Despite clubs trying to save as much as possible due to the covid pandemic, the usual suspects like Chelsea, Manchester City, and Manchester United all spent the big bucks this offseason to prepare their teams for the new season.

Defenders were in high demand as 6 of the summer’s top transfers were defensive players. While Jack Grealish is the very questionable number 1 transfer of the summer. Here is the list of the top 10 2021 summer transfer signings in Europe!

10. Emiliano Buendía – €38.40 million

The Argentine right back, Emiliano Buendía transferred from Norwich City to Aston Villa for €38.40 million, Buendía played three years for Norwich before his move to Villa. Buendía has also been called up to the Argentine national team ahead of World Cup qualifying.

9. Tammy Abraham – €40 million

English forward Tammy Abraham made the summer move from Chelsea, where he was often on loan to Serie A to Roma. The England striker will look to be a centerpiece of José Mourinho’s team, Abraham already has 1 goal in 2 games to kick off his new Italian career.

8. Ibrahima Konaté – €40 million

The 22-year-old French defender completed his move to Liverpool from RB Leipzig for 40 million Euros. Ibrahima Konaté played 66 times for the Red Bulls and is known for his positional play and pace.

7. Raphaël Varane – €40 million

The French center back was sold from Real Madrid to Manchester United for €40 million, Raphaël Varane was on United’s radar for quite some time and the club was finally able to land the World Cup winner to Old Trafford.

6. Dayot Upamecano – €42.50 million

Yet another French defender jumped ship as Dayot Upamecano moved from RB Leipzig, where he played 112 games to Bayern Munich for €42.50 million. The 22-year-old is just entering his prime and has been called up to the French national team three times in 2020.

5. Ben White – €58.50 million

Ben White moved from Brighton & Hove Albion to Arsenal for a rather high €58.50 million, White had a very good run at Leeds United, but the transfer seems very high on a player who essentially has played for mid table teams in England.

4. Achraf Hakimi – €60 million

The Morocco international right back Achraf Hakimi moved from Inter Milan to suit up with Lionel Messi and Neymar at PSG. Hakimi played only 37 games for Inter Milan and scored 1 goal.

3. Jadon Sancho – €85 million

One of the biggest transfer sagas of the year, Jadon Sancho finally left Borussia Dortmund and returned to England to play for Manchester United. Sancho cost the red devils €85 million, as one of the most exciting young players in the world much is expected from Sancho at Old Trafford.

2. Romelu Lukaku – €115 million

Back for his second stint in England with Chelsea, Romelu Lukaku was sold from Inter Milan where he was a scoring machine to Chelsea for €115 million. Chelsea gets what they have been looking for, for a while now, a powerful goal scoring forward.

1. Jack Grealish – €117.50 million

Jack Grealish is talented, but at €117.50 million? Seems a bit inflated but Manchester City got their man and Grealish is moving from Aston Villa to City. Not much of a goal scorer and only 12 caps for England with 0 goals, he is the number one player on this list ahead of players who have done much more and are younger.

However, it will not be easy to keep the 22-year-old defender at Elland Road. Brighton areasking£50 million for Ben White and Leeds will have problems if they spend all that budget in only one player. Although White was a key part of the team last season, Bielsa will need to negotiate with Brighton in orden to get a better deal.

The newly-promoted Leeds are not the only interested team in White. Premier League giants like Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea are also looking to reinforce their defensive lines and White would be a great signing for all of them. Also, they would not have problems to afford£50 million for his transfer.

Argentine players on Bielsa’s radar

While Leeds and other Premier League teams negotiate with Brighton for Ben White, Bielsa has some Argentine compatriots on his radar for the next transfer window. One of them is defender Marcos Senesi, whose transfer belongs to Feyenoord of the Netherlands.

Senesi is also a young central defender, like White, and has been linked with a move to Leeds during the past few days. However, the Dutch team doesn’t want to sell the player, at least during the next transfer window.

Nicolás González is also on Bielsa’s radar. The young forward helped Stuttgart to achieve promotion to Germany’s Bundesliga. The 23-year-old González scored 14 goals last season and Stuttgart would be asking£15million for his transfer.