The transfer market in Europe has grown noticeably in recent decades. The amount of transactions has been growing since the beginning of the century, and in 2013 the psychological mark of € 100 million was overcome. Since then, there have been many transfers that have exceeded one hundred square meters. And in this series, a curious pattern emerges. After making football bets, you can try something new, for example, casino online by 22Bet bookmaker. Let’s take a look at each transaction as an example.
Gareth Bale, Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid for €101m
Bale was the first. By 2013 he had become one of the top stars in the Premier League and Florentino Pérez wanted to buy him from Real Madrid. The negotiator was not easy – the head of Tottenham, Daniel Levy, bargained for a long time and eventually pulled out a record amount from the president of the Madrid club.
Bale was considered the heir to Cristiano Ronaldo and the future owner of the Golden Ball. In the first seasons, the Welshman was indeed a superstar, but he never fully justified the money invested. Ronaldo (for whom, by the way, they paid less) remained the main force in the attack until the departure, and Bale gradually slowed down and even got involved in a war with Real Madrid and its fans. Gareth’s transfer is not a failure, but much more was clearly expected from him.
Paul Pogba, Juventus to Manchester United for €105m
Pogba became the second hundred millionaire. In 2016, Manchester United brought back their former midfielder and set a new record – € 105 million. At that time, Paul was a key player in Juve, gave out cool statistics in Serie A (8 goals and 12 assists in his last season in Italy) and while remaining promising (he was only 23 years old).
At Manchester United, Pogba was and remains the most controversial player. At times he produces world-class performances, but stability is not even close. At first, Paul was hampered by conflicts with José Mourinho, but in recent years they have been replaced by problems with motivation and injuries. In the 2019/2020 season, the Frenchman did not play even half of the matches in the Premier League and scored only 1 + 3 on “goal + pass”, and in the championship that followed he made 3 + 3 in 26 meetings. This is despite the fact that Pogba is focused on attack.
Philippe Coutinho, Liverpool to Barcelona for €135m
But the transition of Coutinho is one of the most disastrous. In the summer of 2017, Barcelona tried to poach the Brazilian, who was then the star of Liverpool. The midfielder even filed a transfer request, but the English club kept him. Six months later, in the winter of 2018, the deal went through. Liverpool pulled a huge amount from Barca, bought Virgil van Dijk (added Alisson in the summer) and became stronger.
Coutinho saw a replacement for Andres Iniesta, but the Brazilian did not live up to expectations. He did not fit into the Barca game and became a burden: the Catalans even had to put the midfielder on the bench in order not to pay bonuses to Liverpool. In addition, the blue garnet managed to suffer directly from Philippe. In the 2019/2020 season, Coutinho was loaned to Bayern, and he took and put Barca two in a historic 8-2 defeat in the Champions League. With the German team, Phil eventually won the main European Cup.
