Who won the Premier League transfer window?

Breaking down all 20 clubs' summer windows

The summer window is where the league is won or lost. So it’s time to congratulate Chelsea on yet another league title under Todd Boehly!

OK, maybe not. But it’s still a fun subject. And while I’m definitely going to be wrong about some of this stuff, I do have thoughts, so it’s time to share them. Let’s rank the windows, from worst to first.

We start with…

20. Everton

Acquired: Jake O’Brien (£16.5m), Iliman Ndiaye (£15.2m), Tim Iroegbunam (£10m), Jesper Lindstrøm (loan+option), Armando Broja (loan), Orel Mangala (loan+option)
Sold: Amadou Onana (£50m), Ben Godfrey (£10m), Lewis Dobbin (£10m), Neal Maupay (loan)
Net: £28m

I put Everton really low last season (18th) and I’m doing it again here. The Onana sale itself is a solid one, bringing in good money, but aside from a PSR-fraud flip of Dobbin for Iroegbunam (who’s already started a game), did they get any better? The loan work here feels clever, but I’m not super confident any of these players will make them better. They’re one of my lower PL clubs this season for a reason, and they’ve not looked good at all so far.

19. Nottingham Forest

Acquired: Elliot Anderson (£35m), Nikola Milenković (£12m), Ramón Sosa (£10.5m), David Carmo (£9m), Morato (£9m), Jota Silva (£6m), Marko Stamenic (£4.5m), Carlos Miguel (£3.5m), Álex Moreno (loan), James Ward-Prowse (loan)
Sold: Moussa Niakhaté (£27m), Odysseas Vlachodimos (£20m), Orel Mangala (£20m)
Net: -£15.3m

It is genuinely difficult to understand this club’s strategy at this point. JWP and Moreno were both loan acquisitions and might go the farthest toward helping this season. The Anderson-Odysseas deal is a complete crock, and Anderson needs to genuinely be a top-3 player for them this season for it to make any sense. Another ownership team that seems to value churn over all else.

18. Leicester City

Acquired: Oli Skipp (£20m), Bilal El Khannouss (£17.3m), Issahaku Fatawu (£14m), Caleb Okoli (£12m), Michael Golding (£5m), Jordan Ayew (£5m), Bobby De Cordova-Reid (free), Facundo Buonanotte (loan), Odsonne Edouard (loan)
Sold: Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£30m), Kelechi Iheanacho (free)
Net: -£43.3m

I would have them at the bottom if not for the El Khannouss deal, which I really rate. This just reads like a Championship window. I don’t rate the Skipp deal at all, and adding names like Reid and Ayew, already lower-rung players at lower-rung clubs, feels unproductive. Some clever loan work here that could help, but this is another haul where too much money was spent for not enough upward mobility.

17. Ipswich Town

Acquired: Omari Hutchinson (£21m), Jacob Greaves (£18m), Liam Delap (£15m), Jack Clarke (£15m), Dara O'Shea (£12m), Sammie Szmodics (£9m), Arijanet Muric (£8m), Chiedozie Ogbene (£8m), Jens Cajuste (loan), Ben Johnson (free), Kalvin Phillips (loan)
Sold: Gassan Ahadme (£1m)
Net: -£105m

This window reminds me a lot of Burnley last summer, when they spent a bunch of money on some buzzy names but ultimately weren’t any good. I like some of the guys here, I really do! Greaves and Clarke could be very good down the road. But in this side…IDK. This feels like a lot of spending that won’t help them stay up.

16. Brentford FC

Acquired: Igor Thiago (£27.8m), Sepp Van Den Berg (£20m), Fabio Carvalho (£20m), Gustavo Nunes (£10.1m), Jayden Meghoma (£5m)
Sold: Ivan Toney (£35.4m), David Raya (£27m), Zanka (free)
Net: -£19.7m

Thiago’s injury is going to loom over this window all season. Carvalho and Van Den Berg are two highly-rated players from Liverpool, but feel like a big gamble for the money spent. Toney is gone for good, but Brentford got nowhere near what they had hoped. The side may be more or less *fine*, but this is overall a pretty mediocre window from my vantage point.

15. Southampton

Acquired: Aaron Ramsdale (£24m), Taylor Harwood-Bellis (£20m), Flynn Downes (£15m), Cameron Archer (£15m), Mateus Fernandes (£13m), Ben Brereton Díaz (£7m), Yukinari Sugawara (£6m), Ronnie Edwards (£3m), Nathan Wood (£3m), Adam Lallana (free), Ryan Fraser (free), Maxwel Cornet (loan), Lesley Ugochukwu (loan)
Sold: Carlos Alcaraz (£15m), Sékou Mara (£10m), Lyanco (£4m), Duje Caleta-Car (£3m), Romain Perraud (£3m), Ché Adams (free), Stuart Armstrong (free)
Net: -£64m

Of course I love Aaron Ramsdale, but this window feels like a promoted club spending a whole bunch of money to not get a whole lot better. The Saints are still cleaning up a real mess left behind by Jason Wilcox, with Mara leaving already and players like Shea Charles and Sam Edozie being loaned out. Ramsdale should help, and Harwood-Bellis is bright if a little pricy. Downes, Archer, Edwards and Wood would be a really solid core in the Championship, but I worry they’re not enough in the PL. To spend this much on net and be here is a little disappointing.

14. Newcastle United

Acquired: Lewis Hall (£30m), Odysseas Vlachodimos (£20m), William Osula (£10m), Lloyd Kelly (free)
Sold: Elliot Anderson (£35m), Yankuba Minteh (£30m)
Net Spend: £7m

I don’t think this got enough coverage! Hall was already in, Odysseas is a PSR pig with lipstick, and Osula and Kelly aren’t enough to help this side go from top-8 to top-4. If Newcastle do pull that off, it will have more to do with better health and Tonali’s return. Keeping Bruno and Gordon is a big deal for them, but chasing Guehi for so long to end up with no one feels like a significant loss, as does not bringing in anyone to help up front. Newcastle fans must be genuinely disappointed, particularly as Minteh looks bright in the early going.

13. Fulham

Acquired: Emile Smith Rowe (£34m), Joachim Andersen (£25m), Sander Berge (£20m), Jorge Cuenca (£5.7m), Ryan Sessegnon (free), Reiss Nelson (loan)
Sold: João Palhinha (£43m), Jay Stansfield (£15m), Tosin Adarabioyo (free), Bobby De Cordova-Reid (free), Tim Ream (free), Willian (free),
Net: -£19.1m

I love ESR, but I think Fulham’s window got a little too much love in the media. I don’t rate Berge enough to consider him a worthwhile Palhinha replacement. Losing Tosin for free is no good. They overpaid for Andersen, who is a good but older CB at this point. This window largely hangs in the balance on ESR’s ability to stay healthy and be worth a club record fee, which is a gamble.

12. Chelsea FC

Acquired: Pedro Neto (£50m), João Félix (£44m), Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£30m), Filip Jørgensen (£20.5m), Mike Penders (£17m), Aarón Anselmino (£14m), Renato Veiga (£12m), Caleb Wiley (£8.5m), Marc Guiu (£5m), Tosin Adarabioyo (free), Jadon Sancho (loan+obligation)
Sold: Ian Maatsen (£37.5m), Conor Gallagher (£35m), Lewis Hall (£30m), Romelu Lukaku (£25m), Omari Hutchinson (£21m), Ângelo (£21m), Thiago Silva (free), Hakim Ziyech (free)
Net: -£34m

This window feels so boom/bust to me. Neto and Félix very well could move the needle for Chelsea, but they’ve again spent so much money on so many young players, and the entire thing feels scattershot. They seem to think they’ve found some value in Veiga, but why did they buy him, really? Why did they add Sancho? Why did they plop down almost £100m on attackers who’ve already played for them to little effect and/or have massive injury problems? You just know that Maatsen and Gallagher will have better seasons than some of the players they’ve kept. As usual, it’s just all a little tough to grasp.

11. Liverpool

Acquired: Giorgi Mamardashvili (£25m), Federico Chiesa (£10m)
Sold: Sepp Van Den Berg (£20m), Fabio Carvalho (£20m), Joel Matip (free), Thiago (retired)
Net: £4m

Yeah, I’ll go there. What did they really do? They had easily identifiable needs and didn’t address them. Net spending basically nothing is nice, but Chiesa is a bit of a punt addition to an already-deep attacking unit. I really think they needed more defenders and a holding midfielder. Will it hurt them? Probably not, because nothing ever does!

10. Manchester United

Acquired: Leny Yoro (£52m), Manuel Ugarte (£44m), Matthijs de Ligt (£38m), Joshua Zirkzee (£36m), Noussair Mazraoui (£12.6m)
Sold: Scott McTominay (£26m), Mason Greenwood (£23m), Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£15m), Willy Kambwala (£8.5m), Hannibal (£5m), Álvaro Carreras (£5m), Facundo Pellistri (£5m), Donny van de Beek (£400k), Raphaël Varane (free), Anthony Martial (free), Jadon Sancho (loan+option)
Net: -£96.5m

I genuinely do think United have added some quality here, but the strategy behind it feels a little hare-brained. Yoro is a good young prospect but he’ll need time, and yet they’ve put him in the same harmful situation as Højlund and others, where he’ll have to produce from a young age or face a brutal fan base and media. Zirkzee is a likable enough player but the deal genuinely makes so little sense to me. Ugarte isn’t a player I really rate, and I think he might struggle in the PL due to his lack of discipline. de Ligt is a good enough player, but they’ve paid a lot to add to an already-big stable of defenders. I like the Mazraoui deal and wouldn’t be shocked if he’s the best pound-for-pound signing they’ve made this summer.

9. Wolverhampton Wanderers

Acquired: André (£18.5m), Rodrigo Gomes (£12.6m), Sam Johnstone (£10m), Pedro Lima (£8.5m), Tommy Doyle (£4.5m), Bastien Meupiyou (£4.5m), Jørgen Strand Larsen (loan+option), Carlos Forbs (loan+option)
Sold: Pedro Neto (£50m), Max Kilman (£40m), Daniel Podence (£4m),
Net: £32m

So much of this is due to really good selling. £90m on Kilman and Neto is genuinely very good work by Wolves, but their financial constraints meant they didn’t bring much back in. Rodrigo Gomes and André are two fun signings who could be helpful this season, but the guy I’m really intrigued by is Jørgen Strand Larsen. He’s looked good at Celta Vigo and is off to a solid start in the Midlands.

8. AFC Bournemouth

Acquired: Evanilson (£31m), Luis Sinisterra (£19.7m), Enes Ünal (£14m), Dean Huijsen (£13m), Julián Araujo (£8.5m), Kepa Arrizabalaga (loan)
Sold: Dominic Solanke (£54m), Lloyd Kelly (free), Neto (loan),
Net: -£32.2m

There are a few positives here, notably the big Solanke sale. I think Evanilson is worth a shot in the PL, and they paid a solid price. Ünal gives them a different look up front, and I’ve rated his profile for a couple of years - he could surprise. Huijsen is a solid, solid purchase for a club at this level, and they got him for cheap. He very well could be a £50m sale in a couple of years. Overall, a decent but not amazing summer for the Cherries.

7. West Ham

Acquired: Max Kilman (£40m), Crysencio Summerville (£25m), Niclas Füllkrug (£23m), Luis Guilherme (£19.4m), Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£15m), Wes Foderingham (free), Guido Rodriguez (free), Jean-Clair Todibo (loan+obligation), Carlos Soler (loan+obligation)
Sold: Flynn Downes (£15m), Saïd Benrahma (£12m), Thilo Kehrer (£9m), Ben Johnson (free), Angelo Ogbonna (free), James Ward-Prowse (loan), Nayef Aguerd (loan), Kurt Zouma (free), Maxwel Cornet (loan)
Net: -£85m

I’m putting myself out there: This window was overrated by the masses. Kilman is a solid player but was an overpay. Füllkrug was a significant overpay from where I stand. Wan-Bissaka feels like good business, but Guido feels like more or less a body in midfield, and I don’t see what he adds aside from size. I like Todibo well enough, and it’s a buzzy name for the Irons, but overall I’m just not totally there for this one. They’re a popular pick to get into Europe, but I’ve been lower on them.

6. Crystal Palace FC

Acquired: Eddie Nketiah (£30m), Maxence Lacroix (£15m), Chadi Riad (£13m), Ismaïla Sarr (£13m), Daichi Kamada (free), Matt Turner (loan), Trevoh Chalobah (loan)
Sold: Michael Olise (£45m), Joachim Andersen (£25m), Sam Johnstone (£10m), Jordan Ayew (£5m),
Net: £25m

Palace did a nice job getting money for key players in Olise and Andersen, and retaining Eze and Guehi feels massive. Riad, Lacroix and Sarr are worthwhile punts as developmental players, and I like Eddie enough to believe he’ll be useful for them. I've got this as a pretty middling window, so this ranking makes sense to me.

5. Aston Villa

Acquired: Amadou Onana (£50m), Ian Maatsen (£37.5m), Jaden Philogene (£13m buyback), Samuel Iling-Junior (£12m), Lewis Dobbin (£10m), Enzo Barrenechea (£6.75m), Ross Barkley (£5m)
Sold: Moussa Diaby (£50.5m), Douglas Luiz (£43.5m), Cameron Archer (£15m), Tim Iroebugnam (£10m), Morgan Sanson (£3.5m), Calum Chambers (free), Phillippe Coutinho (free), Álex Moreno (loan), Leander Dendoncker (loan)
Net: -£26.3m

This is another window that feels a little overrated, just a bunch of churn to me. Onana is a good player but adding what they have while selling Luiz and Diaby feels like one step forward, one step back. I really think they needed to get deeper for the CL, and didn’t do so, particularly since Iling-Junior and Enzo are out on loans.

4. Manchester City

Acquired: Savinho (£22m), İlkay Gündoğan (free)
Sold: Julián Alvarez (£63m), João Cancelo (£22m), Taylor Harwood-Bellis (£20m), Sergio Gómez (£7m), Tommy Doyle (£4m), Kalvin Phillips (loan)
Net: £98m

I said this last summer, but didn’t have the guts to drop them lower in the rankings: This just doesn’t feel like there’s much going on. Savinho will probably end up being good, and Gündo coming back could be really helpful, but there’s effectively no backup for Rodri or Haaland in this squad. What is Pep cooking? Probably something, because he’s always one step ahead. I also feel like City are lighter at the back than has been discussed, for what that’s worth.

3. Topspurs

Acquired: Dominic Solanke (£54m), Archie Gray (£35m), Wilson Odobert (£25m), Lucas Bergvall (£8.5m),
Sold: Oli Skipp (£20m), Emerson Royal (£13m), Joe Rodon (£10m), Gio Lo Celso (£4m), Ivan Perisic (free), Eric Dier (free), Tanguy Ndombélé (free), Ryan Sessegnon (free), Pierre-Emile Højbjerg (loan), Bryan Gil (loan), Manor Solomon (loan)
Net: -£79m

I WANT NOTHING MORE THAN TO BE WRONG. I just really think Gray turns out to be a good player, Solanke gives them something they had lacked, and Odobert is a fun signing. Feels like one of the more objectively-good windows.

2. Brighton & Hove Albion

Acquired: Georginio Rutter (£39m), Yankuba Minteh (£29.5m), Mats Wieffer (£27m), Brajan Gruda (£27m), Ferdi Kadıoğlu (£25m), Matt O’Riley (£25m)
Sold: Denis Undav (£22m), Billy Gilmour (£11.8m), Pascal Groß (£5.9m), Mahmoud Dahoud (free), Adam Lallana (free), Ibrahim Osman (loan), Abdallah Sima (loan), Jeremy Sarmiento (loan), Amario Cozier-Duberry (loan), Valentín Barco (loan), Facundo Buonanotte (loan)
Net: -£154m

Brighton have added so much to their squad, it’s almost Chelsea-esque. Groß is an underrated loss, and replacing him will be a big lift. O’Riley was a likable enough signing but his injury is a big blow. Rutter feels gamble-y for that price, but I like the shots at Minteh, Wieffer, Gruda and Ferdi. Will they all hit? Who knows. My bigger, long-term question is whether BHAFC needs to make big profit on these players from a cashflow perspective (they’re fine from PSR) to keep things moving. The other thing that bears saying is that I haven’t picked this side to make Europe. If they don’t, can you consider this spend to have paid off?

1. Arsenal

Acquired: Riccardo Calafiori (£42m), Mikel Merino (£28m), David Raya (£27m), Raheem Sterling (loan), Neto (loan)
Sold: Emile Smith Rowe (£34m), Eddie Nketiah (£30m), Aaron Ramsdale (£24m), Nuno Tavares (loan + £7m obligation), Sambi Lokonga (loan + £10m option), Fabio Vieira (loan), Reiss Nelson (loan)
Net: -£23m

Homer alert! I look at this window compared to above and see a few things going on simultaneously that I’m not sure any other club can say: 1) They made good sales, bringing in funds on players who weren’t playing big roles for them, 2) They brought in talented players for reasonable fees and 3) While some Arsenal fans do still have *thoughts*, I don’t think they’ve left any big gaps like some of their competitors. Some of that rides on what you think about Sterling and Martinelli, but I’m well-established on that point already. Merino’s injury bites, but I can’t shake this being a good summer that did move the club forward on the aggregate.

***

There you have it! Who knows how all these thoughts will age, but it’s where I am at this point. If you’re interested, take a look back at a year ago, where I think I did Pretty Good overall!

I definitely got seduced by Burnley’s window, and underrated what Liverpool did due to my own fears about their squad (sound familiar?). But I think I was on the money with Arsenal and City and a few others. Let’s see how this one turns out.