The winners from this transfer window among Bundesliga clubs
One of the reasons the Bundesliga has remained among the best leagues in the world is its ability to produce and attract top talent.
In its 62-year history, the league has been the home to some of the world's greatest players, both domestic and foreign. Therefore, the transfer window has played a huge role in the league's success.
After two months of players moving between clubs across Europe, the 2024 summer transfer window closed last Friday in Germany and across Europe's top five leagues. According to Transfermarkt, the German top-flight spent €600.48 million on new signings, making it the fourth-highest-spending league in the world this summer.
Bundesliga record holders Bayern Munich spent the most money on new players as they prepare to dethrone Bayer Leverkusen, whose title triumph last season brought a fresh breath to the Bundesliga and the football world at large.
Borussia Dortmund and Stuttgart also spent heavily on recruitment, but the former lost many of their key players from last season, making their readiness for this season questionable.
That said, who are the biggest winners from the 2024 transfer window among Bundesliga clubs?
We look at the top four below:
Bayer Leverkusen
Bayer Leverkusen are one of the biggest winners from the just-concluded transfer window.
Leverkusen entered the season as the defending Champions of the Bundesliga for the first time in their history.
So this season, they are not only looking to win the Bundesliga but are also one of the Bundesliga clubs that could fly Germany's flag high in the UEFA Champions League (UCL).
Ahead of defending the league title and participating in the UCL for the first time since the 2022/23 season, Die Werkself's biggest win in the transfer window is their ability to keep the core of the team that won them two titles last season.
The 2023/24 season experienced the rise of underdogs across Europe's top five leagues, with Girona, Atalanta, Bologna, Aston Villa, Stuttgart, Brest and Leverkusen exceeding expectations and breaking into Champions League places against the norm.
However, all of these teams, bar Leverkusen, lost the core players that helped them achieve success last season during this summer transfer window.
Atalanta, for example, couldn't keep star-man Teun Koopmeiners away from Juventus, while Girona lost last season's top scorer Artem Dovbyk, tricky winger Savinho, and their captain Aleix García.
Ligue 1 side Brest couldn't keep hold of Lilian Brassier, who joined Marseille on loan. Meanwhile, Bologna was absolutely stripped to the bare as they lost their coach, Thiago Motta, their best defender, Riccardo Calafiori and their star striker, Joshua Zirzkee, just weeks after finishing fifth in Serie A against all the odds.
But while all the underdogs from last season lost the key components of the team that made them successful last season, Leverkusen kept all their star players, including their highly-rated coach, Xabi Alonso.
Liverpool and Bayern Munich wanted Alonso, but he chose to remain to see through his project at Bay Arena. That single decision to remain in North Rhine-Westphalia is probably the biggest reason why Bayer Leverkusen tickets will be in high demand this season and why the Bundesliga defending champions can perform very well in all competitions this season.
Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund is another Bundesliga team that had a good summer transfer window.
Unlike in previous windows when Dortmund lost at least one of their key players from the previous season, the Black and Yellow kept most of their key players this summer, even poaching top players from other competitors.
Last summer, they lost Jude Bellingham to Real Madrid. The season before, Erling Haaland transferred to Manchester City.
The list goes on, and on-Jadon Sancho, Robert Lewandowski, Mario Gotze, Matt Hummels, Ilkay Gundogan, Ousmane Dembele, Nuri Sahin, and Shinji Kagawa all left Signal Iduna Park after a productive season.
But this summer, Dortmund kept their most valuable players, Karim Adeyemi, Donyell Malen, and Julian Brandt. They were also able to attract €80 million worth of talent, including the Bundesliga's second-highest goal-scorer last season, Serhou Guirassy, for just €18 million.
That said, Dortmund's biggest success in the summer transfer market was their ability to move on unwanted players and to get as much as €27 million from the sale of Niclas Füllkrug.
With the summer concluding successfully, new coach Nuri Sahin and Borussia Dortmund ticket buyers will now hope their club can get back to their previous heights and challenge Leverkusen and Bayern for the title.
Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich's summer may have started in the worst possible way as they struggled to find a new managerial replacement for Thomas Tuchel.
The Bavarians approached several top coaches but were rejected, as it appeared that no one wanted the Bayern job.
After trying and failing, they eventually landed Vincent Kompany, and the former Manchester City defender has overseen a decent summer transfer window.
Kompany and Bayern spent €142 million on new players, with the signing of Michael Olise from Crystal Palace the headline deal this summer.
The Frenchman is one of the most exciting deals of the summer and is a player worth buying Bayern tickets to watch.
The Bavarians also signed midfield destroyer João Palhinha from Fulham, highly-rated defender Hiroki Ito from rivals Stuttgart, and Eric Dier from Tottenham on a free transfer.
Kompany's side did not just buy well; they also sold well this summer, recouping €73 million from the sales of Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui and Malik Tillman.
However, they were unable to convince Bayer Leverkusen to let go of Jonathan Tah this summer. The Bavarians tried all they could to weaken their rivals by taking the German defender from Bay Arena, but they ultimately failed.
Although they missed out on Tah, Bayern are not short in defence. At least they welcome back Josip Stanisic from a successful loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen last season, while the addition of Hiroki Ito makes them solid enough at the back.
They also kept first-choice left-back Alphonso Davies and convinced Joshua Kimich to remain at the Allianz Arena.
That said, there is no denying that it has been a successful summer for Bayern and their success on the pitch is one reason Bundesliga tickets will remain one of the most bought tickets among Europe's top five leagues this season.
Hoffenheim
After finishing seventh place last season–their best league finish since 2019/20, when they finished sixth–Hoffenheim entered the summer transfer window looking to strengthen their squad ahead of a quest for European football next season.
The Sinsheim-based club spent the fifth-most amount of money in the transfer market. Their most expensive signing is striker Adam Hlozek, who they signed for €18 million from Bayer Leverkusen.
They also managed to keep most of their top players from last season, giving manager Pellegrino Matarazzo the right tools to build on their already good foundation.
Therefore, it is safe to say that the club has left the summer transfer window better than they entered it. And so, supporters and Hoffenheim ticket buyers will be hoping that Matarazzo can use the tools he has to help them finish higher than they did last season.
Conclusion
We have analysed the summer business of Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, Hoffenheim, and Bayern Munich and rate their transfers positively.
However, football's unpredictability means there is no guarantee that their business in the summer will bring success.
We have seen players in the past move with so much promise to new clubs but ultimately fail to hit the heights expected from them.
We have also seen clubs that failed to bring in new players or who appear to have failed with their transfers succeed during the season.
So, we can only watch to see how the likes of RB Leipzig, Stuttgart, which sold some of its stars from last season, and Eintracht Frankfurt will fare this season.