As promised, we’ve got two more interesting Italian sides to fill out our grab bag finale of European transfer grades. As you might expect, the two-time defending Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain are also here.

But the other traditionally big French clubs are in a bit of a financial crisis, and didn’t have particularly interesting windows. Instead, they’ve been replaced by a couple of teams we had a lot more to say about. Today’s teams are:

Onto the grades:

Back-to-back UEFA Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain’s squad management has been one of the most interesting themes to follow at the elite level of club football over the last couple of years. While their all-round dominance in France certainly helps their case, the way they heavily rotate domestically to stay as fit as possible for the big European nights offers a blueprint for their rivals to try and emulate.

In that respect, I really like what they have done with their attack, adding depth both in terms of numbers and profiles. Signing Ferran Torres ahead of his final contract year was a smart move to keep the World Cup winner’s transfer fee down. The Spanish forward is already showing his utility in terms of being a goal-scorer in the box, and will be able to play both alongside and in place of Ousmane Dembélé. Maghnes Akliouche represents their continued ability to pick the best of Ligue 1’s talents, and should be a good fit for the right winger spot profile-wise while also offering something different by virtue of his left-footedness. The total Mika Godts fee is verging on the upper limit of what I’d be comfortable with, but it’s a perfectly fine punt to take from PSG’s position. Even if he doesn’t become a Champions League-level superstar, he should have a great time on the domestic front in all likelihood.

I also like the move to go for Lucas Digne, adding some quality depth behind Nuno Mendes. However, it also makes me wonder why the French champions didn’t do the same on the opposite side. Warren Zaïre-Emery has done a more than satisfactory job of deputising for Achraf Hakimi whenever he has been asked to, but he is far from a like-for-like replacement. Asking the academy graduate to play a serious amount of minutes at right back would also take him away from midfield, where PSG’s current depth is sufficient but not inordinate. Ideally, I would have also liked to see a centre-back signing as 32-year-old Marquinhos is into the last two years of his current contract. —NS

Grade: A-

Between their massive Champions League earnings and unfathomably rich owners, Paris Saint-Germain are arguably the club that least needed to raise money through transfers this summer. Yet, they posted three of their four biggest-ever sales and made over €330m in guaranteed fees.

I can simply stand and applaud at the amount they managed to extract for Randal Kolo Muani and especially Gonçalo Ramos. They can be quite pleased at the fee for Ibrahim Mbaye as well; he may be a real talent but had very limited senior experience and would have had an incredibly challenging pathway to a regular role at the Parc des Princes. Lee Kang-in is the only one who went for a relatively lower amount, though it certainly is not too bad for a rotation player in the last two years of his contract.

Of course, the biggest departure from this window is Bradley Barcola. At a club-record fee of at least €125m, PSG can be quite pleased with the way they negotiated this. His contract was also due to expire in 2028, and while he was much more of a standout contributor, he had lost his starting spot to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. As the player expressed a desire for more game time, it made complete sense for both parties to part ways. —NS

Grade: A+

This was by far Paris Saint-Germain’s best-ever window in terms of net spend, which has come in not far off €200m in the green. In fact, they made the biggest net profit of all clubs in the world this summer. Of course, that is not a particularly important metric for them, but it does put the French giants in an excellent Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) position for the long term as well. The loss of Barcola is the most significant departure, but even so, they can feel that they have improved their aggregate squad quality. —NS

Overall grade: A

The majority of Ligue 1 clubs are currently in a tough spot due to the steep decline in the value of their domestic TV rights. Player trading has become even more crucial for survival, particularly with the Premier League. So, seeing how much Paris FC have spent over the past couple of years is a notable development. Given their ownership structure, it’s not a big surprise.

Even with Paris FC spending over €70 million, it was mostly towards young players. Patrick Zabi is a jumbo sized midfielder who showed a ton of potential in Ligue 2. It’s among the most expensive transfers from France’s second division, but there is star upside with him. Pablo Pagis is another guy who came from Ligue 2 and had a really good 2025-26 season in Ligue 1 with Lorient. Both Luca Koleosho and Diego Coppola made permanent moves from Burnley and Brighton respectively following successful loan spells. They were even able to sign Paris Saint-Germain’s U18 team captain Emmanuel Mbemba. The only player signed for a fee who’s firmly in their prime was Lassine Sinayoko, a capable attacker who’s already off to a hot start with four goals in four matches. —MM

Grade: A

Compared to the incomings, Paris FC’s outgoings ended up being a lot less interesting. There were rumors circulating of possible exits for starters in Ilan Kebbal, Moustapha Mbow, and Adama Camara, but they were retained. Instead, players on the periphery of the squad moved on for very small fees, or had their contract expire over the summer. The biggest one of note was taking a loss on former wonderkid Willem Geubbels, following his move to Lecce. Otherwise, it was a bit of book cleaning while they look to become one of Ligue 1’s strongest clubs. —MM

Grade: C

At a time where Olympique Lyonnais, Olympique Marseille, and Monaco are dealing with real financial woes, there’s an opportunity for Paris FC to rapidly move up the Ligue 1 hierarchy. They tried to accomplish this by keeping their existing core while adding credible youth talents. Next summer might be where they have to start generating real cash from sales, especially with UEFA’s financial sustainability' regulations should they qualify for Europe. For now, Paris’ other club could make a ton of noise in France this season. —MM

Overall grade: B+

We previewed Fiorentina heading into the season and covered a lot of what they did, so check it out if you’ve not done so. I like several of the players they acquired (Christ Inao Oulaï and Arthur Atta in particular), and can understand some of the other completed transactions.

The volume of their activity is a lot to handle, and squad cohesion could become a major issue. At least some of the signings were loans with options to buy so they won’t be on the hook long-term if it doesn’t work out. It was clear that La Viola needed remodeling, and they got a bunch of talented players, but we’ll see whether it can lead to something substantial on the pitch. —MM

Grade: B-

The volume of Fiorentina’s outgoings was also staggering, with Moise Kean’s departure to Como being the headliner. The deal compares favorably to the €13 million + €5m in potential add-ons they paid two years ago, but is substantially less than the reported €62m release clause. While Fiorentina signed Beto and Mateo Pellegrino as options through the middle, their ceiling was noticeably lowered once Kean left Florence.

As part of the massive squad churning, some notable loans with options to buy were completed. Pietro Comuzzo left for Torino with his option at a reported €19m. Maybe there’s a world where it gets triggered, but it would be their second most expensive arrival ever. Giovanni Fabbian’s move to Parma came soon after the obligation to buy was triggered from the loan deal with Bologna. The promise shown by Amir Richardson in France did not translate to Italian football, and he’s returning to Le Havre with an €8m option included. You also have Albert Gudmundsson’s move to Lazio which includes an option of €12m, less than the financial package they paid to acquire him. It would’ve been nice to get greater certainty with these options and others. —MM

Grade: C+

Of all the teams we’ve looked at in Europe, Fiorentina’s the one where I have an exceptionally hard time grading due to the sheer quantity of arrivals and exits. You could tell me the grades are way off in either direction and I’d listen to such an argument. The first few weeks have been chaotic to put it lightly, but the amount of credible talent at Fiorentina’s disposal means a meaningful rebound remains possible. —MM

Overall grade: B-

Last summer, I liked the idea of Juventus gambling on Lois Openda, who was superb two seasons ago before turning in a down year for Leipzig in 24-25. Unfortunately, Juventus loaned him in with a buy obligation that was conditional on the team’s performance, rather than his own. He was extremely poor, but his option was trigged anyway, and now he’s already an albatross.

Kolo Muani was bad for Tottenham last season, and I am astonished that PSG was able to extract this kind of fee. Bonkers.

Alajbegovic is an extremely promising young winger who looked like he might have superstar potential at Salzburg last season, and he seems most likely to end up a big success from this group. He was also more tools than actual xG + xA production, and the Bianconeri have paid top of the market value for a high risk transfer.

The Lucumi signing is fine. Paying bigger fees for 28-year-olds isn’t great, but he’s a true left-footed LCB with a strong track record of performing in Serie A. Ekhator is even more of an all tools bet than Alajbegovic; his shot volume and xG are extremely low for a center forward.

Juve have hamstrung themselves in the next window again by agreeing on a loan-to-buy with a big fee for a player who did not perform for his previous team and is a significant gamble. Pape Matar Sarr might turn out great, but betting €30m that he will is a bad idea. Also, paying a €3m+ loan fee for Nick Woltemade without getting a buy option is wild.

This window is a disaster. Incumbent wingers Kenan Yildiz and Francisco Conceição look like they might be good enough that it doesn’t matter in the short term, but oof. —KM

Grade: D-

Finally getting Vlahovic and Melo off the books is a big W, though the Bianconeri’s failure to get a fee for either last summer speaks to how poor those signings were in the first place. The Weah fee is OK, but he seemed like he had an even bigger market the previous summer, and they couldn’t execute a move. Some high wage guys they wish they could sell are still here because no one wants to buy them. —KM

Grade: D

Previous windows really limited what Juventus were able to do here, but they decided to make their problems worse. The squad remains good enough that a true disaster scenario is highly unlikely, I still think they’ll finish top 6 and make Europe. But the slow decay of Juventus is sad to watch. —KM

Overall grade: D-

After missing out on a hat-trick of Primeira Liga titles to Porto last season, Sporting CP produced their biggest transfer outlay of any season as they set about rebuilding parts of their squad.

The signing that pops out is the club-record acquisition of Rodrigo Zalazar for €30m from domestic rivals Braga. At 27 years of age, he isn’t a young talent to be developed and potentially sold on for a big profit. Instead, he will be expected to immediately produce a high level of output and drive the team forward, replacing the previously influential Pedro Gonçalves. His 23-goal campaign last term was definitely an anomaly, so it would be unreasonable to expect him to replicate that. However, the Uruguayan forward did produce 32 goal involvements across all competitions in his previous two years in Portugal, so something around 20 goals and assists would be a reasonable target.

The rest are more typical Sporting signings. Sergi Altimira is a solid acquisition as part of a complete midfield renovation, in which Issa Doumbia likely has the highest ceiling. Silas Andersen and Pedro Lima have come in at lower fees, so there will be less pressure of expectation on them. The remaining big money signings include 6'3" Senegalese centre-back Ibrahima Ba, who did enough in just one full senior season at Famalicão to attract BlueCo’s attention, but a medical issue prevented a move to Strasbourg and paved the way for Sporting to come in. 20-year-old Australian international Nestory Irankunda has a more significant body of work at the senior level, in which he has firmly established his potential and will now look to grow in terms of consistency.

Out of the remaining trio, Chelsea loanee Jesse Derry will have the biggest role to play in the immediate term. Backup goalkeeper Kaique Pereira and 17-year-old left-back Moncef Zekri will be ones to keep an eye on in the future. —NS

Grade: B+

As ever, Sporting’s spending was largely powered by their sales. This time, they raised the biggest sum they have ever done in a single window, totalling just over €200m. The key to reaching this figure was making multiple upper-mid-range sales rather than any blockbuster moves, as their top three record departures list remained unchanged.

About €65m was guaranteed to come in before the window opened thanks to pre-existing agreements with Chelsea and Napoli over Geovany Quenda and Alisson Santos respectively. On top of those, Sporting made three good sales to get about €40m each for Morten Hjulmand, Ousmane Diomande and Francisco Trincão. All three were important contributors in the team, but Hjulmand and Trincão were at around peak value given their ages, while Diomande’s somewhat limited profile capped his value. Other deals include a few minor sales and loans with options for the aforementioned Gonçalves as well as Daniel Bragança, while 31-year-old starting midfielder Hidemasa Morita left for England at the end of his contract. —NS

Grade: A-

Sporting should be quite pleased with their summer business. They have both brought in immediate quality and built for the future with their signings, all while bringing the average age of the squad down and raising more money through sales than what they spent on transfer fees. They have taken some risk by going for a complete midfield overhaul, but circumstances and fees justify the decision, and it should be fine as long as Doumbia continues the season just as he has started it. The only other very minor hole in the squad is the lack of a fifth centre-back in a Champions League season (with two of the existing options being relatively inexperienced), but Rui Borges will hope that his back line can stay fit enough to avoid making that an issue. —NS

Overall grade: B+

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