The Bundesliga's top summer transfers

This summer Bundesliga clubs have been busy behind the scenes, boosting their player ranks ahead of a long season. Dortmund have now snapped up Japanese player Shinji Kagawa from Manchester United for a fee of around 8 million euros ($10.51 million). Since Kagawa left the club for England in 2012, BVB fans have been running an online campaign to get him back to Dortmund called #FreeShinji.

Bayern Munich remains it's typical ambitious self ahead of the coming season, signing countless superstars. Xabi Alonso is the fifth Spanish player at the club and the fourth to join since coach Pep Guardiola took over last year. "We believe it is necessary [to sign Alonso] for our team, to meet the requirements of our fans and the club as a whole," said Bayern sports director Matthias Sammer.

The Bundesliga may not have the biggest transfers in Europe, but the players moving around are top quality. Take Robert Lewandowski, for example. His current market value is around 50 million euros ($66.53 million). But Bayern Munich didn't pay a cent for him this summer because his contract at Dortmund had expired. Lewandowski has managed 74 goals in 131 Bundesliga games.

Pepe Reina won the World Cup for Spain in 2010. Back then, he was just a back-up keeper. It will be the same story again at Bayern Munich, as he waits his turn behind Manuel Neuer. Reina said he wanted to join Bayern to win titles, something he couldn't do at his former club, Liverpool. His transfer to Munich cost Bayern 3 million euros.

Ciro Immobile doesn't have the most dynamic-sounding name. But, the 19 million euro transfer from Torino has shown that he's actually quite an agile striker up front. Dortmund is hoping he will adequately replace the huge hole left by Robert Lewandowski's departure. His contract with the club lasts until 2019.

A year ago, Sidney Sam was on his way to becoming part of Germany's World Cup squad, playing five games in national team colors. Since then things stagnated for the 26-year-old from Leverkusen. Now, Sam's moved to Schalke for 2.5 million euros and is hoping for a career boost, too.

Hakan Calhanoglu didn't exactly cover himself in glory in his transfer from Hamburg to Leverkusen. HSV didn't want him to go and so the 20-year-old got a sick note from a psychologist for four weeks. Hamburg eventually let him go for the pretty fee of 15 million euros. Now Calhanoglu says he wants to become Bundesliga champion with Leverkusen.

"Everyone deserves a second chance," said Wolfsburg's coach Dieter Hecking about his club's new signing, Nicklas Bendtner. The 26-year-old former Arsenal striker is famous for his amazing talent - and off-field scandals. Last year the Dane was arrested for drunk-driving in Copenhagen and fined 120,000 euros.

Marc-Andre ter Stegen has been Mönchengladbach's number one keeper over the last few years. Now, he's earning his money at Barcelona and the western German club urgently needed to find a replacement. The new man in Gladbach's goal for this season is Yann Sommer from FC Basel. The 25-year-old cost the Foals eight million euros.

At Bundesliga club Hoffenheim they haven't exactly had a good run with their goalkeepers lately. The low point was the signing of Tim Wiese, who left the club after two years and now seems to be trying his luck as a bodybuilder. Next up is Oliver Baumann, bought for six million euros from Freiburg. Let's see if this works out...

... in 2008 was this man, John Heitinga. He earned the title in the Netherlands, a country full of top stars back then. The 30-year-old may be past his prime - he didn't journey with the Dutch team to Brazil - but there can be no doubting his top-level experience. He used to play for Fulham in the Premier League and will now be lacing up his boots for Hertha BSC Berlin.

After his Bundesliga stops in Bremen and Dortmund, Nelson Valdez tried his luck in Spain, Russia, Abu Dhabi and Greece. The 30-year-old has now signed on with Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany's top flight. The Paraguayan hopes that he will stay put in Frankfurt for a while, saying his wife "doesn't want to keep moving house. We want to stay here for at least two years."

Pierre-Michel Lasogga basically kept Hamburg up in the Bundesliga by himself last season, with his 13 important goals. Ironically, he was actually on loan from Hertha BSC Berlin all that time. Post-season, Lasogga wanted to stay on and Hamburg hoped to retain him, too. In the end, Berlin eventually sold Lasogga off to HSV, for a cool 8.5 million euros.

"To be honest, I don't know the guy," said Arjen Robben after the mega transfer of AS Roma defender Mehdi Benatia. The Maroccan international is meant to have cost the Bavarians 26 million euros and will help fill the hole left by Javi Martinez's injury.