Only five clubs throughout Europe spent more money than Benfica this window

Benfica were the sixth biggest spenders across the continent this window as they invested no less than £88.65million on new players.

Benfica spent significant money this window in their efforts to become competitive on both the domestic and continental stage, bringing in Everton Cebolinha for £18million, Darwin Nunez (£21million), Pedrinho (£16million), Luca Waldschmidt (£13.5million) and Nicolas Otamendi (£13.5million) among a few others.

It means that the typically shrewd spenders from Lisbon were actually one of the biggest spending clubs on the planet, with only five European clubs spending more money than Benfica.

The club to spend the most was, perhaps unsuprisingly, Chelsea, who spent a total of £222.5million on new players this window. Manchester City came in at a distant second, who, among other signings, brought in Portuguese international defender Ruben Dias from Benfica. Their total spend came to £141million.

In third was Spanish giants Barcelona, who parted ways with £111.6million on strengthening their squad, one of their transfers being Braga’s young Portuguese star Francisco Trincao for 30 million euros, while Juventus were then 4th, spending just shy of £100million in a relatively understated window.

And the fifth and final team that spent more than Benfica this window was Leeds United. Perhaps a surprise, the Premier League newcomers spent £96.1million, bringing in Helder Costa, and former Sporting and Benfica stars Raphinha and Rodrigo, among others.

Otamendi. Photo author: Кирилл Венедиктов. License link.