Stefan Bienkowski

New Bundesliga transfer show with @DanielWighton: • Bayern shut up shop for the summer • Stuttgart sign ⁠⁠Leo Sauer • Leverkusen sell Alajbegovic • Dortmund sign Karetsas tinyurl.com/bpufk5f6

In that same period of time, transfer fees paid for forwards aged 23-30: 1. Chelsea (€447m) 2. Liverpool (€428m) 3. Arsenal (€314m) 4. Newcastle (€268m) 5. Man City (€265m)

Transfer fees paid by English clubs for defenders aged 23-30 since 2021: 1. West Ham (€225m) 2. Brighton (€186m) 3. Spurs (€184m) 4. Chelsea (€171m) 5. Man Utd (€157m) — 19. Liverpool (€40m)

And in the following 15 seasons since his first transfer fee, Lukaku has won just two league titles in Europe’s top five leagues.

With Romelu Lukaku looking set to leave Napoli this summer, it’s worth digging up this wild stat: Neymar is the only player in the history of football to have cost more in total transfer fees than Lukaku (€370m). That’s €123m more than Cristiano Ronaldo.

As chance would have it, @ManuelVeth and I talked about new Hull City signing Lucas Herrington on the latest Market Values podcast: youtu.be/H8AuCXyJXzw?is…

If Gianni Infantino is ousted his last moment in front of the entire world will be that World Cup final, when he’s trying in vain to usher Donald Trump off the stage. Which is a fitting epitaph for his time at FIFA sucking up to money and power.

@Ifanyol The very same thing.

@SBienkowski C’mon man😅 What would you have said if he had moved to the MLS or SAUDI?

Julian Brandt heads to Ajax. As if seven years of withering on the vine at Dortmund didn’t underline his lack of ambition, a move to the dysfunctional Eredivisie giants certainly does.

New Dortmund signing Konstantinos Karetsas is joining a club in desperate need of a playmaker:

@Zedeventblogger He didn’t change anything. The ECA did. UEFA does what its clubs tell it to do. Which is what is supposed to happen.

@SBienkowski Didn't he change UEFA champions league to suit the super league

Fair play to Aleksander Ceferin. He stood up to the Super League and won and has now - very quickly and with no prior warning - assembled a full boycott of FIFA. Very impressive.

Is this the season that Tyler Dibling bounces back at Everton? @SBienkowski explains why he thinks so:

Chelsea have now spent €527m on new defenders since Todd Boehly & Co. took over in 2022. That's just €6m less than Real Madrid have spent on ALL their new signings in that time period. And more than Dortmund, Barcelona and Inter Milan.

Turns out buying a football club and trying to make them Premier League champions or even just a functional top-four contender is about as easy as building a 170km glass city through the desert...

FIFA give off big late-stage capitalism vibes. Founded 122 years ago to keep an eye on the rules and regulations for 22 men kicking a ball around a park, now a global corporation that steamrolls over national sovereignty, pays no tax and believes it’s accountable to no one.

Fascinating bit of business from Bayer Leverkusen with Kerim Alajbegovic. Plucked him from the FC Köln academy, effectively sent him out on loan to RB Salzburg for one season and now selling him to Juventus for €33m+. Not a single game for Leverkusen’s first team.

New Market Values Podcast with @SBienkowski We chatted: 🧒6 U21 players with a market value below €21m to watch 🇩🇪Can Jürgen Klopp rescue Germany? 🇫🇷Zinedine Zidane takes over France youtube.com/watch?v=8qgeww…

First game of the season. Lovely summer’s evening watching a preseason friendly at Dulwich Hamlet.

RB Leipzig will hold out for €130m in the sale of Yan Diomande. Which will make the winger the second biggest profit on a player in one season or less in the history of football: