Napoli, Madrid, PSG, Eintracht Frankfurt and more - The European summer transfer windows we loved this summer

Life as a European club not based in the Premier League can be difficult these days.

Per Transfermarkt, the Premier League spent more than the rest of the traditional "Big 5" leagues, i.e. Spain, Italy, Germany and France, combined.

The world has changed for clubs from these leagues and below. The Premier League can outbid them more or less top to bottom, unless you are one of the very elite clubs outside of England with strong financial backing.

But it is not all doom and gloom. This situation does open the doors for extremely creative sporting directors to find gaps in the market that the Premier League hasn’t spotted.

And what that leads us to is this list of clubs that had what we feel are the best transfer windows across Europe. There are some big names and big spending here, but there is also a lot of smart business.

How long before they are plucked from their current employers by the money of the Premier League? Who can say, but for now, they should make for great watching. Without further ado, let’s get into it...  

There’s a decent argument to be made that Napoli had one of the best windows across Europe full stop, although a lot of that will depend on whether you believe Rasmus Hojlund can have a Scott McTominay-esque revival away from Old Trafford. We think he can.

As well as Hojlund, Napoli brought in Sam Beukema, Noa Lang, Miguel Gutierrez, Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, Lorenzo Lucca, Luca Marianucci, Elif Elmas and of course, Kevin De Bruyne. After we wondered whether Antonio Conte would continue, having won Serie A last season, it is clear why he did. He has been fully backed in the transfer market.

It is perhaps fair to say that the new signings have not made a real impact yet (bar De Bruyne), and it is also fair to say that another right-back could have been handy, and of course, the injury to Romelu Lukaku is a big blow.

But despite all of that, Napoli have strengthened in a way that a team serious about making a run in Europe should strengthen. They deserve immense credit for that.

Real Madrid had holes they badly needed to fill, and they wasted absolutely no time in filling them for new manager Xabi Alonso. Dean Huijsen has not missed a beat in moving from Bournemouth to Madrid, and whilst it has been a slow start thus far, Trent Alexander-Arnold is simply too talented not to figure things out after moving from Liverpool.

But the jewel in the crown of this window might well end up being Franco Mastantuono. The 18-year-old Argentina international is already being trusted by Alonso, starting on the right flank in each of the last two La Liga games after coming off the bench in the opener. Mastantuono is young, and he is early in his career, but it is very hard not to be very excited about what this young player could be, and already is.

You can have a long debate about the decision to jettison Gianluigi Donnarumma to Manchester City and replace him with Lucas Chevalier, but this team that conquered Europe has now added the best goalkeeper in Ligue 1 last season. Chevalier is a player who perfectly fits the style of manager Luis Enrique, who has also added one of the best young central defenders in the world in Ukraine international Ilya Zabarnyi.

PSG didn’t do anything else, but don’t let their defeat to Chelsea in the Club World Cup final trick you into forgetting how good this team was last season. They might now be even better than before.

People laughed when Galatasaray said they were serious about signing Victor Osimhen permanently after his loan move last season. The Nigerian was surely destined for the Premier League, be it Chelsea, Manchester United or someone else. Who is laughing now?

Galatasaray lost just one game last season, dropping just 13 points as they romped to a dominant title win, finishing 11 points clear of arch-rivals Fenerbahce.

Their response was not only to sign Osimhen but also add Wilfried Singo, a tremendous young centre-back; Ugurcan Cakir, one of Turkey’s best goalkeepers; and strengthen in the full-back department by adding Leroy Sane. Oh, and they are not necessarily done yet - the Turkish window is open for another 10 days, and among others, a reported move for Ilkay Gundogan is close.

Can Galatasaray make serious noise in Europe? That is impossible to say. Can they ruffle a few feathers? You betcha.

Juventus are desperate to capitalise on the struggles of Inter and try to close the gap to Napoli, and although they couldn’t prise Conte away from Naples, they have done pretty much everything else right.

Making the loans of Michele Di Gregorio and Pierre Kalulu permanent was a no-brainer, as was Francisco Conceicao. Lloyd Kelly is often the butt of jokes but he has started this season well. The Nico Gonzalez transfer did not work but they managed to flip him to Atletico Madrid and to that group, they have managed to add Lois Openda, Jonathan David and the extremely exciting Edon Zhegrova.

We are still a way off the Juventus of Conte and Max Allegri, but it really does feel as if the Old Lady are moving in the right direction at long last.

Is there a smarter club in European football than Eintracht Frankfurt? If there is, we have not found them yet. Having moved Omar Marmoush to England in the January window, Hugo Ekitike followed that path this summer.

In return, Frankfurt signed the third-highest scorer in the Bundesliga last season in Jonathan Burkadt and quite possibly the most underrated attacking player in Europe in Ritsu Doan for less than half what they received for Ekitike.

They also traded out Kevin Trapp for Michael Zetterer in goal and made the fabulous loan of Rasmus Kristensen from Leeds United permanent. Their other bit of move was to pluck 17-year-old Love Arrov from Sweden's IF Brommapojkarna, renowned for their youth development. If Arrov can follow the path taken by Hugo Larsson, we will be talking about him making a big-money move of his own in a few years.

The only one of the clubs on this list not to be in Europe this season, but you will be able to watch them regularly in Serie A live on TNT Sports and discovery+. The opening day loss to Jamie Vardy’s new side Cremonese was a bit of a shock to the system but Milan look to have put together a squad more than capable of getting back into the Champions League under Allegri.

In have come Christopher Nkunku, Ardon Jashari, Samuele Ricci, Koni De Winter, Pervis Estupinan, Zachary Athekame, Adrien Rabiot, David Odugo and of course, Luka Modric. This window is the perfect balance of exciting youth, vital experience and what could be a shrewd reclamation project in Nkunku.

Porto finished 11 points off champions Sporting last season, and it is no exaggeration to say there was immense pressure on former manager and current president Andre Villas-Boas (yes, that AVB). Villas-Boas had fired Vitor Bruno, his replacement for Sergio Conceicao, in January and then fired Bruno’s replacement Martin Anselmi after a farcical Club World Cup.

Villas-Boas has gone big in order to try and get Porto back to where he feels they need to be. The new manager is Francesco Farioli who will bring results, if not spectacular football, whilst on the player side, it has been busy.

Gabri Veiga, still just 23, is back from his Saudi sojourn, and he is joined by Alberto Costa, Borja Sainz, Nehuen Perez, Jan Bednarek, Dominik Prpic, Pablo Rosario and Jakub Kiwior. They also had the best announcement of the summer when they stunned fans with the signing of Luuk de Jong, and they won the race to sign one of the most exciting young talents in the world in Victor Froholdt. And it seems as if they are going to keep Diogo Costa in goal, despite interest from elsewhere. We see you AVB, we see you.  

PSV’s out-of-nowhere 2-0 reverse at home to Telstar was a bit of an eye-opener last weekend but we still really love the business the back-to-back Dutch champions have done. It was inevitable that Malik Tillman, Noa Lang and Johan Bakayoko would go, but bringing in Paul Wanner, Ruben van Bommel (yes, that is PSV legend Mark's son!), and Dennis Man as their replacements is tremendous business, whatever way you look at it.

On top of that, they’ve picked up Yarek Gasiorowski and Kiliann Sildillia, two proven young defenders with room to go, while Alassane Plea is a perfect replacement for the departing De Jong.

Watch all these sides across the Champions League, Europa League and Serie A live on TNT Sports and discovery+