£5.2m: Basel buy Lugano’s well-worn route north
FC Basel 1893 have paid £5.2m for Léon van den Bosch, another link in a long chain between the Swiss rivals.
Lugano lose a Dutchman; Basel gain a familiar face. Van den Bosch’s £5.2m move was completed on 14 August, with the fee matching Basel’s entire reported spending on one player this season. That is a targeted outlay, not a scattergun rebuild.
Basel already have plenty of Lugano history in the dressing room: Antoni, Óscar, Nikola Jevremović and Juan Pedro Palau are among the former Lugano players now there. Van den Bosch joins that well-travelled company. Basel once ruled the Super League for eight straight titles, but that run ended after 2016/17; now they are paying to strengthen through a direct rival. The old “project” can wait. The money has moved.