Transfers

Pep Guardiola’s 2009 ‘revolution’ of Barcelona was not so much the invention of a new system, but rather the insistence on a playing style that’d been utilized by great European footballing sides since the mid-1900s. Key to his idea of attacking football was developing a Barcelona side that could attack from any position on the field — Sergio Busquets was promoted from the Barca B squad, Dani Alves was purchased from Sevilla for €29 million and, most importantly, Gerard Pique returned from Manchester United for the ridiculously low price of €5 million.

Barcelona have been linked with just about every half-decent striker in Europe this transfer window: Nolito, Mario Mandzukic, Carlos Bacca, Mario Gomez, Kevin Gameiro and Luciano Vietto have all been run through the rumor mill. They've also looked to the other side of the pond, being linked with Andre-Pierre Gignac, Gabriel Jesus and Luan Vieira.

The Pep Guardiola effect is in full swing at Manchester City with the Citizens beating Barcelona to the signing of 19-year-old Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus.

City and Jesus’ Brazilian club, Palmeiras, have agreed to a £27 million fee with the attacking talent set to stay in Brazil until December. Jesus has been widely touted as the greatest prospect to emerge from Brazil since Neymar — the two will be in action together for the Selecao at the 2016 Olympic Games.

Like a character from a Leo Tolstoy novel, Alex Song is off to the Republic of Tatarstan — a former Barcelona nobleman whose links with high society have been severed.

Alex Song’s career has taken in the sights of beautiful Barcelona, Spain and both West and East London with Arsenal and West Ham United, but the 28-year-old is about to embark on his greatest adventure yet. 

The former Cameroon midfielder has accounted for €23 million worth of transfer fees throughout his career, but his latest move will cost Russian club Rubin Kazan nothing. 

Having watched Juventus poach his AS Roma teammate Mirlaem Pjanic for €32 million, Francesco Totti finally lost his cool following the €90 million sale of Napoli forward Gonzalo Higuain to the reigning Serie A champions.

Juventus and Serie A have confirmed the transfer of Gonzalo Higuain from Napoli to Serie A rivals Juventus, making him the third most expensive footballer of all-time.

The reported fee of £75.3 million (€94m) makes Higuain the most expensive signing in the history of Serie A. Higuain’s 36 Serie A goals last campaign enabled Napoli to finish second in the division.

It's over and done. Kolo Toure has left Liverpool, and he isn't coming back. He's gone to Celtic, where he will presumably get way more playing time and become the most entertaining player in green and white since Thomas Gravesen left.

I'm trying to not be sad, because Kolo wouldn't want me to be sad.

In April of 2013, Mario Gotze became the most hated man in Dortmund after it was announced that Gotze, a product of Dortmund’s youth academy, would be transferring to fierce rivals Bayern Munich. 

The timing of the announcement did little to help Gotze’s cause — it emerged on the eve of a momentous Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid. Munich had met Gotze’s release clause of €37 million and the midfielder was keen to play under Pep Guardiola, much to the annoyance of then BVB manager Jurgen Klopp.

After seeing their $115 million offer for Paul Pogba swiftly declined by Juventus, Manchester United have reportedly returned with an improved offer of nearly $122 million.