Every summer produces a hundred headlines and about five transfers that genuinely change a season. Here is how to tell them apart.
The moves that matter are the ones that change how a team plays, not just who wears the shirt. A ball-progressing center-back changes buildup. A true number nine changes the entire shape of an attack that spent last season without one.
Squads that compete on four fronts win with their fifteenth player, not their fifth. Watch the clubs quietly signing two solid rotation pieces instead of one star — that is usually where next spring's trophies are being built.
Loan deals with no option to buy, veteran free agents on one-year contracts at mid-table clubs, and any rumor sourced to “people close to the player.” Save your attention for medicals, not speculation.