The week in transfers – August 1-7

It’s time for another installment of Sports Pundit’s weekly transfer update with a number of top European clubs making moves for quality players this week.

English Premier League

Chelsea were the big spenders this week, laying out £4.35m to sign Spanish youngster Oriol Romeu from Barcelona. The Blues also finally let Russian winger Yuri Zhirkov go, agreeing to a deal with Anzhi Makhachkala.

Kenny Dalglish’s Liverpool have continued the changes with Serbian midfielder Milan Jovanovic finally sealing a switch back to Belgium to join Anderlecht after a disappointing spell at Anfield.

Newly-promoted Swansea City have been busy with the signing of Newcastle’s Wayne Routledge for an undisclosed fee, while they’ve also added more Premier League experience by signing Leroy Lita from Middlesbrough for £1.75m.

Blackburn have spent £2.8m on Dundee United striker David Goodwillie, while QPR have added to their forward stocks with the signing of DJ Campbell from Blackpool.

Other moves:

David Jones > unattached > Wigan – Free

Mauro Boselli > Wigan > Estudiantes - Loan

Peter Ramage > QPR > Crystal Palace - Loan

Marton Fulop > Ipswich > West Bromwich – Undisclosed

John Carew > unattached > West Ham - Free

Spanish La Liga

It hasn’t been a big week of transfers in Spain, with very little spending going on and very few of the big clubs getting involved, except for FC Barcelona losing Oriol Romeu. However Barca did also lose Argentine Gabriel Milito who has joined Independiente.

Former Spain international defender Asier del Horno completed his move from Valencia to Levante, while young Spanish left-back Mikel Balenziaga has moved from Athletic Bilbao to Valladolid.

Other moves:

Javier Portillo > Hercules > Las Palmas - Free

David Garcia > Espanyol > Girona – Free

Allan Nyom > Udinese > Granada - Loan

Italian Serie A

Juventus have splashed the cash this week, but also split opinions, with the €15m signing of Montenegro striker Mirko Vucinic from AS Roma.

However, that sale has enabled AS Roma to spend in the transfer market, securing a €6.325m deal for Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg from Ajax Amsterdam. Roma have also laid out €12m to secure young Argentine talent Erik Lamela from River Plate.

Meanwhile, Bologna sealed a deal for Brescia forward Alessandro Diamanti for an undisclosed fee, while Lecce agreed on loan deals with Udinese for Nigerian Christian Obodo and Colombian Juan Guillermo Cuadrado.

Other top clubs

In Germany, most clubs have completed their business now with the Bundesliga season underway, although Werder Bremen swooped for Aleksandar Ignjovski from OFK Beograd.

In France, Saint-Etienne completed a deal for midfielder Steed Malbranque to head home for an undisclosed fee from Sunderland. The same club have also loaned Swiss midfielder Gelson Fernandes to Leicester City, while they’ve completed a €1.5m deal for Jean-Pascal Mignot from AJ Auxerre.

Meanwhile, Olympique Marseille have seen Hilton move to Montpellier, Charley Fomen to Clermont and Fabriel Ariel to Nice this week on free transfers.