Biggest Winners of the Summer Transfer Window 2024: How Dynasties Are Made

There are transfer dealings in which the fans barely get any of the transfer window excitement. When agents' phones are on full battery and even rumour mills are uninspired. But there are transfer windows in which footballing dynasties are established. The biggest winners of the summer transfer window 2024 will look back at these couple of months as the breaking point of their next seasons.

However, we're not looking at just the purchasing done by the clubs, a club can have a great transfer window by getting rid of big payrolls or making a huge profit.

Juventus - €164,800,000 spent

After a few Scudetto-barren years, breaking their dynasty rule, Juventus made a major turn and seemingly built a contender for one in one swoop. The new forward-thinking manager Thiago Motta was assigned but the barrage of first-class signings was the recruitment team's sudden strike across all fronts.

Juve bought two players for over 50 million euros, Teun Koopmeiners arrived late for €54,700,000 and Douglas Luiz came in early for €51,500,000. Alongside them, the son of their former player Lilian Thuram - Khephren., arrived for €20,600,000, further solidifying the middle of the pitch. Technically, Juve had just another major signing, Juan Cabal for €12,800,000 for the left-back position.

But what made this one of the best transfer windows of the summer 2024 were all the loan deals. Fiorentina's winger Nico Gonzalez arrived for €8,400,000 but will cost another €28,100,000 next summer to make the transfer permanent. The same recipe was used for the domestic goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio who came from Monza and in total his cost won't pass €20,000,000. Another son of a former player, Sergio Conceicao, Francisco, came on a loan with an option to stay. Considering he barely didn't make the cut for the most impressive players at the 2024 Euros.

Now Juve has been active on the selling side as well, with the difference between the two sums rounding up to around -€61,000,000. The stain on the window is the pitiful sale of Federico Chiesa who arrived for a total nearing €60,000,000 but left for only €12,000,000. Juve sold three youngsters who didn't have 10 joint appearances for the club for €31,000,000. And finally gave up on Moise Kean, Samuel Iling-Junior, Matias Soule, and Kaio Jorge.

Juve is back in the Scudetto race in a big way and as all of the players they brought in are either quite young or entering their prime - they could be the absolute biggest winners of the transfer window 2024.

Atletico Madrid - €185,000,000 spent

Atletico Madrid started this decade with a La Liga triumph and the recruitment team of Los Colchoneros did their best to ensure competitiveness with the El Clasico giants. This summer ushered the beginning of a third major Diego Simeone Atleti team, with the side's biggest signing ever. Not in terms of cost or name value alone, but age, ability, and pedigree holding a grander weight in the equation.

Julian Alvarez is the club's second biggest signing in money value alone, standing at €75,000,000. But he comes aged 24, with a World Cup, Champions League, and two Premier League titles. He is the club's next big forward player, but Atleti also brought in the scorer of 23 La Liga goals last season - Alexander Sorloth. The tall Norweigan provides an anchor in attack for the smaller Alvarez and Antoine Griezmann. Arriving in his prime for €32,000,000 he is a good piece of business.

But Atleti made two even better purchases when the cost-to-benefit ratio is equalled. Two that made the cut for our recap of the best individual transfers of the summer 2024. Robin Le Normand for €34,500,000 and Conor Gallagher for €42,000,000. One a Spain international that won the Euro, the other a Chelsea bound-to-be-regreted reject. Atleti solidified their defence with a loan of La Liga winner Clement Lenglet from Barca too.

They did an amazing piece of business by cutting some cost on their biggest-ever signing Joao Felix, as Chelsea unbelievably took the bait for €52,000,000 despite the Portuguese struggling everywhere, including Stamford Bridge. Caglar Soyuncu is another failed signing that was sold. The club sold Alvaro Morata and Samu Omoridion as well, and let go of numerous players like Stefan Savic, Gabriel Paulista, Mario Hermoso, Vitolo, and Memphis Depay. So big moves on both ends.

Benfica - €53,500,000 spent

Although Benfica did bring in big signings in the form of previous season's Eredivisie top goalscorer Vangelis Pavlidis and Turkish international Kerem Akturkoglu, alongside few other players mostly in their primes, they made this list due to selling.

Benfica sold players for €149,920,000 this summer alone! And while they are no strangers to big sales, the way they did it suggests they ought to make the cut. Selling the 19-year-old Joao Neves to PSG for just below €60,000,000 is the best they could hope for the defensive midfielder.

Their striker Marcos Leonardo didn't put in the best numbers with eight goals in his 24 appearances for the Eagles but left for nearly double what he was paid just this year in January. Turning an €18,000,000 profit after investing €22,000,000. With a move to Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, Leonardo also showed he doesn't have the competitiveness needed to succeed in Europe, making it even easier for Benfica to say goodbye.

David Neres had a good output in his 83 matches for the Portuguese side, 17 goals and 36 assists. He too nearly doubled the investment - from €15,300,000 the club got €28,000,000! A Brazilian centre-back Morao was sold to Nottingham Forrest for €11,000,000 and Paulo Bernardo to Celtic for €4,000,000. All of this makes the atmosphere in the accounting room of Estadio da Luz, but does leave a lot of holes on the pitch.

Still, Benfica could give seminars on transfer activity and they know that sometimes you need to spend big in order to make it big. Either by purchasing later or leaning on your own academy.

Real Madrid - €49,000,000 spent

A very short inclusion but one that cannot be omitted. Real Madrid made the best acquisition of the summer by snatching (finally!) Kylian Mbapee from PSG for free! Besides that, Los Blancos, the reigning champions of Europe, got the most touted teenager in Brazil! Endrick arrived for €47,500,000 and became one of the most expensive 18-year-olds ever. If he becomes as half as influential in the team as his compatriots Rodrygo and Vinicius Jr. the deal won't be anywhere near a flop. The Madrid side did lose out two big players, especially Toni Kroos who retired, but also Nacho Fernandez. Yet they planned accordingly and they are coming into the double-crown defending season even stronger.

The club officially also bought Joselu for €1,500,000 hence the final sum is what it is. Two moves basically, but certainly one of the winners of the transfer window.

Atalanta - €96,900,000 spent

A club that made itself into a continental trophy winner by its efficiency and consistent dealing on the markets. It has done it again. La Dea earned a profit of €40,000,000 from the sale of Teun Koopmeiners to Juve and the new arrivals are more likely to follow that trajectory. Charles De Ketelaere's move for €22,000,000 made our list of top 10 signings of the summer.

While the same sum paid for Mateo Retegui and two million less for Raoul Bellanova, two Italy internationals not still in their prime, show that the side is a powerhouse in the home country now. A veteran of 112 Premier League games Ben Godfrey was snatched for just €12,000,000 while the 21-year-old Ibrahim Sulemana came in for €7,500,000 and is a potential profit bomb.

La Dea also enticed two Serie A veterans for free, Juan Cuadrado on the wing and Rui Patricio as a reserve keeper. A big Italian talent Nicolo Zaniolo was brought on loan and if he hits it off in the offensive-minded Gian Piero Gasperini side the move might be made permanent. The biggest signing of the summer is the loan deal with an obligation to buy of the Serbian attacking midfielder Lazar Samardzic. The 22-year-old was already seen as an Inter and Napoli player, but the agent dealings collapsed those moves. La Dea might be the best option for nurturing the piercing youngster.

Similarly to Atleti, Atalanta has also created a new team by foregoing Aleksey Miranchuk, Duvan Zapata, Hans Hateboer, the mentioned Koopmeiners, and Pierluigi Gollini. So far they look like one of the winners of the 2024 summer transfer window. But often, these big moving windows can cause a collapse in an upward trajectory. Luckily, even this busy summer they stayed in surplus.