It seems like the European teams have either suffered more as a result of coronavirus than the Premier League, or else they have been more prudent with their spending.
Either way, there was much less activity across the other major leagues than there was in England, so who made the most of their situation?
Euro Transfer Window - the Great
Villarreal 20/21 Deals
Player | From | Fee (£) |
Pervis Estupinan | Watford | £15m |
Francis Coquelin | Valencia | £6m |
Dani Parejo | Valencia | Free |
Gero Rulli | Real Sociedad | £5m |
Take Kubo | Real Madrid | Loan |
Juan Foyth | Tottenham | Loan |
A Barcelona thumping aside, it's been an encouraging season so far for the Yellow Submarines, and they have made astute signings on a modest budget.
The jury is out on Coquelin but Parejo remains one of the most timeless players in La Liga and to pick him up for nothing is sublime value. Estupinan was superb for Osasuna last season and even at £15m seems cheap at the price.
Elsewhere, Kubo should get minutes soon while Foyth will be a more than useful defensive addition.
Transfer Window - the Good
Sevilla 20/21 Deals
Player | From | Fee (£) |
Suso | Milan | £21m |
Oscar Rodriguez | Real Madrid | £12m |
Oussama Idrissi | AZ | £11m |
Marcos Acuna | Sporting | £9m |
Ivan Rakitic | Sevilla | £1m |
Many are yet to be convinced by Suso, particularly at that fee, but the rest of their business is eye-catching. Rakitic at virtually nothing is a brilliant deal, while Acuna has already had some excellent outings and looks to be a good replacement for Sergio Reguilon.
Idrissi has been a talent in the Eredivisie for some time and just needed a platform to go and express himself, while Oscar Rodriguez had a solid season at Leganes and can do the same in Andalucia.
Atalanta 20/21 Deals
Player | From | Fee (£) |
Mario Pasalic | Chelsea | £14m |
Aleksey Miranchuk | Lokomotiv Moscow | £13m |
Sam Lammers | PSV | £8m |
Atalanta made excellent money on their sales - Timothy Castagne (£21m), Amad Diallo (£24m) and Gianluca Mancini (£13m) - and have invested it wisely in players who clearly fit the formation and the offensive outlook of the team.
Make no mistake, this team have not been weakened by the transfer window and should be considered among the best sides in the Scudetto race.
Dortmund 20/21 Deals
Player | From | Fee (£) |
Jude Bellingham | Birmingham | £20m |
Thomas Meunier | PSG | Free |
Reinier | Real Madrid | Loan |
Bellingham already looks an excellent addition and is surprising everyone in Germany with how he has adapted to life in Germany at such a young age.
But beyond that the biggest win has been the retention of Jadon Sancho, despite it seeming clear that he was ready to leave for Manchester United. Reinier - it remains to be seen.
Transfer Window - the Solid
Bayern 20/21 Deals
Player | From | Fee (£) |
Leroy Sane | Man City | £40m |
Bouna Sarr | Marseille | £9m |
Marc Roca | Espanyol | £8m |
EricMaxim Choupo-Moting | PSG | Free |
Tanguy Kouassi | PSG | Free |
Douglas Costa | Juventus | Loan |
It could be said that the European champions didn't need to do much in this window in order to progress as a team, and that Leroy Sane's addition was the type of tweaking that was necessary.
But losing options such as Thiago, Philippe Coutinho and Ivan Perisic made them look a little light squad-wise, and so we will need to see if the largely untested additions (with the exception of Costa) can fill those gaps.
Juventus 20/21 Deals
Player | From | Fee (£) |
Arthur | Barcelona | £64m |
Alvaro Morata | Atletico | £9m Loan Fee |
Federico Chiesa | Fiorentina | £9m Loan Fee |
Weston McKennie | Schalke | £4m Loan Fee |
Much of Juventus' business has been based around loans with option to buy to get around their cashflow issues.
All of McKennie, Chiesa and Morata will be paid up at a later date but will make immediate impacts on the first team, as will Arthur, who arrived in a glorified swap deal with Miralem Pjanic and Barcelona. All things considered, it's not a bad window at all for the Turin giants, but their squad still seems a little too bloated.
Milan 20/21 Deals
Player | From | Fee (£) |
Sandro Tonali | Brescia | £9m Loan Fee |
Jens Hauge | Bodo Glimt | £4.5m |
Brahim Diaz | Real Madrid | Loan |
Ante Rebic | Frankfurt | £5m |
Diogo Dalot | Man Utd | Loan |
The signing of Sandro Tonali has the prospect of being a generational one for Milan but again it's a deal that they have agreed on loan initially with an option to buy. Elsewhere Hauge looks extremely promising, while Rebic's form last season meant making the deal permanent was logical.
Dalot has barely played for United and so it's difficult to gauge just how useful he will be, but it's a quiet and unassuming window for a Milan team on the slow road back to relevance.
Inter 20/21 Deals
Player | From | Fee (£) |
Achraf Hakimi | Real Madrid | £40m |
Arturo Vidal | Barcelona | Free |
Mattio Darmian | Parma | Loan |
Hakimi is a simply fantastic signing for Antonio Conte's 3-5-2 and it seems virtually impossible for him to fail at a club and a formation made for his strengths.
Vidal was a touch nonsensical but permanent deals for Nicolo Barella and Stefano Sensi will prove useful in the long run and Inter should be title contenders with this squad.
For the first time in Florentino Perez's two reigns at Real Madrid, they haven't made a signing this summer. But they have performed some excellent business in terms of outgoings, offloading a series of squad players who were never likely to feature much and collected well over £100m in the process.
Come next summer, they will be on good financial footing to go again and pick their targets.
Transfer Window - the Awful
PSG 20/21 Deals
Player | From | Fee (£) |
Danilo Pereira | Porto | £4m Loan Fee |
Alessandro Florenzi | Roma | £1m Loan Fee |
Rafinha | Barcelona | Free |
Moise Kean | Everton | Loan |
It's fair to say it's a window of deals that not many would have expected.
Pretty much every single transfer conducted comes out of left-field and it's not immediately clear - on paper - whether a single one of them makes their team better.
Lyon 20/21 Deals
Player | From | Fee (£) |
Lucas Paqueta | Milan | £18m |
The best thing you can say - it could have been much, much worse.
The lack of European football meant that president Jean-Michel Aulas battened down the hatches and protected finances by making pretty much every player available.
But while Houssem Aouar and Memphis Depay could easily have left, they have remained which, at least, is a saving grace for an OL team which have started the season poorly.
The fire sale continues at the Mestalla with not a single transfer of note and numerous outgoings meaning this once great club are in serious danger of disappearing into irrelevance.
Ferran Torres, Rodrigo, Francis Coquelin and Dani Parejo were all first-team regulars last season and not one has been replaced. It's seriously worrying times to be a fan of Los Che.
Barca 20/21 Deals
Player | From | Fee (£) |
Miralem Pjanic | Juventus | £47m |
Trincao | Braga | £27m |
Sergino Dest | Ajax | £19m |
Matheus Fernandes | Palmeiras | £7m |
Pedri | Las Palmas | £4m |
A full outline of just how bad this business is can be found here.