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The best buys money has bought this season

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Manchester United fans look away. You will probably not see any good news about your club until part two of this article. The European transfer window is finally closed and it is time to get back to soccer business as usual. This is your top five best and worst, call them ‘gamble buys’ of the 2015/2016 transfer window.

Best Buys

Julian Draxler (VFL Wolfsburg from Schalke 04) £36m

To many, he is most memorable for walking to the crowd and picking out his girlfriend to join the Germany national team on the pitch during their 2014 World Cup triumph in Brazil. VFL Wolfsburg paid a club record fee to get the services of the player from rivals Schalke 04. With the sell of Kevin De Bruyne, Wolfsburg needed someone to at least fill the void left by the Belgian when he signed for Manchester City. His two quick feet in the center of the park and at the right wing will be greatly appreciated and utilised with the fact that he is already an established player in the Bundesliga.

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4. Carlos Bacca (Internazionale Milan from FC Sevilla) £30m

If there is anything to be positive about Italian football this season, it is the sense with which Italian clubs have done business in this transfer window. First, there is a sign that all top clubs have shown willingness to spend on Europe’s top players and secondly, Juventus, who have won four titles on the bounce, now has challengers in the transfer market. The purchase of Bacca is a statement of intent from the Red and Blacks and his determination, speed and works off the ball that have been lacking in Milan since Stephan El Sharawy lost form. On whether there will be a combination with fellow new arrival- Luiz Adriano, that will be a conversation for another day, but for now, two games and a goal, he can only get better considering the fact that he is one of the few strikers in Europe that boast a 70% goal accuracy rate in the last two years.

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Jackson Martinez (Atletico Madrid from FC Porto) £24.8m

There is a growing feeling in the soccer world that if you put two words; Colombia and striker, the word that should follow next is Goal. For the past six seasons, Colombia has produced some of the most lethal strikers in Europe. Radamel Falcao, Carlos Bacca and now Jackson Martinez. As officials in Milan waited for him to appear to put pen to paper, he was waving at thousands of fans who had welcomed him from Porto, miles away at Barajas airport in Madrid, just as they had done to welcome Falcao in 2011.

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In his last three campaigns with Porto, Martinez had celebrated a goal 92 times in the 138 times he had appeared for the Azuis e brancos. This explains why the El Atleti forked out over 30m on him. His link up play will not be the best, but expect him to increase on the 67 goals that Atletico managed to score last season after the loss of Diego Costa to eventual English champions Chelsea.

  1. Andre Ayew/Bafitimbi Gomis (Swansea City from Olympic Marseille) Free Transfer

Seven goals, eight points for Swansea City is how this pair can be best described. Oh, before I forget, there is a meme making rounds on social media, where Gomis is on his routine lion celebration and Manchester United’s quartet- Manager Louis Van Gaal, Memphis Depay, Sergio Romero and Wayne Rooney are running for dear life. That is not why we are here though. Last season, Olympic Marseille, one of Europe’s biggest clubs started to crumble, and many point to money problems. This came with an exodus of players including the pair to walk to the Welsh outfit for free. With the way things are moving, Swansea are on course to secure a place that will take them to Europe next season.

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  1. Douglas Costa (Bayern Munich from Shaktar Donetsk) £30m

You will have to search hard to find a player that is so comfortable at beating opponents at a pace, has flair, power and a great first touch; please don’t drag the Messi and Ronaldo into this! On his Bundesliga debut against SV Hamburg, Doug Costa followed a long range pass that was about to go for a throw-in. He did not give up on it, scooped it with his right foot as he continued running, his eyes focused in the opponent’s penalty box. As he reached the by-line, he crossed the ball with the outside of his left foot and bam! Perfect cross for Thomas Mueller to break the deadlock. In the weeks earlier, he had assisted Arjen Robben to score against Wolfsburg in the German Cup. In week three of the Bundesliga, his rainbow technique against a Bayer Leverkusen was a major highlight of the weekend. Costa will add to the ever increasing Bayern attacking arsenal.

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