A Complete A to Z of the 2015 Summer Transfer Window
So that's it! The transfer window has, in its best traditions, "slammed" shut until January, with the considerable frame of David De Gea ending up getting stuck in it.
What were the best and worst deals of the window, though? Who pulled off the bargain signings, and who overpaid?
What better way to find out than by recapping the whole thing, A-Z style?
Let's start with A...
A Is for Arda Turan
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Transfer ban? What transfer ban?
That little measly problem wasn't going to stop Barcelona from recruiting players this summer, and their star new arrival is the Turkish international midfielder Arda Turan, who brings energy, creativity and goals to his new club.
He just can't show any of that until January...
B Is for Benteke
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Liverpool needed to buy goals, so they brought in a man who had scored less than only Sergio Aguero, Luis Suarez and Robin van Persie in the last three Premier League seasons.
Christian Benteke is already off the mark thanks to his controversial winner on his home debut against Bournemouth, and his strikes are certain to determine the fate of manager Brendan Rodgers' side over the season, and perhaps even Rodgers himself.
C Is for Cech
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Arsenal needed a top-class goalkeeper, so they went out and got Petr Cech.
It was a welcome show of ruthlessness from a club who have needed to display such traits in the transfer market for a while now (even if they couldn't sustain it), and although the Czech wobbled on his home debut against West Ham United, he bounced back in style with a virtuoso display to frustrate Liverpool.
D Is for Dzeko
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Four-and-a-half years of sitting on the Manchester City bench only to occasionally come off it and bag crucial goals was just about enough for Edin Dzeko, thank you very much, and he upped sticks and moved to Serie A side Roma.
City fans will remember the Bosnian as a faithful squad player and one who served them well, with this move having been one of those all-too-rare ones that seemed to suit all parties.
E Is for 'Everything They Could'
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Ah, here we are—you knew he was coming didn't you?
David De Gea became the unwitting star of the final few days of the transfer window, as between them, Manchester United and Real Madrid spectacularly messed up a deal that had been on the cards for the entire summer.
With each club blaming the other, as per BBC Sport, there can only be one likely solution to all this: an uncomfortable four months in Manchester followed by a cheaper switch to Madrid in January—if they can sort it all out this time.
F Is for Free Transfers
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Forget the big-money deals for a second, though, and lets look at some of the great free transfers that were available in this window.
Sami Khedira's move to Juventus and Liverpool's signing of James Milner seem like good deals for the clubs involved, but the headline-grabber so far has been Swansea City new boy Andre Ayew, the scorer of three goals in four games as the Swans drew at Chelsea and beat Manchester United.
Priceless.
G Is for Giving Up
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"Giving up" is what it felt like Manchester United did with Angel Di Maria and what Di Maria did with United, as one of last season's headline transfers was rather quickly cut short as he moved on to Paris Saint-Germain.
The Argentinian arrived with the brief of being the man to drag United back into the Champions League, but although the club were able to get there, he didn't have too much to do with that beyond the turn of the year.
As the winger's time in England began to turn sour, a quick parting of the ways became inevitable.
H Is for Hanging on to Your Players
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Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho was not an especially happy man by the end of the window, and much of that centred on his failure to prise John Stones away from an increasingly resolute Everton.
The "other" Blues were simply not for turning, as Stones' transfer request—which he "didn't mean," according to unconvincing manager Roberto Martinez, via Sky Sports—was ignored by Everton, who in turn got to keep hold of one of the brightest young defenders in the country, albeit not a very happy one.
I Is for Ilori
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One of the latest deals to go through on transfer deadline day saw Aston Villa—who also signed Joleon Lescott—move for the Liverpool defender Tiago Ilori on a season-long loan deal with a view to a permanent move.
The English-born Portuguese centre-back has never actually played a game for the Reds' first team, and it is now doubtful that he ever will.
J Is for Joe Gomez
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One young defender who is very much part of the Liverpool squad, however, is the 18-year-old Joe Gomez, who looks to be one of the most refreshing deals of the window, having arrived for just £3.5 million from Championship club Charlton Athletic.
Gomez was part of the Reds defence that kept three clean sheets in their opening three matches of the season before reverting to type and forgetting how to defend in a 3-0 loss at home to West Ham.
That said, he looks to be a great buy.
K Is for Kovacic
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Having missed out on De Gea, the title of Real Madrid's headline summer arrival probably goes to the Croatian midfielder Mateo Kovacic, who swapped Inter Milan for a spell at the Bernabeu.
He'll have to battle past the likes of fellow countrymen Luka Modric and Toni Kroos to earn a place in the team, but at just 21 and with an impressive Serie A record behind him, he could well prove a sound investment for the future.
L Is for Legends Moving to America
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Regardless of all the expensive talent moving into or around Europe, this could also be considered as the window when plenty of the continent's best decided to switch stateside.
Steven Gerrard, Kaka, Andrea Pirlo and Frank Lampard all joined David Villa and others in Major League Soccer, providing a huge boost for the game in the U.S. and leaving their European followers with plenty of cherished memories.
M Is for Memphis Depay
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Or just "Memphis," if you'd prefer—as he certainly does.
Manchester United's new No. 7 has quickly won over the club's supporters following his switch from PSV Eindhoven, with a couple of lively performances in the Champions League playoff clash with Club Brugge showing the club that they have a special—if slightly raw—talent on their hands.
He's only going to get better.
N Is for 'Nine Hundred Thousand Pounds a Week'
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Nine hundred thousand pounds a week—that's how much, according to the Guardian, Raheem Sterling's infamous agent Aidy Ward said that his client would reject if it were on the table from Liverpool, as one of the window's earliest sagas got increasingly fractious.
It all ended with City shelling out the vast sum of £49 million for the England winger, a fee that wasn't even their biggest of the summer following the later capture of Kevin De Bruyne.
Neither are on £900,000 a week. Probably.
O Is for Otamendi
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Another huge Manchester City deal saw the signing of Argentinian centre-back Nicolas Otamendi from Valencia with, as Will Magee of the Daily Mirror detailed, the added bonus being that the 27-year-old snubbed supposed interest from rivals Manchester United to complete the move.
A tough, uncompromising central defender, Otamendi is expected to compete with Eliaquim Mangala for a spot alongside Vincent Kompany at the back, as Martin Demichelis is edged out to the nearest retirement home.
P Is for Pedro
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And continuing on our theme of players whom Manchester United missed out on, the Spanish forward Pedro can now be seen wearing Chelsea blue following his switch from Barcelona.
Of course, United and manager Louis van Gaal rather tactically "dropped all interest" in the wide man, per Sky Sports (via the Daily Express), once it became clear that his preference was for west London, and he adds to a potent attack that needs to start firing following a startlingly bad start to the season.
Q Is for Quoting 'The Wolf of Wall Street'
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Quoting a movie is what Charlie Austin decided to do to make it clear that he wasn't, as had been widely expected, going to leave Queens Park Rangers and move back to the Premier League.
Taking to Twitter, Austin came up with this (rather NSFW) quote from The Wolf of Wall Street to indicate he wasn't going anywhere.
This is probably the first time Leonardo DiCaprio and QPR have ever been in the same sentence.
R Is for Rejected Bids
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Another forward not going anywhere was Saido Berahino, although he seemed a lot more annoyed about it than Austin.
S Is for 'Schmidfield'
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Back we go to July, and the sense of pride that Manchester United fans felt as their club unveiled the double signing of French international Morgan Schneiderlin and German World Cup-winner Bastian Schweinsteiger on the same afternoon.
Although the "Schmidfield," they somewhat cringeworthily called it, has looked a little rusty at times so far, both players will doubtless come into their own over the course of the campaign.
T Is for Thirty-Six Million Pounds
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A few days ago, the vast majority of Manchester United fans wouldn't have been able to identify Anthony Martial if he were staring them in the face, but now the 19-year-old is the new occupant of the club's No. 9 shirt, and at a staggering price of £36 million.
Martial will probably need those same fans to be patient with him as he tries to settle into life in English football, but given the nature of the modern game and the price tag, he's probably not going to get that.
U Is for U-Turns
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It wasn't just a U-turn, but a double U-turn from Fabian Delph, who looked to be going to Manchester City, changed his mind and pledged his future to Aston Villa, and then changed his mind again and went to City after all.
Jamie Jackson of the Guardian takes up one of summer's stranger stories in more detail, but if anything, it taught footballers that declarations of loyalty can end up making you look foolish—sometimes within a week.
V Is for Vidal
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One of the summer's higher-end moves saw Arturo Vidal end a four-year spell at Juventus to return to Germany with Bayern Munich.
The former Bayer Leverkusen midfielder had been highly prized across the continent before coming to his decision to move to the Allianz Arena, where he pitched up after a successful summer with Chile at the Copa America.
W Is for Wenger's Stubbornness
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And so they waited, and waited, and waited, but Arsenal fans never saw their club bring in the new forward whom the majority of them had been crying out for, with the Gunners becoming the only club in Europe's top five leagues not to sign an outfield player during the window.
Much of that was blamed on the famed stubbornness of manager Arsene Wenger, whose belief in the players he has at his disposal is nonetheless admirable, even if it might be a little misplaced.
X Is for Xherdan Shaqiri
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A player of whom this list is certainly thankful for moving clubs during the window, Xherdan Shaqiri generally surprised everyone by pitching up at Stoke City and giving us a letter X.
In a move that showcased the financial might now available to Premier League clubs, manager Mark Hughes' Potters were able to bring the Swiss star to the Midlands to become surely the brightest talent the club have ever owned in their seven years in the Premier League.
Rory Delap didn't really count.
Y Is for Yedlin
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A deadline-day move from one Premier League club to another, U.S. men's national team right-back DeAndre Yedlin will hopefully earn some more first-team football as he swaps Tottenham Hotspur for a Sunderland side who were in desperate need of new recruits.
Yedlin is quick and will get forward to support his team's attack, although given the Mackems' start, he's going to have an awful lot of defending to do, too.
Z Is for Zaza
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And rounding off our alphabetic look at the transfer window is Italian forward Simone Zaza, who joined Juventus from Sassuolo after a couple of impressive seasons at the latter.
Juve had to rebuild following the departures of Arturo Vidal, Andrea Pirlo and Carlos Tevez this summer, but in Zaza and others, they have recruited well—even though a below-par start to the Serie A season suggests they are in for a gruelling campaign.
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