Dortmund) for 38 million euros

Hummels started his career from youth system of Bayern but moved to Dortmund for more opportunities. His career in Dortmund was amazing as he won two league titles and the world cup in 2014 too and became one of the best defenders of Europe. 7 seasons after he left them, Hummels has joined Bayern back for 38 million euros as a first-team player. Bayern already have Hummels’ German partner (with whom he won the WC), Jerome Boatang so it shouldn’t take hummels too much time to adapt the Bavarians’’ Backline.

#2 Henrikh Mkhitarian to Manchester United (from B.Dortmund) for 42 million euros

Manchester United struggled for goals last season and new manager ‘Jose Mourinho’ has decided to implement this problem by buying one of Europe’s best Playmakers. Mkhitaryan contributed to 55 goals (23 goals, 32 assists) for Dortmund last season. With the ability to play on either wing or as a no. 10, it's fair to say Manchester United have made a good signing in the Armenian.

#1 N'Golo Kante to Chelsea (From Leicester) for 32 million euros

N’Golo Kante was an integral part of Leicester’s fairytale story. Not only was the Frenchman an amazing defensive player with his tackling and work rate but Kante also proved to be asset in an attacking sense by providing precise passes and assists in Leicester’s counter-attacks. Not only is Kante an excellent midfielder but he is a premier-league proven midfielder which makes him our no.1 signing of the season.

 

Why Bayern Munich 12/13 is the best team of the 21st century yet

The 21^st century has seen many great teams from the ‘Invincibles’ of Arsenal (03-04) to the ‘Miracle of Istanbul’ Liverpool (05/06) to the ‘La Decima’ Real Madrid (13-14) to the ’gegenpressing’’ of Dortmund in 2010/11. While we’ve seen some great teams, very few have been dominant in every competition they’ve played in. Very Few teams have been so dominant that they have won all 3 major trophies (treble) in the same season. Only 4 teams have managed the treble in the 21^st century: FC Barcelona in 2008/09 and 2014/15, Inter-Milan in 2009/10 and Bayern Munich in 2012/13. While 2 Barcelona teams have won the treble as well as Jose Mournho's Inter of 2009/10, I think the Bayern-Munich treble winning team has out-performed all of these teams.

The Barcelona treble winning team of 2014/15

The Barcelona treble winning team of 2008/09

Today it’s very normal to hear Bayern Munich won the league but at the beginning of the 2012/13 this was not the case at all. Dortmund had won the league in the previous 2 seasons and Bayern Munich were trophy-less in the previous season. So the Bavarians didn’t have too much investment/money either. So winning one trophy was a big thing let alone a treble.  The Bayern Munich league domination started with Jupp Heynkes and his team in 2012/13 as they completely outperformed the former champions and rivals Dortmund as they finished 25 points ahead of them with a record 91 points from 34 matches. The more remarkable thing about this feat was the fact that Dortmund themselves were having a great season and one of the best clubs in Europe and reached the champions league final. So unlike 2014/15 when Bayern won the league by more than 25 points but Dortmund struggled to reach 7^th and the second placed (Wolfsburg) were in the Europa league, the standard of Bundesliga was at its peak and it was the best league in Europe. The all-German final was a reflection of how strong the Bundesliga was at that time. The German cup/DFP Pokal was dominated by Bayern Munich as they won all their games in 90 minutes in route to win the knockout tournament including a win over Borussia Dortmund. But the tournament that defined the greatness of this team was the champions league. The Bavarians cruised through from their group in first place before beating Arsenal in the Round of 16. After that they thrashed Italian champions Juventus in the quarterfinal 4-0. The match which made the Bayern Munich of 2012/13 the best of the 21^st century was their semifinal tie against European ‘Powerhouse’ Barcelona. Barcelona had had a great season too, they had cruised to the semi-final of the champions league and they were dominating La-Liga eventually ending with 100 points. So this was supposed to be a very close match. It was a 2-leg tie but the 1^st leg had seemed to already have finished the tie. Bayern had absolutely dominated Barcelona. Muller opened the scoring after 25 minutes and German club didn’t seem to look back. The final score was 4-0. Before the second-leg, though the majority was expecting Bayern to win on aggregate, they were also expecting Barcelona to at least close down the gap. Instead it was a completely different story, Bayern Munich demolished Barcelona at the Camp Nou 3-0. They had just defeated the Spanish champions 7-0. It was one of the worst humiliations in Barcelona’s history. Bayern beat Rivals Dortmund 2-1 to win the champions league to show the world why they were the greatest team of 21^st century. Even the Mastermind of the 2008/09 Barcelona’s treble winning team ‘Pep Guardiola’ couldn’t replicate the success of this team despite the extra investment he had got.

The Team of the century so far: 2012/13 Bayern Munich

So how is this team better than the treble winning Barcelona teams of 2008/09 and 2014/15 as well as the inter-milan of 09/10:

The 2014/15 Barcelona team won the treble but it wasn’t smooth at all times. In January, the manager had a fallout with some players and had almost lost his job after his team lost a game. For a lot of the season, Barcelona weren’t even 1^st in the league and won the La-Liga only on the penultimate match day of the season. Also, Barcelona were heavily reliant on goals on their trident of Messi, Suarez and Neymar. On the other hand, Bayern Munich (of 12/13) had a smooth sail to their league title and were 1^st for almost the whole season despite also having the finalists of the champions league in their league. On the other-hand their top-scorer (Muller) had 23 goals showing how much more a team-effort it was and not just a trident-based team as in the case of Barcelona’s 14/15 team.

The 2008/09 Barcelona team was better than their 2014/15 version because of how consistently they played and how they sailed through the league. They weren’t reliant on a goal-scorer unlike the 2014/15 team. However, what makes Bayern better than them is the fact that Barcelona 08/09 didn’t deserve the treble as they progressed through the semi-finals on away goals of the champions league despite their opponents having so many clear penalty calls against them and then a last-minute equalizer from Iniesta sent them through on away goals. It’s fair to say the Barcelona 08/09 was lucky to win the treble. Meanwhile Bayern Munich didn’t need such luck thrashing European Giants like Juventus and Barcelona themselves en route to the champions league and treble.

The Inter team of 2009/10 was undoubtedly great with their success but they weren't the greatest. They won their league title on the last match day and scraped through the semi-final of the champions league in contrast to Bayern Munich's heavy league triumph and their thrashing of Barcelona. Unlike Bayern Munich, they were much more reliant on the management in comparison to the players as after Mourinho left Inter have not won a league or European trophy in contrast to Heynkes' Bayern Depature who made the platform for 3 more league titles in 3 seasons.

This is why Bayern Munich 12/13 is the best team of the 21^st century yet

West Ham vs Liverpool: First game of 2k16

In a highly anticipated first game of 2016, West Ham completed the double over Liverpool for the first time in the premier league era. Even though, the 3-0 away win could be said to be more remarkable of the double, it was no minor result for the hammers to beat Liverpool 2-0 (at home).
The hosts took the lead through an Antonio header from a cross from the right hand side in the 10th minute.

The hosts could have been two up by the first 20 minutes as Manuel Lanzini was denied by the crossbar.

The crossbar denied another goal but this time for Liverpool in the stoppage time of the first half. At halftime, The score was West Ham 1, Liverpool 0.
At the beginning of the second half, Andy Carroll effectively sealed the game as he headed a similar goal to the first one against his former club to give west ham a 2-0 lead.

Both teams created a few more half-chances but failed to covert these into goals.The full-time score was 2-0 in the favour of West-Ham.
With this win, The Hammers moved to 6th and 2 points clear of Liverpool who are now 8th.