Chelsea nearly out-spent the entire Bundesliga during transfer window

It was clear that Chelsea was on a mission to revamp its squad during the summer transfer window. In addition to one-time Bayern Munich targets Timo Werner (RB Leipzig) and Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen), the London-based club also purchased the following players:

• Hakim Ziyech (Ajax)
• Malang Sarr (Nice)
• Ben Chilwell (Leicester)
• Thiago Silva (PSG)
• Edouard Mendy (Rennes)

According to an analysis done by KPMG Football Benchmark (@Football_BM) based on Transfermarkt data, Chelsea nearly out-spent the entire Bundesliga during the window as the Blues spent €247 million compared to the Bundesliga’s overall €321 million expenditure. The difference was just €74 million:

The breakdown per player for Chelsea is as follows (per Transfermarkt):

• Havertz: €80 million
• Werner: €53 million
• Chilwell: €50.2 million
• Ziyech: €40 million
• Mendy: €24 million
• Sarr: free
• Silva: free

Clearly, Chelsea needed to revitalize its squad, but when looking at its expenses versus that of an entire league, it is, well, insane. Bayern Munich’s transfer window officially looked like this (loans and amateur acquisitions excluded per Transfermarkt):

• Leroy Sane (Manchester City): €45 million
• Marc Roca (Espanyol): €9 million
• Bouna Sarr (Olympique Marseille): €8 million
• Alexander Nubel (Schalke 04): free
• Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (Paris Saint-Germain): free
• Tanguy Nianzou (Paris Saint-Germain): free

Other “big” Bundesliga transfer included:

• Bayer Leverkusen: Patrik Schick (€26.5 million)
• Borussia Dortmund: Emre Can (€25 million)
• Borussia Dortmund: Jude Bellingham (€23 million)
• RB Leipzig: Alexander Sörloth (€20 million)
• Hertha Berlin: Jhon Cordoba (€15 million)
• Wolfsburg: Ridle Baku (€10 million)
• SC Freiburg: Baptiste Santamaria (€10 million)

Whose transfer haul would you rather have when factoring in overall talent, squad needs, and cost?