Ten of the best-value deals from this summer’s transfer window

Even in this era of relentless transfer inflation, a fee of more than £20m does not usually represent a bargain. Roma’s move for the Porto playmaker Mora may be an exception, though. The teenager has been on the radar of Europe’s elite teams since starring for Porto’s B-team at 15, and Porto were braced for his €70m (£59.5m) release clause to be met in the summer of 2025. That didn’t happen and Mora then fell out of favour under the new head coach, Francesco Farioli. Roma swooped with an offer of €25m (£21.4m), plus a 50% sell-on fee which can be bought out. The potential move also intrigued Mora, who was eager to play under Gian Piero Gasperini. “He played a big part in my decision to come here because he likes players with my qualities, and I’m a fan of the way he wants his teams to play,” Mora said. The early signs are positive, with Mora netting his first Roma goal against Lecce as the Giallorossi made a flying start in Serie A.

Getting promoted to the Premier League is an expensive business. This summer, Ipswich, Coventry and Hull collectively spent £450m net on players. Amid such frantic investment, Hull’s move for the 24-year-old Sweden international Stroud looks like excellent business. The wide player was a standout for Mjällby as the small-town team won the Swedish title last year, earning a place in Graham Potter’s World Cup squad. Sergej Jakirovic identified him as a key squad addition after Hull’s playoff final success. “He’s a very good player; he’s very versatile,” the Hull manager said. “He can play full-back, wing-back, left-winger, and in the middle. He’s a runner too, so I think he will suit us very well.” Stroud has been a pacy creative outlet for Jakirovic’s hard-working unit.

On the face it of, paying a nominal fee to sign a striker of Aubameyang’s class and experience is a no-brainer. Still, the former Arsenal and Dortmund player is 37 and has endured a nomadic career since leaving Barcelona. An unsuccessful stint with Chelsea has been followed by two seasons with Marseille, sandwiching a year in Saudi Arabia. Aubameyang’s goal return has still been impressive, with 44 across the last three campaigns, and he has reportedly accepted a greatly reduced salary to play regular La Liga football. Dépor’s ambitious project looks the perfect fit, with Aubameyang scoring five goals in seven league games.

The Bundesliga’s trio of promoted clubs, in sharp contrast to their English counterparts, spent a combined £7.2m net on signings. The second-tier champions, Schalke, secured some notable names on loan (including boyhood fan Robin Gosens) but the holding midfielder Tanaka was their most expensive permanent recruit, at €1m. The 24-year-old still represents something of a gamble, his only previous experience of German football coming since January with Fortuna, who were relegated to the third tier. Tanaka still caught the eye of Schalke’s director of football, Youri Mulder, who said: “His work rate and intensity fit our game really well.” On his Bundesliga debut, Tanaka’s battling qualities helped his team hold Bayern Munich to a goalless draw, and he could be key to whether Schalke stay clear of trouble.

Leeds have a clear recruitment model: sign reliable, experienced players with strong physical attributes, preferably from the Bundesliga. The Swiss centre-back Elvedi fits that mould perfectly. Daniel Farke might have anticipated an adjustment period for a player who had spent 11 years at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Instead, Elvedi has settled quickly alongside his fellow newcomer Tarik Muharemovic, mostly playing on the left of Farke’s back three. It’s a welcome reunion for the 29-year-old with his former Gladbach coach. “It was just one year but I loved him as a manager,” Elvedi has said of Farke. “I learned a lot from him and I will learn a lot now.” He is learning fast already.

Paderborn have returned to the Bundesliga with a bang after shocking Wolfsburg in the promotion/relegation playoff, smashing their transfer record (which, admittedly, was only £700,000) to sign Vidovic and the striker Marvin Pieringer for €3m each. Vidovic is a former Bayern Munich academy talent and his return to Germany’s top flight is an intriguing prospect. He was brought through at Bayern by Julian Nagelsmann but the Croatian playmaker could not become a regular there. A successful loan in Zagreb led to another chance to impress with Mainz but Vidovic barely featured and Bayern cut the loan short. After moving back to Dinamo permanently, the Bundesliga looked a distant prospect until Paderborn pounced. “His sporting CV speaks for itself,” their sporting director, Sebastian Lange, said. The 22-year-old’s arrival is a risk for a club with limited means, but the potential ceiling spotted by Nagelsmann makes it one worth taking.

As the self-styled “league of talents”, Ligue 1 functions as a development pool for young players who are sold on for hefty fees. Strasbourg, a “partner club” to Chelsea, are closely tied to this model: four of their summer signings were drawn from the vast stock of spare players at Cobham, while Valentín Barco and Emmanuel Emegha went in the other direction. Reyna, despite being 23, feels like a different prospect. He was once a heavily hyped youngster who thrived with Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland at Dortmund, but injuries and inconsistency have stalled his career. Reyna made only four league starts in his solitary season at Gladbach but has begun promisingly in France. He scored his first Strasbourg goal in the 6-2 rout of Troyes in early September; if he can stay fit and capitalise on this new start, it may not be long before he is linked with a move across the Channel.

An attacking left-back once touted as the next Nuno Mendes, Nazinho was called up to Sporting’s first team by Ruben Amorim but made only 11 appearances before drifting back into the reserves. An initial loan to Cercle Brugge in 2023 became permanent for €2m the following summer, and regular game time began to breed results. After recording four goals and eight assists last season, Nazinho was snapped up by Cercle’s partner club, Monaco. He has made an immediate impact, striking up a left-flank partnership with Stanis Idumbo as Filipe Luís’s side sit top of Ligue 1. Their Conference League campaign will offer Nazinho further chances to trust his attacking instincts, and potentially earn a first Portugal call-up.

Real Betis stole a march on several Premier League clubs with a move for the prolific forward Troy Parrott, who quickly showed his worth with a winner against Real Madrid. The Ireland international cost Betis €20m, though, and the fee would doubtless have been higher if Parrott were heading back to Spurs, rather than to Seville. García, a left-back, may be this summer’s real steal, sold for £3.2m plus 50% of any future sale as Madrid cleared out fringe players. At 27, he is approaching his prime and has plenty of big-match experience, featuring more than 100 times for Madrid and playing two full top-flight campaigns on loan at Rayo Vallecano. García was, perhaps unsurprisingly, linked with Fulham this summer; Álvaro Arbeloa may come to regret allowing Betis to swoop.

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