With the new Premier League TV deal coming into play, summer spending was expected to soar, and so it did.
Manchester United’s Paul Pogba became the most expensive player of all time this summer
Following Wednesday’s hectic transfer deadline day, Premier League clubs business for the summer is now complete. Once again, records have been smashed.
Total Premier League spending exceeded £1 billion for the first time in history, and 13 of the 20 Premier League teams broke their record transfer fee, some of them multiple times.
By far the biggest deal of the summer in the Premier League and beyond, was Paul Pogba’s return to Manchester United for a world record fee, but the likes of Sadio Mane, John Stones and David Luiz all transferred for huge fees.
Leicester were one of 13 teams to break their transfer record
Given that the lowest spend of any club in the Premier League this summer was £17m, every team has fresh faces to be excited about in the coming season.
We polled HITC readers on which team they thought had done the best business, and Manchester United emerged with a whopping 65% of the overall vote, whilst a further 52% felt Zlatan Ibrahimovic was their best summer recruit.
We have managed to narrow it down to a top six candidates for the title of best business done:
Manchester United
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho and summer signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic
We start with an obvious one. Manchester United have not done it cheaply, but they’ve certainly had a very good summer transfer window.
The signing of Paul Pogba proved they still had incredible pulling power despite lacking Champions League football, whilst Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Eric Bailly have made exceptional starts to life in England.
Jose Mourinho only made four summer signings, but all have immense quality and have brought a fear factor back to the Red Devils. Zlatan Ibrahimovic in particular looks like a fantastic addition on a free, scoring 4 goals in his first 4 games.
Middlesbrough
Alvaro Negredo of Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough fans are understandably ecstatic about their summer transfer business, having landed a number of marquee signings. Alvaro Negredo must go down as the most impressive recruit Aitor Karanka has made, having scored 23 goals in 48 games during his last stint in England with Manchester City.
The Spaniard arrives at the Riverside on-loan from Valencia, and has made an impressive start to life in the North East. Arsenal’s Calum Chambers also appears to have been a very shrewd piece of business, joining Middlesbrough on-loan from Arsenal.
Dutch midfielder Marten de Roon was Boro’s most expensive recruit, whilst the likes of Viktor Fischer and Victor Valdes led to some envious eyes being cast towards the club from the rest of the Premier League.
Stoke City
Wilfried Bony is another big name signing for Stoke City
Stoke City left it late to pull off two of their most impressive signings, and both joined the club on season-long loan deals, namely Wilfried Bony and Bruno Martins Indi.
The Potters have lacked a prolific forward and a genuinely quality centre-back partner for Ryan Shawcross for some time now, but these two recruits should address those issues and well.
Bony and Martins Indi join the likes of Shaqiri, Arnautovic, Imbula and Bojan as real coups for the Staffordshire outfit, whilst Joe Allen was the most notable permanent signing, joining from Liverpool for £13m, with Stoke seeing off much competition to bring the Welsh international to the Bet365 stadium.
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace brought in Christian Benteke this summer
Similarly to Stoke City, although to a slightly lesser extent, Steve Parish and Crystal Palace have made a habit of punching above their weight in the transfer market in recent seasons.
The signing of Yohan Cabaye in 2015 is the best example of this, but recruits such as Christian Benteke and Loic Remy are further evidence of the traditionally ‘smaller’ Premier League clubs having increased pulling power now with the enormous Premier League TV deal.
Aside from those two, who could become a terrific strike force for the Eagles, Palace also brought in Steve Mandanda, Andros Townsend and James Tomkins, all of whom make them a much stronger squad. What’s more, Palace’s sales of Yannick Bolasie, Dwight Gayle, Mile Jedinak and Alex McCarthy meant that they only had a net spend of £8.8m.
Chelsea
N’Golo Kante in action for Chelsea
A controversial choice, as Chelsea’s deadline day signings of David Luiz and Marcos Alonso are not universally regarded as great pieces of business.
The signing of N’Golo Kante, however, can only be described as inspired. So good is the little Frenchman that he could decide a title, and for that reason alone, the Blues have had a good summer window.
In addition to Kante, Michy Batshuayi appears to be a good addition for a number of reasons. He has looked clinical and lively when given a chance by Antonio Conte already, as well as providing a completely different option up front to Diego Costa and being a likeable character who can only be good for the team spirit at Stamford Bridge.
Liverpool
Liverpool’s Sadio Mane in action
Another selection that is likely to cause much disagreement, but there is a decent case to be made for Liverpool having had one of the best summers of any club in the Premier League.
In Jurgen Klopp’s first summer window as Liverpool manager, he has finally had chance to put his own stamp on the Reds team, with 6 players arriving at Anfield and 14 departing. The sales of Christian Benteke, Jordon Ibe, Joe Allen and others brought in £67.4m, meaning Liverpool’s net spend was just over £2m.
For that price, the Merseyside outfit have brought in a serious competitor for the number one shirt in Loris Karius, defensive reinforcements in Joel Matip and Ragnar Klavan, and most notably some impressive attacking threats in Sadio Mane and Georginio Wijnaldum.
HITC’s Twitter followers think Manchester United did the best business this summer, do you agree?
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