The 2020-21 European football season has reached the midway point, and despite the lack of fans and postponement of several matches, it has been an exciting campaign with some shocking results.
The style of play remains, as in recent years, with teams scoring more and more goals and looking for fast-paced, offensive attacks.
Front-offices made it clear during the summer transfer market they were looking to spend their money on offensive weapons that would increase their side’s ability in the final third of the pitch.
Fifteen of the 20 most expensive signings this summer were either forwards or midfielders that are known for their offensive abilities, via transfermarket.com.
This article lists the top offensive summer-signings amongst the best European football leagues, Spanish La Liga, French Ligue 1, Italian Serie A, German Bundesliga, and the English Premier League.
Best offensive signing in Europe’s top five leagues
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The ranks are based on whether a transfer was bought for under his market value along with the player’s non-penalty expected goals plus expected goals assisted per 90 minutes (npxG+xA).
This is the number of expected goals, not including any expected goals from penalty attempts combined with the number of assists a player should have created based on expected goals taken from their passes.
This works well to create an equal playing field to evaluate each player’s offensive success and if the club was able to sign them at a reasonable price.
All transfer listings are through transfermarket.com. All npxG+xA ratings are from fbref.com.