 Top five buys
Biggest spenders Biggest profit Most buys Total spend
IN: Santi Cazorla (Malaga, £16.5m), Olivier Giroud (Montpelier, £13m), Lukas Podolski (Cologne, £11m) NET SPEND: £500,000 JB's VERDICT – 3/5: Another summer of stress at Arsenal and despite the signing of the excellent Santi Cazorla, there is real fear that Robin van Persie – and his goals – have not been replaced. Two goalless draws have shown a tighter defence – but concern upfront.
IN: Christian Benteke (Genk, £8m), Matthew Lowton (Sheffield United, £3m), Ron Vlaar (Feyenoord, £3m), Joe Bennett (Middlesbrough, £2.5m) NET SPEND: £14 million JB's VERDICT – 2/5: Manager Paul Lambert will be relieved to get striker Christian Benteke but it’s a big fee for an unproven player at a club on a tight budget. As fine a manager as Lambert is, there’s an air of desperation at Villa.
IN: Eden Hazard (Lille, £32m), Oscar (Internacional, £25m), Marko Marin (Werder Bremen, £7m), Thorgan Hazard (Lens, £1m), Victor Moses (Wigan, £9m), Cesar Azpilicueta (Marseille, £7m) NET SPEND: £81 million JB's VERDICT – 4/5: The massive summer spending spree did indeed materialise with exciting, young attacking talent everywhere – but no cash on a new striker which, curiously, leaves Chelsea short upfront. Maybe, as some suggested, they might have been better blowing the cash on Atletico Madrid’s Radomel Falcao?
IN: Steven Pienaar (Tottenham, £4.5m), Kevin Mirallas (Olympiakos, £5.2m), Bryan Oviedo (Copenhagen, £2m) NET SPEND: £1.3 million JB's VERDICT – 5/5: A brilliant transfer window for David Moyes with shrewd, value for money signings and a big fee for Jack Rodwell who wasn’t central to his plans. Moyes has proved adept time and time again but will be relieved to have held onto Marouanne Fellaini and Leighton Baines, at least for another year.
IN: Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United, £4m), Kieran Richardson (Sunderland, £2m) Hugo Rodallega (Wigan, free), Mladen Petric (Hamburg, free), George Williams (MK Dons, free), Sascha Riether (Cologne, loan) NET SPEND: £15 million JB's VERDICT – 2/5: A bit of a trolley dash for Fulham but, in the cold light of day, the sale of Dembele and Dempsey leaves a big gap in their squad, their two 'biggest’ players gone. Manager Martin Jol was desperate to shore things up and if he can again get the best out of Dimitar Berbatov then he may have saved the day.
IN: Joe Allen (Swansea, £15m), Fabio Borini (Roma, £10m), Oussama Assaidi (Heerenveen, £3m), Nuri Sahin (Real Madrid, loan), Samed Yesil (Bayer Leverkusen, £1m) NET SPEND: £18 million JB's VERDICT – 3/5: No new striker. Liverpool will look at their transfer business and the need to balance the books and believe they have bought well but the squad is short of goals and it will be a nervous few months until the January window opens.
In: Javi Garcia (Benfica, £16m), Jack Rodwell (Everton £12m), Scott Sinclair (Swansea City, £6.2m), Maicon (Inter Milan, £3m), Matija Nastasic (Fiorentina, £12m) NET SPEND: £30.7 million JB's VERDICT – 2/5: Roberto Mancini got his way with City spending big on the final day of the window – although he didn’t necessarily land his number one targets. Again the problem has been moving players on and the club’s hierarchy may not be happy with the money spent overall.
IN: Robin van Persie (Arsenal, £24m), Shinji Kagawa (Dortmund, £17m), Nick Powell (Crewe, £4m), Alexander Buttner (Vitesse Arnhem, £4m) NET SPEND: £43.5 million JB's VERDICT – 4/5: Sir Alex Ferguson spent big and he spent early. A real statement of intent from United as they try to reclaim the Premier League. Kagawa seems the best piece of business and Van Persie, although a coup, is expensive. United still look a little short in midfield, though.
IN: Vurnon Anita (Ajax, £6.7m), Curtis Good (Melbourne Heart, £400,000) NET SPEND: £2.1 million JB's VERDICT – 4/5: For Alan Pardew it was more about not losing players than signing them and that’s a sign that Newcastle already have their house in order. A solid, tight squad and a good manager with a well-run business. A sound window.
IN: Sebastian Bassong (Spurs, £3m), Robert Snodgrass (Leeds, £3m), Michael Turner (Sunderland, £1.5m), Alexander Tettey (Rennes, £1m) NET SPEND: £8.5 million JB's VERDICT – 3/5: The brutal truth is that Norwich’s business looks like the dealings of a Championship club – but then look what happened last season. Still a sizeable amount of money has been spent and Alex Tettey could be a really shrewd acquisition.
IN: Esteban Granero (Real Madrid, £9m), Stephane Mbia (Marseille, £4.5m), Julio Cesar (Inter Milan, free), Junior Hoilett (Blackburn, tribunal), Park Ji-Sung (Manchester United, £2m), Samba Diakite (Nancy, £4m), Robert Green (West Ham, free), Ryan Nelsen (Tottenham, free), Andrew Johnson (Fulham, free), Jose Bosingwa (Chelsea, free) NET SPEND: £19 million JB's VERDICT – 4/5: A huge summer of spending for QPR with wages as well to be accounted for as Mark Hughes acquired a whole new team. Among the experienced big names there’s also some exciting young talent. Can he make his new team gel quickly enough? If he can it could be an amazing season for Rangers.
IN: Chris Gunter (Nottingham Forest, £2.5m), Adrian Mariappa (Watford, £2.5m), Pavel Pogrebnyak (Fulham, free) NET SPEND: £5 million JB's VERDICT – 3/5: Despite the new Russian owner, it wasn’t going to be a big spending spree from Reading and manager Brian McDermott who has taken a similar route to other well-run clubs recently promoted from the Championship. Whether Reading are good enough remains to be seen and the squad could be lacking depth.
IN: Gaston Ramirez (Bologna, £11.2m), Maya Yoshida (VVV-Venlo, £2m), Jay Rodriguez (Burnley, £6m), Nathaniel Clyne (Crystal Palace, £2m) NET SPEND: £21.2 million JB's VERDICT – 3/5: Southampton – and their chairman Nicola Cortese – are hugely ambitious and the signing of Gaston Ramirez is not only a big deal but could be real coup if he shows the same form he has for his country, Uruguay. Southampton looked like they needed a bit more star quality and he could give it. They have spent a lot of money and will want a return.
IN: Charlie Adam (Liverpool, £4m), Michael Kightly (Wolves, £2m) NET SPEND: £6 million JB's VERDICT – 3/5: A summer of consolidation for Tony Pulis who had to trim a big squad after last season’s Europa League campaign. The Coates family have backed Stoke with millions but there’s a sense that they don’t want to keep spending. Could be a tricky season but Pulis knows that.
IN: Steven Fletcher (Wolves, £15m), Adam Johnson (Manchester City, £10m) Louis Saha (free), Carlos Cuéllar (Aston Villa, free) NET SPEND: £15.5 million JB's VERDICT – 3/5: Martin O’Neill has, as ever, bought British or the tried and trusted from the Premier League. He’s also spent big. Again. However, Fletcher and Johnson look decent acquisitions to add to a squad that he is quickly moulding into a solid outfit.
IN: Pablo Hernandez (Valencia, £5.5m), Ki Sung-yueng (Celtic, £5m), Michu (Rayo Vallecano, £2m), Jose Manuel Flores (Genoa, £2m), Kyle Bartley (Arsenal, £1m) NET SPEND: £-5.7 million JB's VERDICT – 5/5: An impressive summer of business at Swansea who have sold well and bought shrewdly and who are suddenly already looking an accomplished Premier League club after just one campaign. No second season syndrome for them and the arrival of Michael Laudrup has attracted players from Spain.
IN: Mousa Dembele (Fulham, £15m), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, £6), Emmanuel Adebayor (Manchester City, £5m), Jan Vertonghen (Ajax, £10m), Gylfi Sigurdsson (Hoffenheim, £8m), Hugo Lloris (Lyon, £12m). NET SPEND: £1.5 million JB's VERDICT – 3/5: Despite all the spending and all the sales, the bottom line is that chairman Daniel Levy has wanted to balance the books and has done that. It could have been very different if Joao Moutinho had been signed for £23m and head coach Andre Villas-Boas will regret that as it means Luka Modric has simply not been replaced.
IN: Ben Foster (Birmingham, £3m), Markus Rosenberg (Werder Bremen, free), Claudio Yacob (Racing Club de Avellaneda, free) NET SPEND: £1 million JB's VERDICT – 4/5: A summer of consolidation for West Brom – peppered with some intriguing, exciting signings such as Claudio Yacob. The books have been balanced and the budget remains intact with praise again for technical director Dan Ashworth.
IN: Matt Jarvis (Wolves, £10.75m), Modibo Maiga (Sochaux, £5m), Alou Diarra (Marseille, £2m), James Collins (Aston Villa, £2.5m), Andy Carroll (Liverpool, loan) NET SPEND: £17.45 million JB's VERDICT – 4/5: It’s been a tricky summer for West Ham but there have been some big statements as well with the arrival of Andy Carroll and Matt Jarvis, while the club has moved on many Championship players. The owners have backed the manager and will want a return even if it has been scattergun at times. Minimum requirement is stay in the Premier League.
IN: Arouna Kone (Levante, £2.7m), Ivan Ramis (Real Majorca, £4m) NET SPEND: £-3.5 million JB's VERDICT – 4/5: Wigan were always going to sell prize asset Victor Moses and pretty much got the price they wanted for him which has allowed manager Roberto Martinez to reshape his squad and even make a transfer market profit to keep the chairman happy. Still they have also spent and will be happy with their business. |
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