This summer’s transfer window has been one of the most memorable in recent times.
Multiple sagas unfolded in the build-up and throughout the window, including the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Robert Lewandowski and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Only one of them made a change, with the Polish striker who left Bayern Munich for Barcelona. The latter had a very busy window and made a good number of hijacks throughout the summer. That word in terms of football transfers gets fans very excited as they usually come out of nowhere.
The 2022 summer window contained multiple hijacked deals, so let’s look at the top three involving Premier League clubs.
3 – Lisandro Martinez (Ajax to Manchester United)
Going into the summer window, Lisandro Martinez was hot property. The defender is incredibly versatile, as he can play as a centre-back, left-back and even a holding midfielder.
Added to that, the Argentine is very good technically and that caught the attention of many clubs, but mainly Manchester United and Arsenal in England.
Arsenal were very interested in Martinez and opened the bidding with a bid of around £29m for the Ajax star, he said. GOAL.
That offer was later rejected by the Dutch giants and so the Gunners came back with another offer, said to be around £35m plus add-ons, according to GOAL. After that, a third offer with additional plugins was presented, reported Football.London, but while the London club tiptoed around the deal, Manchester United moved efficiently.
The Red Devils, now under the management of former Ajax manager Erik ten Hag, moved on to the Dutchman’s former player.
The Manchester club ended up signing Martínez for £56.7m and United have tied the defender to a five-year deal, reports sky sports.
It was one of the biggest hijacks of the summer and the Argentine has shown in the early part of the season what all the fuss is about, already becoming a favorite among the Old Trafford faithful.
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2 – Raphinha (Leeds United to Barcelona)
Fabricius Romano described the Raphinha saga this summer as “one of the craziest sagas in history”.
The Brazilian was the subject of interest from several clubs, but in the end, the battle came down to Chelsea and Barcelona.
The Premier League side made the first move and Leeds accepted a £55m offer for the winger, reported the athletic.
However, Raphinha wanted Barcelona all summer and waited until they resolved their financial problems.
The Catalan club activated numerous financial levers this summer that helped them pay for their transfers during the window, which included Raphinha. Barca essentially sold things like TV rights and merchandising rights to get money now to help build a competitive squad for their manager, Xavi.
Once they had the money, Barcelona made their move on the Leeds winger and hijacked Chelsea’s deal for the Brazilian with an offer of £55m including add-ons, as reported by sky sports.
This was less than what Chelsea offered, as their £55m was the guaranteed fee that did not include add-ons.
In the end, Raphinha got the move she wanted the most, but the way it played out was very dramatic.
1 – Jules Koundé (Seville to Barcelona)
Jules Kounde is without a doubt one of the best, if not the best, young defender in the world.
Central defender was a position Chelsea wanted to fill throughout the summer after losing both Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen in La Liga. The Blues signed Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli but wanted another centre-back to accompany the Senegal international and Thiago Silva.
Chelsea missed out on Matthijs de Ligt who eventually joined Bayern Munich and as a result put in a £55m offer for Kounde, which was accepted according to Fabricius Romano.
There were still some details to be ironed out, but what Chelsea expected was the definitive approval from Sevilla.
As they waited, Barcelona swooped in again and began to hijack the deal.
The giants of LaLiga moved quickly and closed the signing of the Frenchman for 50 million euros, reported the BBC. Once again, the fee was lower than Chelsea was willing to pay.
It was a summer in which Barcelona showed how great a club they are and sadly, Chelsea were the victims on the other side.
Surprisingly, the two biggest hijacked deals of the summer involved both clubs, with Chelsea having to settle for Wesley Fofana and Raheem Sterling in the end as alternatives to the two new Barca boys, which ended up being a good deal.
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