Huge Transfer Window Is Shut but Its Impact Will Be Felt Throughout the Season

The totaliser has stopped spinning, fans are no longer camped out at training grounds and stadiums, with agents finally free to turn their mobile phones on silent. The transfer window is shut, with this season’s Premier League squads locked in—until January. 

But with fax machines now cooling down at clubs across the country, who will sit back in satisfaction at their moves over the summer transfer window, and who will look back with regret? With overhaul a common theme across the Premier League, a shrewd signing or two could prove the difference between a title challenge and a mid-table slump, survival or relegation, so who won the transfer market?

With over £1 billion splurged on new signings in the transfer market this summer, the Premier League—even by its own standards—has reached an unprecedented level of extravagance. However, league places will be decided by who has signed smartly rather than who spent the most. 

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Manchester City and Manchester United were the two biggest spenders this summer, and that is already illustrated in the look of the Premier League table after just three games. The north-west rivals occupy two of the top three places, with many of their new signings making an impact, even at this early stage.

In terms of established big-names, United would appear to have enjoyed the best transfer window. The arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba hasn’t just given them a new spine to their starting lineup, but has restored the spirit of the Old Trafford club. There have already been signs that both players have gone some way to instilling a winning mentality, with last weekend’s last-gasp victory over Hull City illustrating that.

City, however, have been tailored to Pep Guardiola’s philosophical specifications. What the Catalan says goes at the Etihad Stadium, with Joe Hart’s departure to Torino underlining how he has been given free rein at the club this summer. It might take time for City to take their true form under their new manager, but Guardiola has been afforded the freedom needed to shape his squad as he desires.

It could be the case that United’s signings will make an instant impression, while City’s require moulding and forging into Guardiola’s exact vision. That could manifest itself in the form of the most compelling title race since the last time the two Manchester clubs went toe-to-toe for the Premier League title. Football commentator Martin Tyler better start practicing his “Aguerooooooo” shriek. 

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Chelsea are also keeping pace at the top of the table, similarly winning all of their opening three league fixtures. However, the Blues suffered a disappointing summer, failing to secure many of their primary targets. The signing of N’Golo Kante for £30 million was shrewd, especially in the current climate of the transfer market, but Antonio Conte will largely have to make do with what he inherited for the season ahead.

Their transfer-window turmoil was encapsulated by the deadline-day chaos witnessed at Stamford Bridge, with £55 million splurged on the signing of Marcos Alonso—the same player who was largely unremarkable at Bolton and Sunderland—and the return of David Luiz. 

That’s the same David Luiz who was deemed something of a liability and offloaded to Paris Saint-German for £50 million just two years before. The Brazilian will bring personality to Chelsea, commanding a cult status among the club’s support, but he is hardly the defensive stalwart Conte desired. The Italian has work on his hands if he is to mould Luiz into the centre-back he wanted and needed. 

Perhaps the lack of Champions League football made it difficult for Chelsea to attract top-tier players to the club, but that’s not an excuse north London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur can fall back on. Both clubs finished in the top four last season, enjoying their best campaigns in a number of years and giving themselves a platform to build upon. Both clubs have spurned that opportunity, though. 

Spurs in particular will surely rue their failure to finally use Champions League qualification to attract Europe’s brightest and best to White Hart Lane. The club worked itself into something of a spiral on deadline day, jumping from one target to the next, eventually landing on Moussa Sissoko. It was illustrative of the lack of transfer-market direction that has marred their summer. 

Arsenal somewhat made up for their early summer transfer struggles by signing Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez on Tuesday, but manager Arsene Wenger will still reflect on another year in which his Premier League rivals have bypassed him. The Gunners have probably done enough to tread water, but that ethos became tragically tedious a long time ago. It’s little wonder the Emirates Stadium is now Wenger’s torture chamber, with the north London club in existential crisis.

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But the most compelling transfer-window study can be found at Liverpool. Just like Chelsea and Manchester United, the Reds couldn’t boast Champions League football to lure talent to the club. But nonetheless, Jurgen Klopp seems to have bought wisely, with the club-record capture of Sadio Mane especially shrewd.

He has only been at Anfield for a matter of weeks, but Mane has already come to embody Kloppology. He could be the Reds’ difference-maker this season, but will the goalscoring expectation placed on his shoulders prove too much of a burden? Liverpool are still lacking a dependable No. 9, meaning goals will have to come from elsewhere. Mane is already under great pressure to deliver. It’s just as well he has adapted quickly to his new surroundings. 

And what of last season’s runaway champions Leicester City? The loss of Kante will hit Claudio Ranieri’s side hard, given the Frenchman's influence at the club last term, but the Foxes are expected to challenge for a top-six place at least, having kept the core of their squad together. Sexy, it might not be, but Leicester’s best business came in the form of contract renewals for Kasper Schmeichel, Wes Morgan, Danny Drinkwater and Jamie Vardy, even taking into account the signings of Ahmed Musa, Nampalys Mendy and Islam Slimani.

The transfer window has the potential to define an entire season for any single club. Take Hull City, for instance, who were widely tipped for relegation before the start of the 2016/17 campaign by virtue of their lack of market activity, only making their first signing with their opening fixture already logged. Of course, the Tigers have since made a mockery of such conclusive predictions, but the window and the signings made during it will still have a big bearing on the final look of the Premier League table.

It might have shut at 11 p.m. on Wednesday, but the impact will be felt throughout the season.