Top Five Most Expensive Transfers Of Summer 2015, Featuring Manchester United And Liverpool

So the transfer window slammed shut yesterday, with some frantic last minute action with clubs trying to strengthen their squad before the window opens again in January. English Premier League clubs spent more than £870m in the last three months, which included Manchester City twice breaking their club transfer record to sign £49m Sterling and £55m Kevin De Bruyne as they get ready to win back the title from Chelsea. Here are the top five most expensive transfers of summer 2015.

5. Christian Benteke to Liverpool (£32.5m)

Liverpool struggled in front of goal last season, which resulted in them falling out of the top four after securing an excellent second place finish in the 2013-2014 season. In came Christian Benteke from Aston Villa for a fee of around £32.5m, in what turned out to be one of the most expensive signing this summer.

Brendan Rodgers was after Benteke all summer, but Villa were adamant that Liverpool would need to meet Benteke’s release clause of £32.5m to have any chance of taking him. With money in the bank after the sale of Sterling, Rodgers decided to meet Villa’s demand and bring Benteke to Anfield.

4. Anthony Martial to Manchester United (£36m)

Anthony Martial became the most expensive teenager in football after Manchester United forked out an astonishing £36m to sign the young striker from AS Monaco on deadline day. There has been a lot of talk about how much the deal actually cost but some papers have reported that the £36m could potentially rise to £58m with added bonuses.

United were desperate to sign a back up for Wayne Rooney after the departure of Van Persie, Falcao and Chicharito from Old Trafford but after Numerous failed attempts to sign a striker in the last 3 months, Van Gaal decided to put his faith in the highly talented French striker from AS Monaco to solve the goal scoring problems at United.

It’s a huge gamble that Van Gaal has taken and if Martial doesn’t succeed, then this deal will be worse than the Falcao disaster of last season.

3. Angel Di Maria to Paris Saint-Germain (£46.5m)

Angel Di Maria joined the elite club of players who have cost more than £100m while moving to different clubs in their career after he left United to sign with PSG for a deal close to £44m this summer. Di Maria failed to impress at United during his time in the Premier League and was allowed to leave for much less than what he was bought for last year.

Di Maria was keen on a move to Paris even last year but after the Financial Fair Play prevented PSG from buying him, he decided to settle for United but twelve months on he has finally been granted his wish.

2. Raheem Sterling to Manchester City (£49m)

Liverpool sold Sterling to City after a long drawn out transfer saga this summer for £49m. He became the most expensive English player ever when the deal was done. Since the end of last season Sterling had made it quite clear that his future lay somewhere else but Brendan Rodgers was hoping that his star player would change his mind and stay at Anfield. It was only after the third formal bid by Manchester City that Rodgers realized that it wasn’t worth keeping a player who wasn’t fully committed  to the club and gave in to Sterling’s demand.

1. Kevin De Bruyne to Manchester City (£55m)

Kevin De Bruyne became the most expensive signing of the summer after Manchester City paid a staggering fee of £55m to Wolfsburg to secure his services. De Bruyne is returning to English Premier League after a gap of two years following a small stint at Chelsea.

City were eager to win back the title from Chelsea this season after struggling for much of last season and therefore had narrowed down on certain targets before the transfer window opened and three months later their fans will be happy that the club managed to recruit the top two targets that they wanted i.e. De Bruyne and Sterling.