In this first part we are going to grade the Premier League teams from 1 to 10 on their summer transfer business
We will cover the first 10 teams in alphabetical order
Arsenal – 7
A good transfer window with the signings of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko adding premier league experience in key positions
Gabriel Jesus will be a main striker and play every week, already grabbing goals being the main man in the team up front.
They also managed to purge the squad of a few players that would probably be categorized as ‘troublesome’
Only drawback were the numbers brought in, a slightly thin squad which they were trying to sort by signing Douglas Luiz on deadline day
Aston Villa – 4
Spent 60 million, made Philippe Coutinho a permanent transfer, also Diego Carlos was going to be the big signing at CB, fixing a problem position but unfirtunately has a serious injury now.
Signed 2 DMs in Boubacar Kamara and Leander Dendoncker and a goalkepper option in Robin Olsen.
A slightly odd window, not really strengthening the team in many way. Diego Carlos was bad luck, a definite upgrade at CB.
Bournemouth – 2
Main signings were England Marcus Tavernier, Neto and Marcos Senesi
Will this be enough to keep them up, they have battled to 2 wins and may pick up surprising points but it will be a long season. Scott Parker already paid the price by criticizing the transfer business.
I’m surprised they didn’t try and pick up more players with premier league experience like some of the Burnley and Watford players that were signed buy other teams
Brentford – 7
Made a lot of signings but the picks are Aaron Hickey, Keane Lewis-Potter, Thomas Strakosha, Ben Mee and Mikkel Damsgaard
Over 50 million spent but bulked out the squad and potential replacements for Christian Erikson were found.
Getting Ben Mee from Burnley, a player with plenty of experience seems a good move.
Brighton & Hove Albion – 4
Difficult this one as Brighton are a strange case that don’t fit a rating system normally.
Key players bought appear to be Julio Enciso and Billy Gilmour but the way Brighton operate finding random players and turning them into successful premier league players, who knows.
The sales of players for over 90 million is the big story, the fact that it doesn’t seem to have an affect on the team is remarkable and a tribute to one of the best managers in the league, Graham Potter.
Still think they need a striker but then players just pop up and score in their system on the pitch
Chelsea – 7
This is not based on money spent which is 260 million pounds – as they have overspent on several players.
A list of pretty impressive signings on paper
Raheem Sterling , Kalidou Koulibaly, Marc Cucurella , Wesley Fofana and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Sterling will provide goals and assists, Koulibaly had a shaky start but partnered with Fofana that looks like it could be a partnership along with Cucurella
Also brought in Aubameyang – not sure about that signing but Tuchel may get the best out of him.
A huge amount of players left as well in a squad that did a massive overhaul – a couple of big financial losses on signings with Werner and Lukaku out the door now
Crystal Palace – 2
Not much happened at Palace to put it mildly, thought they needed a little more strength and depth and maybe more fire power up front
Sam Johnstone a solid goalkeeping option, Cheick Doucouré on a free and Chris Richards a CB from Bayern Munich being the main signings that stood out.
A very strange window to be honest. Didn’t expect huge money to be spent on players but a bit more than what they did.
Everton – 4
Financial fair play kicked in before with Everton and the overspent in previous seasons. This season to be fair they received 60 million from the sale of Richarlison and reinvested it on the following
James Tarkowski , Dwight McNeil, Amadou Onana, Neal Maupay, James Garner and idrissa Gueye
Not the most exciting collection, 2 players from a relegated team and a striker who didn’t score many in a team that created a hatful of chances
Conor Coady on loan from Wolves may be the best bit of business in what may be a long season
Fulham – 5
Fulham seemed to have learnt from previous Premier league campaigns where the signed a bunch of players, usually on loan and it failed miserably.
This time the got the likes of João Palhinha,Andreas Pereira, Kevin Mbabu, Bernd Leno, Issa Diop and Carlos Vinícius
Pereira brings experience, they have gotten a really solid keeper in Bernd Leno and a few interesting signings in there as well
Willian is a strange one to be honest
Also did get some players on loan like Shane Duffy , Daniel James and Layvin Kurzawa who will all bring experience and are useful options in the squad
Leeds United – 5
We have actually done a full article here
A window that started so well but faded badly and left gaps in a still too small squad
The deadline day scramble for a striker will go down in history as one of the worst at a football club ever.
