Somehow, soccer's summer transfer window ends up being almost as exhausting -- or more so -- than soccer's nine-month domestic season. You are confronted with a fire hose of rumors, innuendo and actual fact to the point that it becomes difficult to separate wheat from chaff. It also becomes pretty easy to forget what actually matters. Should your team be linked with Expensive Striker A? What are they doing to address their needs at [insert less glamorous position here]?
I like to occasionally step back, then, and remind myself of what teams were actually good and bad at last season and where even the best teams could actually stand to improve.
So let's pause the rumor machine for a moment and take stock. For 17 of Europe's biggest clubs, let's look specifically at what their biggest statistical weaknesses were last season, what those weaknesses suggest they needed to address, and whom they have added and lost this summer to date. How have they addressed needs? Where do they still have work to do?
We start, of course, with the richest and most free-spending league in Europe, but we'll touch on each of the traditional Big Five leagues.