European Paper Review

As the transfer window comes to a close, Europe’s papers are feasting on the days of transfer speculation and hard news.

In Spain, David de Gea makes the cover of Monday’s Madrid-based Marca and AS. ‘D Day for Dea Gea’ reports AS as their main headline; ‘The Day of De’ says Marca. They’ve been running with the Madrid biased angles for weeks and using inflammatory language, suggesting that the Manchester United goalkeeper is being ‘tortured’. De Gea is in Spain with the Spanish national team and if he had his way he’d never return to Manchester. Unfortunately for him, he signed a contract to stay at Old Trafford until 2016.

Marca also have a feature on Madrid’s transfer deadline signings. Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos and Gareth Bale were their highlights and they’ve left a blank page for De Gea.

In Germany, the title favourites are getting into their stride. Following last week’s 1-1 draw in Cologne, Kicker had asked whether last year’s runners-up could cope without Kevin De Bruyne, who completed his transfer to Manchester City on Sunday evening. After winning 3-0 with the Belgian watching from the stands, the answer according to Sportbild, was “Yes, at least against dozy, weak Schalke sides”.

Meanwhile, the FAZ lauded Bayern Munich’s “flawless” 3-0 dismantling of Bayer Leverkusen, and Borussia Dortmund have made a “dream start” (Spiegel Online) reaching double figures in goals in the shortest time in their history and topping the table after three wins, the latest a 3-1 win over Hertha BSC.

Wolfsburg are already putting the money from the sales of De Bruyne (€75m) and Ivan Perisic (€20m to Inter Milan) to use. They have secured the services of Dante (€4m) from Bayern Munich and are expected to hijack Juventus’ summer-long pursuit of Schalke’s Julian Draxler too. Die Welt reported on the fury of the Italian tifosi who labelled Draxler a “traitor” during their defeat to Roma, and Sport1 revealed that Manchester United’s Javier Hernandez has “reached an agreement” with Bayer Leverkusen.

Die Welt on Friday said that Bayern Munich should have “nothing to fear” from Arsenal, Olympiacos or Dynamo Zagreb in the Champions League, whilst Wolfsburg’s task against PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United and CSKA Moscow should be “doable”. Bayer Leverkusen, on the other hand, have been “unlucky” in Group E with Barcelona and Roma, whilst Bundesliga stragglers Borussia Mönchengladbach were drawn alongside Juventus, Manchester City and last year’s Europa League winners Seville – a group described as “insane” by the FAZ.

The Hamburger Morgenpost’s hope that Hamburg’s 3-2 win over Stuttgart last week would kickstart their season proved in vain, as Bruno Labbadia’s side lost 2-1 in Cologne. Labbadia felt his side had been “cheated” by the referee who awarded the hosts a late penalty which Cologne manager Peter Stöger admitted even he wouldn’t have given.

Stuttgart manager Alexander Zorniger has presided over the worst start of any manager in the club’s history, still without a point following another heavy home defeat. “Naive at the back and wasteful upfront – the same old story in Stuttgart”, sneered Kicker, after the Swabians crashed to a 4-1 defeat at home to Eintracht Frankfurt, despite having dominated for the large parts of the game.

They’re not the only poor starters. Following a third straight defeat away at Werder Bremen (2-1), Borussia Mönchengladbach have made their worst ever, the Rheinische Post saying that “the ease of last May has given way to a sobering tristesse”.

In France, last week’s l’Équipe said that Marseille had “finally woken up” after their 6-0 hammering of Troyes, but it was back to sleep again on Friday as the Phocéens lost 2-0 away at a “seductive” Guingamp. Lyon bounced back from their 2-1 defeat at home to Rennes with a 4-0 win away at Caen, inspired by a “majestic” Nabil Fekir who scored three times.

Le Point described PSG’s Champions’ League draw as “complicated” as the Parisians landed in the same group as Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk and Malmö. But it “could have been worse” for Lyon, who were drawn alongside Valencia, Zenit St Petersburg and Genk in Group H. 20minutes summed up French reactions to the draw with the headline “Paris frémit, Lyon sourit” – Paris trembling, Lyon smiling.

On Sunday evening, reports emerged in France’s RMC Sport during Monaco’s 3-0 defeat by PSG that Manchester United were prepared to offer €50m for Monaco starlet Anthony Martial, described by Le Parisien’s Julien Lauren as “the next big thing in French football”.

In Italy, La Gazzetta dello Sport split their Monday front page between Roma’s win over Juventus (the champions have lost their opening two league games) and Inter’s 2-1 win at Capri, thanks to two goals from new loan signing Stefan Jovetic.

Inter are one of six teams who have won both games so far. The other five are not expected to finish in the top four, let alone win the league. With Crystal Palace, Leicester and Swansea in the top four in England; Stade de Reims, Rennes and Angers top four in France and Celta and Eibar one and two in Spain, all hail the underdog.