5 teams who have had a disappointing transfer window

Manchester United v Leicester City - Premier League — Jose Mourinho and Manchester United have a summer to forget

The transfer window holds paramount importance, solely for the fact that it is the best available way for clubs to improve their squads by recruiting new players.

This summer's transfer season, as its predecessors have done, has had a good number of gripping sagas in store for us. Ranging from Eden Hazard's highly anticipated move to Real Madrid to Manchester United's failure in securing the services of Toby Alderweireld, this season has given us many things to brood over and talk about.

While the likes of Barcelona, Liverpool and Juventus have had a memorable summer, some clubs have had one they would like to wipe out from their memories. While a lack of quality arrivals will be a challenge to cope up with as the new season kickstarts, here are 5 clubs who were and have been highly incompetent in the transfer market this season.

#5 Real Madrid

Real Madrid Press Conference — Florentino Perez is yet to find an able-bodied replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo

After Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Juventus to Real Madrid, everyone anticipated Real Madrid to go rampant in the transfer market in order to find a suitable replacement. The expectations, however, are far from being completely fulfilled.

It's not as if finding an heir to CR7 was the only problem Los Blancos had to tend to this summer. By signing Thibaut Courtois from Chelsea they have finally put their longstanding goalkeeper woes to bed. They have also roped in Alvaro Odriozola to bolster their defence and a future prospect in the form of Vinicius Junior. But the faltering forward line has yet to be attended to.

With Ronaldo gone, Real Madrid are short of a world-class finisher. Karim Benzema had a horrendous 2017/18 campaign in front of goal. Gareth Bale returned to his form at the end of the season, but it's tough to say whether he can carry on consistently, knowing how injury-prone he is.

Real Madrid have been linked with Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, Eden Hazard, Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah but have been disappointed on all fronts. Should they fail to sign a world-class striker, Los Blancos could well be on their way to another intractable season.