Manchester United winners, Newcastle losers: Our hits and misses from transfer window

The transfer window has closed with Premier League clubs breaking the £2 billion mark despite various concerns over profit and sustainability rules (PSR).

Who had a decent window, who failed and who still has cause for concern? Our football reporters have their say…

WINNERS

Brighton

After three years of big sales, this has been the summer of big buys for Brighton. They have invested around £200 million in new signings, acting boldly at a time when other clubs are being cautious due to financial concerns.

It will take some time for all these new players to gel, of course, but Brighton’s squad now looks remarkably strong. In attack, especially, they have a collection of supremely talented individuals. Yankuba Minteh (£30 million from Newcastle United) and Georginio Rutter (£40 million from Leeds United) are the most eye-catching additions.

The one concern, perhaps, will be the loss of experienced midfielders Pascal Gross and Adam Lallana. Both of those players were key figures behind the scenes, while Gross has been Brighton’s star man for years. 
Sam Dean

Manchester United

Five new signings, 12 players out with Jadon Sancho potentially to follow and minimal fuss, Manchester United’s first summer under Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s watch has been a welcome departure from some of the chaotic, turbulent transfer windows of the last decade.

Gone has been the scattergun, often panicked approach of the past and in its place has been a measured, decisive and at times nimble approach with the number of buys facilitated by the club’s long-overdue success in selling well in very challenging circumstances and on a tighter budget than recent years.

How successful Joshua Zirkzee, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, Leny Yoro and Manuel Ugarte turn out to be will depend on the players and the success Erik ten Hag has in bringing the team together but the manager can have few complaints about the work done off the pitch this summer.

Chief executive Omar Berrada, sporting director Dan Ashworth, technical director Jason Wilcox, director of global talent Christopher Vivell and director of player negotiations Matt Hargreaves have kept up their end of the bargain and now Ten Hag must deliver.  
James Ducker

West Ham

West Ham have strengthened across the squad and have addressed many of the weak spots in their team. Max Kilman is one of the Premier League’s most reliable defenders and will not require much time to adapt, while Niclas Füllkrug has experience of scoring goals at the highest level.

There is a nice blend of ages in West Ham’s list of signings. The likes of Luis Guilherme and Crysencio Summerville are players for the future, for example, while Kilman and Aaron Wan-Bissaka will be expected to offer immediate impact and results.
Sam Dean

Fulham

Fulham have lost Joao Palhinha to Bayern Munich but they look to have strengthened impressively across the team. Emile Smith Rowe is already demonstrating his class, while Joachim Andersen and Sander Berge are powerful players with Premier League experience. Fulham also generated significant fees for Palhinha and young Jay Stansfield, who joined Division One Birmingham City in an extraordinary deal worth up to £20 million. 
Sam Dean

Arsenal

Arsenal improved their defence, midfield and attack, while also trimming the fringe players who were no longer in line for regular minutes. The late loan move for Raheem Sterling turned it from a decent window into a good window, as their attack looked a little short before his arrival. Riccardo Calafiori and Mikel Merino were effectively paid for by the sales of Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah.
Sam Dean

LOSERS

Newcastle United

There is a real danger of momentum stalling at Newcastle United for the first time since the takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund three years ago.

Regardless of the fact their wealth is largely irrelevant because of PSR, the stark truth is they have failed to improve their squad this summer and that can only be described as a failure.

Indeed, there is an argument to be made that the squad is actually weaker now than it was in May, following the sale of Elliot Anderson and Minteh to comply with PSR back in June.

Everyone knew what they wanted and needed to do. The plan was to sign a right-sided forward and a centre-back and Newcastle have failed to address either problem position, wasting a month of the window on the failed pursuit of England international Marc Guehi.

The arrival of a third-choice striker in the shape of William Osula from Sheffield United, free transfer-signing Lloyd Kelly from Bournemouth and two backup goalkeepers has not pacified disgruntled supporters.

Things will calm down now the window has shut but it has been left to manager Eddie Howe to pick up the pieces. He will once again overachieve from the dugout. Howe was set a target of European qualification again this season yet all the teams who finished above and below them last season have improved more than they have.
Luke Edwards

JURY’S OUT

Chelsea

It has been a typically chaotic summer at Chelsea and their treatment of unwanted players, especially those from the academy, has not been good for the club’s image.

They have invested heavily in another batch of youngsters, many of whom are totally untested at this level. Will Marc Guiu and Renato Veiga improve the Blues’ chances of success? Impossible to say.

Alongside these lower-cost deals, though, it is clear that the west London club have added genuine quality to their attack. Jadon Sancho joined as the window was closing, Joao Felix is an exceptional talent, while Pedro Neto will almost certainly prove to be an improvement on their other wide options. These three players make Chelsea better. 
Sam Dean

Liverpool

Arne Slot is learning what Jurgen Klopp endured for nine years. No matter how happy you claim to be with your squad, a legion of online conspiracy theorists will nonsensically argue that Liverpool’s owners are deliberately undermining the manager’s ambitions by failing to spend, spend, spend.

This vast gulf between internal content and external angst is not unique to the Merseysiders, but given the club’s famed transfer policy is so admired and copied and that its chief architect, Michael Edwards, is back, it is certainly odd.

Liverpool obviously wanted another midfielder and Martin Zubimendi’s rejection was a setback. Time will tell if that haunts them between now and January 1, but they are hardly bereft of midfield options with Ryan Gravenberch, Wataru Endo and Curtis Jones capable of staking a claim alongside the guaranteed starters.

The signing of Federico Chiesa highlighted Slot’s attacking priority, and the most important working partnership at the club – that of the new manager and new sporting director Richard Hughes – is on the same page and playing the long game on recruitment, as shown with the deal for Georgian goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili.

Liverpool will be hoping the most astute purchase of the summer was Slot himself, with his coaching skills improving an already talented squad. The Reds will also have the funds to be active in January should their confidence that the foundations of another title challenge are in place prove to be misplaced.
Chris Bascombe

Wolves

The sales of captain Kilman and Portugal international Neto were unquestionably huge blows. After raising over £140 million last summer in sales, the exits of Kilman and Neto brought in a further £94 million but Wolves were always cautious of over-spending.

Jorgen Strand Larsen, Rodrigo Gomes, Tommy Doyle and Pedro Lima arrived earlier in the summer before the signings of Sam Johnstone, Andre and Carlos Forbs in the final week.

Head coach Gary O’Neil said: “As we progressed through the window we missed ones that we thought would help us for different reasons – sometimes financial, sometimes the fact they have gone before we were ready to do it.

“We weren’t able to do some bits we hoped we would and then the window became different for us towards the end. I did think the group needed some help from the outside and it didn’t go quite as we planned it to go so it falls on me to make sure we are still able to compete.

“We have more depth, but we’ve lost two top players that we know can perform in the Premier League week in, week out – obviously Max and Pedro Neto, who can be one of the best players in world football – so more depth but we’ve lost two really big ones.”
John Percy