It's been a huge summer of spending by European football clubs, with the Premier League alone spending a whopping £1.9 billion on transfer fees. In fact, the Premier League's spending was higher than the combined total outlay of Serie A, La Liga and the Bundesliga.
Chelsea spent more money this window than any other Premier League club in history, while Manchester United also made history by spending more on players this summer than ever before. Even Nottingham Forest got in on the act, as they signed more players in a single window than any other English club has ever done.
It's been a quite the summer for Irish talent as well with plenty of stars moving to pastures new over the past few months. Here, we take a look at the top five biggest transfers of Irish players that took place this summer:
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Nathan Collins: Burnley to Wolves - €24 million
Collins was destined for a move back to the big time ever since he produced a Diego Maradona type goal against Ukraine in the UEFA Nations League at the beginning of the window. Wolves stumped up €24 million to get Collins out of the Championship, and the big defender has already made a big impression on his new team.
Club captain Conor Coady has been axed and the entire formation has been changed due to Collins' arrival. The 21-year-old has earned rave reviews in the opening weeks of the season, and looks worth every penny.
Gavin Bazunu: Manchester City to Southampton - €14 million
The shot-stopper is another player that needed a big move. The former Shamrock Rovers goalkeeper spent last season on loan at Portsmouth and faced another spell either on loan or on the bench at Manchester City.
Southampton stepped in and paid a sizeable transfer fee to get Bazunu at Saint Mary's. The Dubliner has excelled in the first few games of the new season and has carried his impressive Irish form with him to his new club.
Bazunu has already added some impressive stops to his glittering highlight reel already this term and played a vital role in The Saints 2-1 over Chelsea last time out.
Josh Cullen: Anderlecht to Burnley - €3 million
The Ex-West Ham star has trodden a path very few have followed. The tidy midfielder started his career at West Ham before moving to Anderlecht in Belgium in search of more game time.
It was on the continent that Cullen linked up with Manchester City icon Vincent Kompany and under the tutorship of the City great, Cullen has taken his game to the next level and become an important cog in Stephen Kenny's midfield.
When Kompany got the Burnley job this summer, one of his first actions was to bring Cullen with him. Cullen blossomed under Kompany at Anderlecht, playing 80 matches in two seasons and hardly missed a game during his time at the club.
The 26-year-old has continued to be Kompany's go to man on the pitch and has impressed many with his start to life with the Clarets.
Festy Ebosele: Derby to Udinese - €2 million
Ebosele thrived under Wayne Rooney at doomed Derby last term and rightfully earned a move to Italian giants Udinese ahead of the new season. A €2 million compensation payment to Derby shows just how badly Udinese wanted to secure the Irishman's services.
The Wexford native has already made a first appearance for his new club, featuring from the bench in Milan's 4-2 victory over Udinese. With James Abankwah settling in as a teammate of Ebosele, Udinese may well be a side that Irish fans keep an eye on over the coming years.
Jayson Molumby: Brighton to West Brom - €1 million
It just never quite happened for Jayson Molumby at Brighton. The midfielder never really seemed to get a fair crack at nailing down a position and spent much of his time with the Seagulls on loan at various sides.
One such loan spell was with West Brom last season. While many would have been deterred by moving on loan to yet another club, Molumby got his head down and improved almost every facet of his game.
The 14-times capped midfielder broker back into the Ireland squad at the backend of last season as a result of his impressive form for The Baggies. West Brom have since made the move permanent, with Molumby already featuring seven times in the opening month of the season.
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