Winners and Losers From the 2026 Summer Transfer Window

The 2026 summer transfer window has finally shut for Europe's top leagues, either providing a huge wave of relief or even more reason to despair.

Deadline day was typically chaotic—just ask Everton. While some deals were completed at the very last second, some players and clubs were left wondering why they had wasted their precious time.

Ahead, Calum Rogers, Nick Akerman and Leo Collis have taken a look at the winners and losers from the whole of the signing period.

Got any to add? Leave your winners and losers in the comments.

Winners: Manchester City

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Typically it would be difficult to call a team that has lost Rodri and Bernardo Silva in a single transfer window a winner, but Manchester City have immediately rebuilt their midfield with three of the top players on the market.

Signing one of Elliot Anderson, Ayyoub Bouaddi and Enzo Fernandez would've been a necessary response to the departure of two club legends in the same position. Adding two would have raised hopes that City may be strong enough to reclaim the Premier League crown this season. In acquiring all three, they have provided manager Enzo Maresca with little excuse but to turn this team into title challengers immediately. 

When you add in that City also signed Iliman Ndiaye and received over $250 million for backups in Savio, Nico Gonzalez, Tijjani Reijnders and Omar Marmoush, it's hard to envision how this summer could've gone much better for them.

Yes, there are still some question marks in the back four, particularly at right-back. But City have the best striker in the league in Erling Haaland, arguably the two best wingers from last season in Antoine Semenyo and Jeremy Doku, and now a midfield that is once again stacked with talent. 

I picked Arsenal to win the league prior to the season, but City might have just done enough to make it back to the summit again.

-Calum Rogers

Loser: Julian Alvarez

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It must be pretty disheartening to miss your dream move as a footballer. We all know Julian Alvarez was desperate to go to Barcelona. However, he resides at possibly one of the two clubs that would be unwilling to sanction that.

Atletico Madrid have every right not to significantly strengthen their rivals. Alvarez isn't a goal machine, but he is extremely effective on the ball, a hard worker and capable of consistently providing match-winning moments. To hand that over to the defending champions would be nothing short of unfathomable for Atleti.

Arsenal's interest represented a good opportunity for the Rojiblancos, who likely would have cashed in if the player wanted to head back to England. He clearly didn't, though. It's interesting that he decided to stick around in Spain. Alvarez has previous for Man City, likely the closest challenger to Arsenal's title defence, so perhaps he didn't want to jeopardise his reputation there. But in this situation, nobody wins.

Alvarez is back in training, after being 'ill', at a club he doesn't want to play for. Barca don't have their man. Arsenal failed to strengthen their attack, with all eggs in the Alvarez basket until the last couple of days of the window.

Will things change in January? Should he have used Arsenal as a stepping stone to get to the Camp Nou? So many questions unanswered after months of the window being open is a disaster for the player.

-Nick Akerman

Winners: Real Madrid

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It's rare that Real Madrid would come out of any transfer window as anything other than winners. But in the summer of 2026, Los Blancos really nailed their business.

They avoided losing one of their best players in Vinicius Junior by finally getting him to sign a new contract. Arsenal were a legitimate threat at one point, but the Brazilian put pen to paper to keep him at the Santiago Bernabeu until 2032. 

Real also made some shrewd free-agent pickups, getting Ibrahima Konate after he left Liverpool and grabbing Bernardo Silva following his Manchester City departure. 

The signing of Marc Cucurella, a World Cup-winning left-back and one of the best in his position, was a fine move for a not-so-ridiculous outlay. Meanwhile, snagging Denzel Dumfries on the cheap from Internazionale adds depth to the right-back position and provides competition for Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Then there's Yan Diomande. Real Madrid won the race for the Ivory Coast starlet's signature, fending off Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool, among others. Players typically don't say no when the La Liga giants come calling, but it was still a statement of superiority that they secured a player who could be a future Ballon d'Or contender. He will bring magic to Madrid for the next decade or so. 

All in all, Real Madrid reinforced an already top-quality squad with world-class talent without dropping obscene amounts of cash—relatively speaking. It doesn't get much better than that. 

- Leo Collis

Losers: Everton

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Beto never scored more than 10 goals in a Premier League season in three years with Everton. So, when his departure for Fiorentina was confirmed while Everton looked set to bring in a replacement, there was little concern that the 28-year-old would be missed on Merseyside.

However, after a move for Monaco's Folarin Balogun was called off, revived and then called off again (with a brief swoop for Manchester United flop Joshua Zirkzee also failing), Everton fans could be forgiven for recreating the Wolverine meme with pictures of their now-former No. 9.

The Toffees are left with only Thierno Barry as a recognized striker until January at least, unless they can find someone they like on the free-agent market (Jamie Vardy, anyone?). 

The bright side of this may be that the 23-year-old Barry will have all the opportunity in the world to build on a 2025/26 campaign that saw him register eight league goals. But even in the most optimistic scenario for Barry's development, Tuesday's failure has effectively torched any hope of a successful first half of the season for Everton. 

They will now be relying on Barry to both display rapid improvement and stay healthy, with winger Brennan Johnson the most likely alternative if the 6'5" Frenchman does miss time. But this failure will also see Everton enter the winter window with every other club knowing they're desperate for a striker, which will make it almost impossible to find value in what is already a difficult market.

For a team that previously had justifiable ambitions of a top-half finish this season, deadline day couldn't have gone much worse.

-Calum Rogers

Winner: Luke Shaw

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For Luke Shaw to be Manchester United's uncontested left-back in 2026 is quite astonishing. The 31-year-old moved to Old Trafford in 2014. In that time, he's suffered a horrific injury, constant fitness issues, and questioning about his suitability for a club of United's size. Granted, Shaw put together arguably his best season last time out, but it almost feels negligent that he has no real competition and a long campaign, including European football, ahead.

United will say Patrick Dorgu can play at left-back. They'll mention Diogo Dalot, Noussair Mazraoui, and maybe even new midfield signing Carlos Baleba. Youngster Harry Amass, who United nearly let leave this week, is also there. None of these are ideal solutions to the problem that really should have been solved by going for Newcastle's Lewis Hall.

If this was Manchester City, they would have paid what was needed to get it done, rather than waiting until next year, when competition for the Englishman is likely to be fierce. United are hamstrung by previous failures in the market and no longer have the capital to act so forcefully.

That's a huge win for Shaw, whose lack of attacking quality quietly hampers a side that rarely gets impactful offensive contributions from its full-backs.

Shaw hasn't had more than two assists in a Premier League season since 2021-22. Considering Ipswich's wingers ran through him like he wasn't there during United's recent 5-2 win, he's somewhat lucky to still have such an easy route into Michael Carrick's first team.

-Nick Akerman

Losers: Ismaila Sarr and Richarlison

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Engineering your way out of a football club doesn't always work. If Julian Alvarez proved that in Spain, Ismaïla Sarr and Richarlison were left looking equally as silly in England.

Let's start with Sarr. The Crystal Palace winger had already been denied a move to Galatasaray before Liverpool started sniffing around. 

The Senegal international pulled the "get me out of here" lever, deleting any mention of his current club from his Instagram profile. But, with the Reds unable to agree a reasonable fee with the Eagles, the 28-year-old is staying put. 

Now, Sarr either has to return to the training pitch with his tail between his legs and apologize to his teammates and coaches, or he goes on strike, potentially courting clubs in Saudi Arabia where the transfer window is still open. 

Then we have Richarlison. While his situation wasn't helped by a shambolic end to the window for Tottenham Hotspur and Everton, his statement on social media calling for "respect" from the club as he tried to return to the Toffees arguably didn't make things any easier.

Now, with a deal failing to come to fruition, he's left in an awkward predicament with Tottenham, despite stating that he remains "at the club's disposal." 

Both players are now in serious danger of being left out of matchday squads for the next four months or so, with relief possibly arriving when the winter window opens. 

- Leo Collis