It's been made painfully clear to buyers this summer that this is now a seller's market.
It's no wonder, then, that wealthy clubs with a propensity for stockpiling players are profiting most from a transfer market driven demented by desperation.
However, the west Londoners made even more money through player exits than PSG with further demonstrations of their remarkable ability to convince other Premier League teams to pay over the odds for their dead wood.
Of course, that was nothing compared to receiving £52m from Al-Qadsiah for midfield flop Tijjani Reijnders or making an £18m profit on James Trafford, who featured in just four Premier League games last season.
In that sense, this really did feel like the window in which the market went completely mad.
It's been made painfully clear to buyers this summer that this is now a seller's market. There's such a dearth of truly world-class talent at the highest level that even relatively unproven teenage talents such as Diomande and Ayyoub Bouaddi are commanding crazy prices. It's no wonder, then, that wealthy clubs with a propensity for stockpiling players are profiting most from a transfer market driven demented by desperation.
PSG, for example, spent more than €150m on new players but brought in nearly twice that figure (€280m) by cashing in on four forwards deemed surplus to requirements: Barcola, Ramos, Randal Kolo Muani and Lee Kang-in.
Chelsea owners Clearlake obviously paid a price for investing almost exclusively in youngsters up until this summer, with an inexperienced group failing to qualify for Europe last season, and they have difficulties every year clearing out their bomb squad. However, the west Londoners made even more money through player exits than PSG with further demonstrations of their remarkable ability to convince other Premier League teams to pay over the odds for their dead wood.
Aston Villa alone have taken Nicolas Jackson and Alejandro Garnacho off their hands for a potential £100m, while Manchester United for some reason felt compelled to hand over £48m for Santos. Chelsea's best bit of business, though, saw Liam Delap leave for Nottingham Forest for a barely believable £45m - just one year and one league goal after arriving from Ipswich for £30m.
However, when it comes to offloading players for inflated fees, Manchester City were the summer's shrewdest salesmen. Losing Rodri to Barcelona may have been a big blow from a sporting perspective, but £65m still represented a fine fee for a 30-year-old not long off an ACL injury. Of course, that was nothing compared to receiving £52m from Al-Qadsiah for midfield flop Tijjani Reijnders or making an £18m profit on James Trafford, who featured in just four Premier League games last season.
It was a double-deal with Tottenham that truly took the breath away, though. As well as agreeing an initial loan move with Spurs for Omar Marmoush with an obligation to buy that should see City recoup the approximate £60m fee they paid Eintracht Frankfurt for the Egyptian, City somehow got their Premier League rivals to meet their astounding £85m valuation of Savio - a price so ridiculous it left many wondering if this was a different Brazilian to the one called Savinho that had struggled so badly at the Etihad.
Savio/Savinho could, of course, yet go on to prove a good signing for Spurs, but that doesn’t change the fact - and it is a fact even if a player’s worth is subjective - that there was no logical explanation for the winger’s price tag almost trebling after two goals in two Premier League seasons. In that sense, this really did feel like the window in which the market went completely mad.
