There's no doubt the 2014 World Cup was disappointing for England. The Three Lions didn't win a game and failed to advance to the knockout stage for the first time since 1994, when they didn't qualify for the tournament at all.
But for English players Luke Shaw and Adam Lallana, life moved on pretty quickly. England played its last game in the World Cup on June 24. By the end of the month, both had been transferred to new club teams for more than €30 million each.
| COUNTRY | TOTAL TRANSFER MONEY (€) | # OF PLAYERS | NOTABLE EXAMPLE/TRANSFER PRICE/NEW TEAM |
| Uruguay | 81 M | 1 | Luis Suarez (81 M, Barcelona) |
| England | 74 M | 3 | Luke Shaw (37.5 M, Liverpool) |
| Spain | 71 M | 2 | Diego Costa (38 M, Chelsea) |
| Chile | 51.3 M | 3 | Alexis Sanchez (37.8 M, Arsenal) |
| Brazil | 49.5 M | 1 | David Luiz (49.5 M, Paris Saint-Germain) |
| Croatia | 40 M | 2 | Mario Mandzukic (22 M, Atletico Madrid) |
| Germany | 35 M | 2 | Toni Kroos (25 M, Real Madrid) ( |
| Switzerland | 27.1 M | 5 | Admir Mehmedi (6 M, Dynamo Kyiv) |
The Count found 33 World Cup players who garnered significant transfer fees during Europe's summer-transfer period. None matched Uruguay's Luis Suarez, who took a big bite out of Barcelona's budget with an £81 million transfer fee, according to transfermarkt.com. FIFA suspended Suarez, who had previously played for Liverpool, through the end of October for biting an Italian opponent during the World Cup.
Some players, like Shaw—who only played in England's final game, after it had been eliminated—gained value just by being on the roster. At 18 years old, Shaw was the youngest player to get into a game in Brazil. Others, such as Toni Kroos, cashed in from their on-field success. After Kroos helped guide Germany to victory with a tournament-leading four assists, he transferred from Bayern Munich to Champions League winner Real Madrid.
There are also teams that probably wish they had waited until after the World Cup before shelling out big bucks for a player. Paris Saint-Germain paid Chelsea €49.5 million for Brazilian defender David Luiz, who scored in the quarterfinals but struggled against Germany in the semifinals. On a early corner kick, Luiz failed to mark Thomas Muller who scored easily and opened the floodgates for a 7-1 rout. A tweet from the account of English actor Russell Brand may have said it best: "I hope PSG kept their receipt for David Luiz."
—Andrew Beaton | WSJ
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