Once again, in spite of a global financial crisis, the men's soccer clubs around Europe spent an incredible amount of money to sign players in January, and this summer may not be any different.
Indeed, clubs spent a record $1.57 billion (£1.27bn) on transfers in the January transfer window, according to FIFA, with the Premier League doing most of the heavy lifting themselves at 57.3% of the total. But with two giants of the game in Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nassr) and Lionel Messi (Inter Miami) now taking their careers outside of Europe, who will step up?