Football Transfers - The Summer So Far...

It's only mid-July, and what a summer we've had already! The footballing fraternity has been left spell-bound by the massive shuffling of players' alliances. In my previous post related to football, I gave an overview about the world-record transfer of Portugese mid-fielder Christiano Ronaldo from Manchester United to Real Madrid. But apart from Real, even Manchester City has been turning quite a few heads with it's spending spree.

When Roman Abramovich took over Chelsea, he spent 128 million pounds in his first thre transfer windows. Manchester City, since the Abu Dhabi takeover, have spent 144 million pounds, and are willing to dig even deeper!! o.0


Here's a look at the ManCity signings since the takeover.

1. Pablo Zabaleta, Argentine u-20 captain, from Espanyol, in 2008 for 6.45 million pounds.

2. Robinho, Brazilian, from Real Madrid, in 2008, for 32.5 million pounds.

3. Wayne Bridge, English, from Chelsea, in January 2009, for 10 million pounds.

4. Craig Bellamy, Welsh, from West Ham United, in January 2009, for 14 million pounds.

5. Nigel de Jong, Dutch, from Hamburg, in January 2009, for 18 million pounds.

6. Shay Given, Irish, from Newcastle United, in February 2009, for 8 million pounds.

7. Gareth Barry, English, from Aston Villa, in June 2009, for 12 million pounds.

8. Roque Santa Cruz, Paraguan, from Blackburn Rovers, in June 2009, for 18 million pounds.

9. Carlos Tevez, Argentine, from Manchester United, in July 2009, for 25 million pounds.

Of these, Robinho's and now Tevez's signings have been much publicized, especially considering the Tevez moved to City From bitter city rivals United. Moreover, ManCity are now rumoured to be keeping an eye out for Xabi Alonso of Liverpool!

In the next post, I'll look at Real Madrid's signings this summer. It is even more hair raising!! They crossed 200 million this summer alone, with Ronaldo, Kaka and Benzema being the top transfers. Manager Perez has guaranteed at least two more high-profile signings as he looks to revamp the Real outlook.