FIFA 20 Biggest Winners and Losers of the Summer Transfer Window

It’s now the end of the summer silly season and the major European leagues have kicked off, many donning new faces in unfamiliar places. While we’re still a few weeks away from FIFA 20‘s official release, it’s time to take a look at the biggest winners and losers of the summer transfer window.

*Note – All images were captured from FIFA19 with the latest squad update.

Winners

Juventus (Piedmont Calcio)

All eyes in Turin are set on the Champions League. Last summer brought the addition of Cristiano Ronaldo, and while few can match the hysteria that come along with CR7, Juventus has quietly strengthened a squad already built to go deep in Europe — all the while keeping their stranglehold on Serie A. Devoid of quality options in the midfield, Juventus went out and signed two players, Adrien Rabiot (formerly of PSG) and Aaron Ramsey (formerly of Arsenal). While both come with baggage (questionable character for Rabiot and injuries for Ramsey), the fact that they didn’t have to spend a dime to bring them in makes them quality depth for the Old Lady.

Also back for what has to be his final curtain call is legend Gianluigi Buffon. Purely a depth option at this point, the leadership that comes with having such an accomplished player in the locker room cannot be undervalued. Add in the addition of defenders Luca Pellegrini, Danilo and Merih Demiral, plus the addition of ex-Ajax stud center back Matthijs de Ligt, and Juventus could finally hoist the elusive Champions League trophy. They were also able to keep both Gonzalo Higuain and Mario Mandzukic, two strikers whose best days might be behind them but still have some juice left in the tank. Oh, they also brought in a new manager, Maurizio Sarri, whose tenure at Chelsea ended after one year when the lure of the Italian giants brought him back to Italy. While they’ll no doubt need some time to adjust to Sarri-ball, Sarri’s familiarity with Italian football and some of these players from his time at Napoli should make for a seamless transition.

Potential Starting Lineup

Real Madrid

Every few years, Los Blancos reload and this summer they finally nabbed their main target, Eden Hazard. With Zidane back in the saddle after a brief retirement, Real Madrid finally lured Hazard to the Santiago Bernabeu. In his prime, Hazard with a midfield of Kroos and Modric behind him should thrive and finally threaten Messi and Ronaldo in the hunt for the elusive Ballon D’or. Hazard wasn’t the only quality player they brought in as new striker Luka Jovic steps up from Eintracht Frankfurt to the bright lights of Madrid. While he’ll have to still battle Karim Benzema for sole position of the starting striker, having two class players up top is never a bad thing for Zidane or any virtual FIFA managers out there.

Making the move from FC Porto, Eder Militao steps up and should prosper under the careful tutelage of Sergio Ramos, who is rapidly approaching 34. Also adding to the squad refresh is Ferland Mendy, an attacking LB set to finally give the aging Marcelo a push at left back. Lastly, left winger Rodrygo joins from Santos FC in Brazil. From the mold of last year’s young phenom, Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo should give those at the helm of Real in FIFA 20 yet more pace and firepower on the wings to go along with Hazard, Asensio, Vinicius, Lucas Vazquez and the often forgotten Gareth Bale.

Potential Starting Lineup

FC Barcelona

Sense a trend here with the rich getting richer? Barcelona, fresh off two embarrassing collapses in the Champions League, have also reloaded. After tapping Ajax youngster Frenkie de Jong early on, Barcelona made the second biggest splash in this window with the acquisition of Antoine Griezmann. Not only did they weaken a direct rival (Atletico Madrid), they added more quality to take some of the pressure off Messi.

While they have moved on from Philipe Coutinho, they were able to keep Ousmane Dembele and his needed pace. They also added a quality keeper behind Marc-Andre ter Stegen in Neto, thereby replacing the departing Jasper Cillessen for Neto in what is basically a like-for-like switch. With the possible return by Neymar finally hitting the wall, Barca still has the quality, experience and Messi, making them a formidable force this year.

Potential Starting Lineup

Arsenal

Early in the window, it was looking like business, or no business, as usual for Arsenal. Then the light switch went off and Arsenal finally broke out the checkbook and made some quality reinforcements. First in was Kieran Tierny, and while he’s hurt in real life, he should be ready from the start in FIFA 20. With comparisons to Liverpool’s Andy Robertson, Arsenal could finally have their first quality left back since Ashley Cole. Next to arrive in North London was Nicolas Pepe, formerly of Lille. A dynamic dribbler with pace and a final ball, only a few players created more chances last year across Europe’s major leagues. With the departing Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pepe should be able to step right and provide the kind of dynamics necessary for Arsenal to reclaim their rightful fourth-place spot.

In what seemed to transpire in a few minutes, Arsenal was able to secure the services of David Luiz from Chelsea, giving them a dynamic ball playing center back. While he’s getting a little older and is still prone to concentration lapses, there isn’t a better center back with the ball at his feet than Luiz. Lastly, Arsenal added some creativity to the midfield with the season-long loan of Dani Ceballos from Real Madrid. A dynamic player who can pull all the strings, Ceballos gives Arsenal even more attacking flair, adding to a still young but potentially solid midfield of Guendouzi, Ceballos, Torreira and captain Granit Xhaka.

Potential Starting Lineup

PSG

From a FIFA standpoint, this summer has been successful. A last-minute loan-in of disgruntled striker Mauro Icardi means you could potentially field an attacking quartet of Cavani-Neymar-Mbappe, with Icardi leading the line. That’s pace (Mbappe and Neymar), power (Icardi), grit (Cavani) and technique (all of them). While Thomas Tuchel will have migraines trying to keep all of them happy, in FIFA you will most likely tear Ligue 1 up. Not to be forgotten, ex-Evertonian Idressa Gueye finally gives PSG an athletic ball-winning CDM, freeing up the likes of Verratti and Paredes to support the attack.

If Gueye is not able to do it, ex-Man United hatchet man Ander Herrera should be able to provide some grit while the young trio of Thilo Kehrer, Presnel Kimpembe and Abdou Diallo should finally be enough to allow you to move on from Thiago Silva (35 in a few weeks). Lastly, between the sticks PSG cleared house. A swap with Real Madrid netted them four-time Champions League winner Keylor Navas — with Sergio Rico providing cover. The goal with PSG has always been Champions League, and if things fall right, you could finally help the Parisians hoist the trophy.

Potential Starting Lineup

Losers

Chelsea

As a Chelsea supporter, it’s been an interesting summer thus far. The summer window opened with some known certainties. Chelsea was currently under the first of possibly three transfer bans, meaning they couldn’t replace Eden Hazard, who headed to Madrid following in the footsteps of his Belgian teammate Thibaut Courtois. Flashback to January and Chelsea would splash some cash on American starlet Christian Pulisic — at the time plying his trade in Dortmund. Coupled with the flashes of brilliance shown by young Callum Hudson-Odoi, and the veteran presences of Willian and Pedro, Chelsea was looking promising on the wings.

However, a Hudson-Odoi Achilles injury, and another one to Ruben Loftus-Cheek, meant that two of the players heavily counted on next year to replace Hazard’s output would start the season in the stands. With RLC’s injury, Chelsea was forced to do the only business they could in the window in terms of acquiring new players by buying Mateo Kovacic permanently. Gonzalo Higuain, another loan post-January, went back to Juventus and left Chelsea with Olivier Giroud, Michy Batshuayi and Tammy Abraham as the strikers. While it’s uncertain that FIFA 20 will have a transfer ban, those sim career mode players will have a nice little task on their hands trying to catch Liverpool and Manchester City.

Potential Starting Lineup

Newcastle United

What should be one of the bigger clubs in England, Newcastle has fallen upon tough times, especially with controversial owner Mike Ashley controlling the purse strings. After forcing Rafa Benitez out, Ashley doubled down on his risky investment by letting Salomon Rondon and Ayoze Perez go — last year’s two top goalscorers — along with center midfielder Diame.

While they were able to replace Rondon and Perez with Joellington and Allan Saint-Maximin, they’re untested in the Premier League and most likely will take some time adjusting to the rigors and demands of the life in England’s top-flight division.

Potential Starting Lineup

Manchester United

Yes, Harry Maguire (ex of Leicester) and Wan-Bissaka were two huge buys, especially for a backline that’s needed re-reinforcements for quite some time, but overall, you have to question the happenings around Manchester. Letting Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez leave would have been fine had they replaced them with any comparable attackers, but Ed Woodward has left this team dangerously thin in both midfield and attack.

With nothing but youngsters providing depth, United is a few injuries away from crisis mode, again, especially considering they let squad players such as Ander Herrera, Antonio Valencia, Chris Smalling and Matteo Darmian exit Old Trafford.

Potential Starting Lineup

Matches aren’t played out on paper or whiteboards, but early signs point to another highly contested Champions League with the big clubs reloading while Manchester City and Liverpool, two of the favorites in that competition, return with stacked squads. However, we’ll have to wait until at least the demo before we can see some updated player and team rankings.

Who do you think won and lost the transfer window?