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Which Premier League club has done the best summer transfer business?

sportsmole.co.uk, 2 September 2022, 15:28
The summer transfer window is now closed, and it was a record-breaking one for Premier League clubs as they spent the unprecedented sum of almost £2bn on new arrivals - more than the other top five leagues in Europe combined.

Chelsea were the biggest spenders as new chairman Todd Boehly sanctioned more than £250m of signings - the most any Premier League club has ever spent in a single summer window - while Nottingham Forest brought in no fewer than 21 players following their promotion to the top flight - another record.

It remains to be seen how all of the new arrivals fare in the long run, but managers will at least be able to breathe a sigh of relief now that they only have the football side of things to focus on until January.

Here, the Sports Mole team discuss which club they believe has conducted the best business over the summer.

Barney Corkhill, Editor - Manchester City

This transfer window was one of the busiest and most bonkers we have ever seen - and that was just Nottingham Forest - and the number of significant departures and arrivals are sure to have a huge bearing on the season ahead, but for me it is Manchester City who have done the best business.

Arsenal may point to the fact that they are the only remaining perfect team in the league, with their table-topping exploits so far spearheaded by a man they brought in from Man City in Gabriel Jesus, but City replaced the Brazilian with a man who has already been tipped to break every goalscoring record going in the league.

Even without the benefit of hindsight, the addition of Erling Braut Haaland for a relatively modest fee looked like a game-changer, and to say that he has hit the ground running would be an understatement with a record nine goals from his opening five games.

Kalvin Phillips also arrived for big money, but the deal to bring Manuel Akanji to the club seems like a bargain too, and if you throw Julian Alvarez - signed in January but only arriving at the club this summer - into the mix too then their business looks even better.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of it all is that they have made a profit too, offloading some players who were nowhere near the first team in multi-million pound deals, securing big fees for players such as Raheem Sterling and Jesus who had fallen down Pep Guardiola's pecking order, and also managing to keep hold of those they wanted to keep, such as Bernardo Silva.

Darren Plant, Senior Reporter - Manchester City

This could be answered in several different ways and opinions will inevitably change as the season progresses. There are numerous contenders with Brighton & Hove Albion a particular standout for me given the sheer amount of funds that they have generated and only being required to use a small portion of that money to find suitable replacements.

However, there is an argument that Manchester City have not conducted a single piece of ill-thought-out business. Naturally, the signing of Erling Braut Haaland for a fee far below his ability will dominate the headlines, but club officials and Pep Guardiola have overseen a wide array of deals which will benefit City in the present and the future.

Not only did they manage to recoup in excess of £120m for squad members in Oleksandr Zinchenko, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus, it is their dealings with Southampton which have really caught the eye for me, with Romeo Lavia and Samuel Edozie being provided with the platforms to gain regular Premier League game time before potentially returning to the Etihad Stadium courtesy of their buy-back clauses.

Southampton themselves deserve a special mention because Ralph Hasenhuttl, as it stands, has not made a single questionable first-team addition, but City have significantly strengthened their squad and made a substantial profit in the process.

Oliver Thomas, Senior Reporter - Manchester City

Not many teams can say that they have improved their squad and made a significant net profit in the same transfer window, but Manchester City can and they are certainly one of the true winners this summer.

Although a number of standout names including Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus have left the club, five fresh faces have arrived at the Etihad Stadium, with the most notable addition being goalscoring machine Erling Braut Haaland, who is already proving to be a bargain buy at just £51m.

Kalvin Phillips, Stefan Ortega, Sergio Gomez and deadline day arrival Manuel Akanji will bolster a squad packed with talent that is capable of challenging on all fronts once again. Keeping hold of Bernardo Silva was also a major boost for the reigning Premier League champions.

Joel Lefevre, Reporter - Arsenal

Some savvy summer transfer signings have the Gunners on top of the Premier League table in the early portion of the new campaign. Arsenal have not made the biggest splash adding five newcomers since the start of July, but there is no denying the kind of impact that former City players Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko have made to the North Londoners thus far.

Jesus is tied for first in assists, while Arsenal have two clean sheets in the three matches in which Zinchenko has started at the back. Those two signings were smart moves for this team at reasonable prices, while playing under a former associate of Pep Guardiola in Mikel Arteta was not likely a steep learning curve for the two old members of the Sky Blues.

Not only have Arsenal added those two veterans with plenty of championship pedigree, but they also managed to offload a lot of money, selling Bernd Leno, Alexandre Lacazette, Matteo Guendouzi and Hector Bellerin, among others, collecting £17m for Leno and Guendouzi.

Not only do the Gunners look like a team with much more depth at the moment, but they should have money to spend if they choose during the next transfer window, should they feel the need to add another player to their team.

Brett Curtis, Reporter - Tottenham Hotspur

While Manchester City's capture of Erling Haaland has undoubtedly been the summer transfer window's most game-changing signing, I'd argue Tottenham's transfer window has been the most transformative from an overall point of view.

Spurs have been a consistent outfit throughout the last decade or so, but their Achilles heel has often been a lack of squad depth compared to their rivals at the top of the division. That is no longer the case under Antonio Conte, who has implemented a more steely element to their character, too.

Fraser Forster, Clement Lenglet, Yves Bissouma and Richarlison add quality depth right through the spine of their team, while Ivan Perisic has already added a more directly creative outlet as one of Conte's favoured wing-backs. I don't think it will be long before Djed Spence is doing the same on the other side of the pitch, either.

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