What is the best bit of business done so far?

As we are well into the summer transfer window I thought we should look at what the best bit of business has been so far.

The first big move of the summer was the signing of former world player of the year Kaka from AC Milan by Real Madrid. The second was the predictable transfer of current world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United to Real Madrid. Perhaps not so predictable was the amount of money involved. Kaka set the Madrid club back around ₤68.5 million, whilst Ronaldo cost them ₤80 million.

Stop

Of course, Real didn’t stop there and Lyon striker Karim Benzema also arrived with a price tag of an initial €35 million.

Were these deals good business for all concerned? Well, Real Madrid have certainly got themselves three very talented players who all carry a huge commercial value to the club. It remains to be seen whether they can knit together into a side capable of winning things but they definitely have more chance with them than they did without.

As for the selling clubs Lyon, Manchester United and AC Milan, well they received a huge amount of money for players who had served them well and no longer wanted to be at the club. That has to be good business for them as well.

Disruptive

Whilst I am a great fan of Cristiano Ronaldo’s footballing ability, I have to say that the winner out of those moves is probably Manchester United who picked up an incredible ₤80 million for a player who didn’t perform at his best last season and may have been becoming a little disruptive.

The next big spenders have been Manchester City who have brought in Gareth Barry from Aston Villa, Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn, Carlos Tevez from whoever owned him before, Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure from Arsenal. That is a total outlay of around ₤100 million.

Business

These all look like decent signings but none of them stand out for me as being great business. Arsenal seem to lose out by losing two very good players and Blackburn will certainly miss Santa Cruz. Gareth Barry could be a gem of a purchase as he will offer a huge amount of stability to a team that has stuggled for consistency. I think the best signing they have made is probably Adebayor. For all his apparent attitude problems the Togo striker is absolutely unplayable on his day and I’m sure he will be a success at City.

Other really notable signings so far include the purchase of England right back Glen Johnson by Liverpool. They paid Portsmouth a fee believed to be around £17 million for him but if he helps the club to their first Premier League title, that would be money very well spent.

If

Next on the list comes what is perhaps the surprise transfer so far, that of Michael Owen from Newcastle to Manchester United. There was no fee as Owen was out of contract at Newcastle and Owen’s scoring track record is second to none. OK, he has spent most of the last few seasons on the treatment bench, but if United can keep him fit, and that is a very big if, he will be the best business of the summer.

However, the transfer involving Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Samuel Eto’o between Inter and Barcelona has to be the winner so far. Barcelona have got themselves a very talented striker who may well help them to go some way towards trying to emulate the incredible success they had last season. Inter, however, have picked up one of the world’s top strikers in Samuel Eto’o and despite losing Ibrahimovic they have also pocketed €46 million.

For me, Inter have undoubtedly done the best bit of business so far. What do you think?