Football News: Premier League Season Review

Image from: freelargeimages.com

The Oddest Season - A Quick Review

20. Norwich City

Ins
Sam McCallum from Coventry City for £3.74m
Ralf Fahrmann from Schalke 04 on loan for £2.7m (loan fee)
Sam Byram from West Ham United for £747,000
Lukas Rupp from Hoffenheim for £450,000
Daniel Adshead from Rochdale for £302,000
Josip Drmic from Borussia Moenchengladbach for £0
Ibrahim Amadou from Sevilla on loan
Ondrej Duda from Hertha Berlin on loan
Melvin Sitti from Sochaux for £?
Rocky Bushiri from Oostende for £?
Patrick Roberts from Manchester City on loan

Nothing really of note happening on the in front. Norwich never went all in and seemed to accept they were out of their depth, preparing instead for next season back in the Championship. No gaps were filled in the squad for the season but a few were bought for the future. Mark: E

Outs
Marcel Franke to Hannover 96 for £900,000
Nelson Oliveira to AEK Athens for £900,000
Dennis Srbeny to Paderborn for £180,000
Yanic Wildschut to Maccabi Haifa for £0
Sean Raggett to Portsmouth on loan
Ivo Pinto to Dinamo Zagreb for £0
Sam McCallum to Coventry City on loan
Melvin Sitti to Sochaux on loan
James Husband to Blackpool for £0 after loan
Tristan Abrahams to Newport Count for £0
Carlton Morris to MK Dons & Rotherham United on loan
Steven Naismith to Heart of Midlothian for £0
Rocky Bushiri to Blackpool & Sint-Truiden on loan
Louis Thompson to Shrewsbury Town & MK Dons on loan
Philip Heise to 1.FC Nuremberg on loan
Ben Marshall released
Matt Jarvis released
Mason Bloomfield to Crawley Town on loan

The outs saw a lot of unwanted and unneeded players leave the club, some of them the club had been stuck with since its last stint in the Premier League. It could be considered a good window in that respect. Mark: B+

Overall: The Canaries refused to gamble to club's future on big signings in an attempt to stay in the Premier League, having previously ended up in severe financial difficulties following a relegation. It did mean that the team were pretty much trying to compete with an arm tied behind their back. Initially they performed well, pulling off a good win in Manchester against reigning champions Man City, and looking like a team willing to give their all to survive. In the end they went out with a whimper and it was little wonder they ended the season propping up the table. Still they are in good shape to try for a quick return and will not need to hold a fire sale of assets to manage their finances, so it is not all bad. Mark: E+

19. Watford

Ins
Ismaila Sarr from Stade Rennais for £27m
Ignacio Pussetto from Udinese Calcio for £7.2m
Craig Dawson from West Bromwich Albion for £5.4m
Joao Pedro from Fluminese for £3.6m
Tom Dele-Bashiru from Manchester City for £0
Danny Welbeck from Arsenal for £0

The usual mixed bag of recruits that show little sign of planning or forethought. As usual it is a mess that does not move the club forward on the pitch. A lot just seems to be shuffling players between the clubs the Pozzos own for reasons I am unable to fathom. Mark: E-

Outs
Dodi Lukebakio to Hertha Berlin for £18m
Obbi Oulare to Standard Liege for £3.06m
Marvin Zeegelaar to Udinese Calcio for £1.8m
Filip Stuparevic to Vozdova & 1.FK Pribram on loan
Dimitir Foulquier to Granada on loan
Kwasi Sibo to Ibiza on loan
Ken Sema to Udinese on loan
Cucho Hernandez to Mallorca on loan
Adalberto Penaranda to KAS Eupen on loan
Stefano Okaka to Udinese for £?
Ben Wilmot to Swansea City on loan
Jerome Sinclair to VVV-Venlo on loan
Luis Suarez to Real Zaragoza on loan
Jorge Segura to Envigado on loan
Pontus Dahlberg to Emmen on loan
Tommie Hoban released
Miguel Britos retired
Sebastian Prodl released

Like the recruitment, the outs are a mess, a bunch of players, almost all of them nowhere near good enough, who they are shifting around on loan, in the main. The Pozzos have brought Watford a long way, but now their haphazard recruitment is costing the club badly on the pitch. Mark: D

Overall: The same old problems of lack of fitness and stability have finally caused the club's form to collapse and drop them back down to the Championship. The team, on paper, is more than good enough for a top half finish, so relegation is a sign of how bad things have got. Though the biggest indicator is probably the 4 different managers they got through during the season! Mark: F

18. Bournemouth

Ins
Arnaut Danjuma from Club Brugge for £16.2m
Philip Billing from Huddersfield Town for £14.85m
Lloyd Kelly from Bristol City for £13.32m
Jack Stacey from Luton Town for £4.01m
Harry Wilson on loan from Liverpool for £2.43m loan fee

As usual Howe invested heavily in the transfer market for little real return on the pitch. On paper though, the recruitment looks to have moved the team forward. Mark: B+

Outs
Tyrone Mings to Aston Villa for £20.07m
Lys Mousset to Sheffield United for £9.99m
Connor Mahoney to Millwall for £990,000
Kyle Taylor to Forest Green Rovers on loan
Matt Butcher to St Johnstone on loan
Marc Pugh to Queens Park Rangers for £0
Asmir Begovic to Qarabag Agdam & AC Milan on loan
Harry Arter to Fulham on loan
Sam Surridge to Swansea City on loan
Emerson Hyndman to Atlanta United on loan which was made permanent for £?
Nnamdi Ofoborh to Wycombe Wanderers on loan
Brad Smith to Cardiff City on loan

Again, on paper it looks a decent bit of work done, particularly getting such a huge fee for Mings. They lost no one vital to the team, just fringe players moving on. Mark: B

Overall: A terrible season. Previously the Cherries had scored enough goals to cover up how bad their defence is but this season the goals dried up too. Howe reached his zenith a few seasons ago and they have been gradually worsening year on year, it was the right time for him to leave at least a season ago, probably more. Mark: F

17. Aston Villa

Ins
Wesley from Club Brugge for £22.5m
Tyrone Mings from Bournemouth for £20.07m
Douglas Luiz from Manchester City for £15.12m
Matt Targett from Southampton for £13.95m
Ezri Konsa from Brentford for £11.97m
Marvelous Nakamba from Club Brugge for £10.8m
Mbwana Samatta from KRC Genk for £9.45m
Trezeguet from Kasimpasa for £9m
Anwar El Ghazi from LOSC Lille for £8.1m
Tom Heaton from Burnley for £7.92m
Bjorn Engels from Stade Reims for £7.2m
Jota from Birmingham City for £4.05m
Kortney Hause from Wolverhampton Wanderers for £3.06m
Borja Baston from Swansea City for £0
Pepe Reina from AC Milan on loan
Danny Drinkwater from Chelsea on loan

Lots of money was flung at recruitment with little success, Marvelous turned out to be far from marvellous and Targett never really hit the target. Luiz and Reina did step up right at the end but overall they spunked millions on a lot of players for very little return. Mark: E+

Outs
Jonathan Kodjia to Al Gharafa for £2.7m
Aaron Tshibola to Waasland-Beveren for £900,000
Lovre Kalinic to Toulouse on loan
James Chester to Stoke City on loan
Ritchie De Laet to Royal Antwerp for £0
Tommy Elphick to Huddersfield Town for £0
Albert Adomah to Nottingham Forest for £0
Glenn Whelan to Heart of Midlothian for £0
Scott Hogan to Birmingham City & Stoke City on loan
Andre Green to Charlton Athletic & Preston North End on loan
James Bree to Luton Town on loan
Rushian Hepburn-Murphy to Tranmere Rovers & Derby County on loan
Matija Sarkic to Livingston on loan
Gary Gardner to Birmingham City for £?
Micah Richards retired
Ross McCormack released
Alan Hutton released
Mile Jedinak released
Birkir Bjarnason released
Mark Bunn retired

While they lost no one of consequence, they also recouped almost nothing in return. They also still have a lot of players left to offload. Mark: D+

Overall: They achieved their aim by staying in the Premier League, but only just. It was an extremely difficult season, with the team finding it a real struggle to get their play going. For long periods they looked completely out of their depth in the Prem and it is hard to see their survival as anything other than because there were three teams that were worse than them. They will certainly need to improve next season. Mark: D

16. West Ham United

Ins
Sebastien Haller from Eintracht Frankfurt for £45m
Pablo Fornals from Villareal for £25.2m
Jarrod Bowen from Hull City for £19.17m
Albian Ajeti from Basel for £7.83m
Darren Randolph from Middlesbrough for £4.23m
Tomas Soucek from Slavia Prague on loan for £4.05m loan fee
Goncalo Cardoso from Boavista for £2.7m
Roberto from Espanyol for £0
David Martin from Millwall for £0

A couple of successes aside, in Bowen and Soucek (though merely on loan), the recruitment was poor. It comes to something when you manage to pay too big a transfer fee for a free transfer signing, but the Hammers managed to do so with the utterly abysmal Roberto. That is nothing compared to the big money signing Haller, who was massively disappointing. Mark: D

Outs
Marko Arnautovic to Shanghai SIPG for £22.5m
Chicharito to Sevilla for £6.98m
Edimilson Fernandes to 1.FSV Mainz 05 for £6.75m
Pedro Obiang to Sassuolo for £6.3m
Sead Haksabanovic to Norrkoping for £2.34m
Lucas Perez to Alaves for £2.07m
Reece Oxford to Augsburg for £1.8m
Sam Byram to Norwich City for £747,000
Moses Makasi to Eindhoven for £0
Adrian to Liverpool for £0
Andy Carroll to Newcastle United for £0
Samir Nasri to Anderlecht for £0
Jordan Hugill to Queens Park Rangers on loan
Winston Reid to Sporting Kansas City on loan
Josh Cullen to Charlton Athletic on loan
Grady Diangana to West Bromwich Albion on loan
Roberto to Alaves on loan

In the main the outs were very good for the Hammers, they offloaded a lot of unwanted players and a couple of players who were causing problems too. The only real loss was back up keeper Adrian, due to the injuries Fabianski suffered during the season. Mark: B+

Overall: After a poor start to the season, Moyes was brought in and he turned it around, albeit slowly, and got the team playing some decent football towards the end. They looked a much better team at the close and it seems they are heading in the right direction again. Mark: D

15. Brighton & Hove Albion

Ins
Neal Maupay from Brentford for £20m
Adam Webster from Bristol City for £20m
Leandro Trossard from KRC Genk for £18m
Aaron Mooy from Huddersfield Town on loan made permanent for £5.4m
Matt Clarke from Portsmouth for £3.51m
Tariq Lamptey from Chelsea for £2.97m

A mixed bag for the Seagulls. While Webster and Mooy played as often as fitness allowed and did well, the rest struggled in various ways. Clarke was unable to break in to the side, Maupay and Trossard did good things at times but mainly flattered to deceive and Lamptey was raw when he got into the side. They needed a goalscorer all season and that is one thing they failed to buy, though Maupay worked hard he did not add the goals they wanted. Mark: C-

Outs
Anthony Knockaert to Fulham on loan for £4.05m loan fee
Ales Mateju to Brescia for £1.62m
Florin Andone to Galatasaray on loan for £630,000 loan fee
Gaetan Bong to Nottingham Forest for £450,000
Richie Towell to Salford City for £0
Ben White to Leeds United on loan
Tomer Hemed to Charlton Athletic for £0
Markus Suttner to Fortuna Dusseldorf for £0
Soufyan Ahannach to Saint Gilloise on loan and then Go Ahead Eagles for £0
Tudur Baluta to ADO Den Haag on loan
Viktor Gyokeres to St Pauli on loan
Percy Tau to Club Brugge on loan
Matt Clarke to Derby County on loan
Beram Kayal to Charlton Athletic on loan
Anders Dreyer to Heerenveen on loan
Jurgen Locadia to Hoffenheim & Cincinnati on loan
Billy Arce to Barcelona (Ecuador) & LDU Quito on loan
Jan Mlakar to Wigan Athletic & Queens Park Rangers on loan
Anders Dreyer to Midtjylland for £0
Leon Balogun for Wigan Athletic on loan
Alexis Mac Allister to Boca Juniors on loan
Leo Ostigard to St Pauli on loan
Christian Walton to Blackburn Rovers on loan
Bruno retired

Other than an excellent fee for Knockaert on loan, the club did not really recoup much of the spending they did. They were unable to offload a lot of players they would have prepared to get off the wage bill as well. Mark: D-

Overall: A difficult first season for Graham Potter, they played much prettier football than under Chris Hughton but struggled to get the results they should have. There were signs of progress by the end of the season and it looks like the faith the board showed in Potter will be repaid in time. The players do look to be improving as footballers under him and that should lead to improved results and it would be expected that sales will recoup much more money in future. Mark: D+

14. Crystal Palace

Ins
James McCarthy from Everton for £2.97m
Jordan Ayew from Swansea City for £2.52m
Victor Camarasa from Real Betis on loan for £1.35m loan fee
Stephen Henderson from Nottingham Forest for £0
Gary Cahill from Chelsea for £0
Cenk Tosun from Everton on loan

It is little wonder Palace seem stuck in mid-table and struggling to make progress forward, their transfers are the same every season. They improve the defence, the midfield stagnates and the attack adds very few, if any, goals. Until they start to fix the goalscoring issue they are going nowhere. Mark: D-

Outs
Aaron Wan-Bissaka to Manchester United for £49.5m
Alexander Sorloth to Trabzonspor on loan for £675,000 loan fee
Ryan Inniss to Newport County on loan
Jason Puncheon to Pafos for £0
Pape Souare to Troyes for £0
Jaroslaw Jach to Rakow on loan
Connor Wickham to Sheffield Wednesday on loan
Bakary Sako released
Julian Speroni retired

The sale of Wan-Bissaka, who had barely established himself in the team, paid for all their transfer dealings and put them in a strong position. With the way they operate in the market, that is unlikely to happen again. They are not developing younger players often enough and that is why they saw almost no return from the rest of their transfers. That does not put them in a strong position for the long term. Mark: C

Overall: An ageing team which started well, but it does feel like it was only a matter of time before results started to slip due to their lack of goalscorers. With an unsustainable transfer policy, which spends money on older players who want higher wages but have little to no sell-on value, it is going to be tough to maintain their place in the Premier League in the long term unless they find a goalscorer. The way they dropped down the table after the restart suggested that they could be in trouble next season without a striker. Mark: C-

13. Newcastle United

Ins
Joelinton from Hoffenheim for £39.6m
Allan Saint-Maximin from OGC Nice for £16.2m
Emil Krath from Amiens for £4.86m
Danny Rose from Tottenham Hotspur on loan for £1.8m loan fee
Valentino Lazaro from Inter Milan on loan for £1.35m loan fee
Nabil Bentaleb from Schalke 04 on loan for £900,000 loan fee
Jetro Willems from Eintracht Frankfurt on loan for £900,000 loan fee
Jake Turner from Bolton Wanderers for £0
Andy Carroll from West Ham United for £0

The detestable slimeball who owns the club, Mike Ashley, finally loosened the purse strings a little and saw a lot of money spent for little return. Loan fees cannot be recouped and the best you can say about any of the signings is they showed flashes of ability but no consistency at all. Mark: E

Outs
Ayoze Perez to Leicester City for £30.06m
Joselu to Alaves for £2.02m
Sung-yeung Ki to RCD Mallorca for £0
Mohamed Diame to Al Ahli for £0
Jacob Murphy to Sheffield Wednesday on loan
Rolando Aarons to Motherwell & Wycombe Wanderers on loan
Dan Barlaser to Rotherham United on loan
Freddie Woodman to Swansea City on loan
Achraf Lazaar to Cosenza on loan

Not a bad set of outs, receiving a big fee for an average striker who is not the best goalscorer and offloading some unwanted players. In fact, it could even be considered a good window for the Toon in terms of outs. Mark: B-

Overall: Steve Bruce's appointment was not greeted with universal approval and expectations were low. It is fair to say Bruce exceeded those expectations with a lot to spare. However, that must be placed in context. Rafael Benitez had built good, solid foundations to be built on, Bruce was given a decent amount of money to spend and still barely improved on last season. It does provide a platform to work on for next season. Mark: C

12. Everton

Ins
Alex Iwobi from Arsenal for £27.36m
Moise Kean from Juventus for £24.75m
Andre Gomes from Barcelona for £22.5m
Jean-Philippe Gbamin from 1.FSV Mainz 05 for £22.5m
Fabian Delph from Manchester City for £8.55m
Djibril Sidibe from Monaco on loan for £2.25m loan fee
Jonas Lossl from Huddersfield Town for £0

I think their signings can be summed up with one word - disastrous. It is hard to understand how they can have so much money to spend over the last couple of years and still go backwards as a team. Their best signing looks to be Carlo Ancelotti, though he has yet to turn things around, but it is early days under him. Mark: F

Outs
Idrissa Gueye to Paris Saint-Germain for £27m
Ademola Lookman to RB Leipzig for £16.2m
Nikola Vlasic to CSKA Moscow for £14.13m
Henry Onyekuru to Monaco for £12.15m
James McCarthy to Crystal Palace for £2.97m
Phil Jagielka to Sheffield United for £0
Mateusz Hewelt to Miedz Legnica for £0
Brendan Galloway to Luton Town for £0
Kevin Mirallas to Royal Antwerp for £0
Luke Garbutt to Ipswich Town on loan
Muhamed Besic to Sheffield United on loan
Matthew Pennington to Hull City on loan
Shani Tarashaj to Emmen on loan
Kieran Dowell to Wigan Athletic & Derby County on loan
Sandro Ramirez to Real Valladolid on loan
Jonjoe Kenny to Schalke 04 on loan
Cenk Tosun to Crystal Palace on loan
Yannick Bolasie to Sporting CP on loan
Ashley Williams released
Jonas Lossl to Huddersfield Town on loan

The outs look to be good for the team, the only odd one was loaning out Kenny to take Sidibe on loan as a replacement. There is little doubt Kenny was at least as good and he is on lower wages plus he would not have required the club to pay over £2m in loan fees. Overall it was mostly getting rid of problems, such as Mirallas. Mark: B+

Overall: A very poor season by Everton's usual standards but the arrival of Ancelotti has given the fans hope for the future. There is also good reason to hope that the club has learnt lessons on its poor recruitment over the last few years, which does bode well. Unfortunately that was too late to rescue this season. Mark: E

11. Southampton

Ins
Danny Ings from Liverpool for £19.98m
Che Adams from Birmingham City for £15.03m
Moussa Djenepo from Standard Liege for £14.13m
Kevin Danso from Augsburg on loan for £3.6m loan fee
Kyle Walker-Peters from Tottenham Hotspur on loan

It can be considered a successful window for the Saints. The arrival of Ings alone made it work, even if the rest were not quite as helpful to the team. Mark: B+

Outs
Matt Targett to Aston Villa for £13.95m
Sam Gallagher to Blackburn Rovers for £5.85m
Charlie Austin to West Bromwich Albion for £3.87m
Mario Lemina to Galatasaray on loan for £900,000 loan fee
Jack Rose to Walsall on loan
Steven Davis to Rangers for £0
Jordy Clasie to AZ Alkmaar for £0
Maya Yoshida to Sampdoria on loan
Jake Hesketh to Lincoln City on loan
Wesley Hoedt to Royal Antwerp on loan
Guido Carrillo to Leganes on loan
Mohamed Elyounoussi to Celtic on loan
Fraser Forster to Celtic on loan
Harrison Reed to Fulham on loan
Josh Sims to NY Red Bulls on loan
Cedric Soares to Arsenal on loan

Like the ins, this was a successful window for Southampton. They have managed to offload a number of players who were unsuited to the style of play Ralph Hasenhuttl wishes to play. Mark: A-

Overall: They showed the value of patience after a big defeat at the hands of Leicester could easily have seen Hasenhuttl given his marching orders. Many clubs would have pulled the trigger. Saints stood by the Austrian and he repaid their faith by moving the club into a safe mid-table position and putting the building blocks in place to go further. They now look like a club on the up. Mark: B+

10. Burnley

Ins
Josh Brownhill from Bristol City for £9m
Jay Rodriquez from West Bromwich Albion for £5m
Bailey Peacock-Farrell from Leeds United for £2.48m
Erik Pieters from Stoke City for £990,000
Danny Drinkwater from Chelsea on loan

The usual bargain basement buys for Burnley as they look to stay within their budget while remaining competitive. It is difficult to judge their transfers as their players just seem to slot in and out with little change to the quality or play. That is probably a sign that they are doing well, as they could easily drop down the table with their limited spend, as other clubs have done. Mark: C+

Outs
Tom Heaton to Aston Villa for £7.92m
Nakhi Wells to Queens Park Rangers on loan then Bristol City for £4.28m
Steven Defour to Royal Antwerp for £0
Stephen Ward to Stoke City for £0
Anders Lingaard to Helsingborg for £0
Aiden O'Neill to Brisbane Roar on loan
Ntumba Massanka to Chorley for £0
Peter Crouch retired

One thing that having a lack of standout star players has meant is that they do not have to fear their best players being cherry-picked each season. Nowadays the players that move on are those that are surplus. Mark: C

Overall: Once again a top half finish for the Clarets, but it is a measure of how far they have come under Sean Dyche that they were probably disappointed not to qualify for Europe again. They are never going to be pretty to watch, but they are pretty effective at what they do. The question has to be asked if Dyche has taken them as far as he can though? Mark: C

9. Sheffield United

Ins
Sander Berge from KRC Genk for £19.35m
Oliver McBurnie from Swansea City for £17.19m
Lys Mousset from Bournemouth for £9.99m
Callum Robinson from Preston North End for £7.02m
Luke Freeman from Queens Park Rangers for £5.04m
Ben Osborn from Nottingham Forest for £3.51m
Michael Verrips from KV Mechelen for £0
Dean Henderson from Manchester United on loan
Phil Jagielka from Everton for £0
Ravel Morrison from Ostersund for £0
Muhamed Besic from Everton on loan
Jack Robinson from Nottingham Forest for £?
Richairo Zivkovic from Changchun Yatai on loan
Panagiotis Retsos from Bayer Leverkusen on loan
Jack Rodwell free agent

Lots of hopeful punts on players, some of which paid off, while others did not. Overall they must be happy with the players brought in considering the position in the table those players helped them to. Mark: C-

Outs
Richard Stearman to Huddersfield Town for £180,000
Ched Evans to Fleetwood Town for £135,000
Jake Bennett to Alfreton Town for £0
Samir Carruthers to Cambridge United for £0
Ben Heneghan to Blackpool on loan
Caolan Lavery to Walsall for £0
Conor Washington to Heart of Midlothian for £0
Paul Coutts to Fleetwood Town for £0
Martin Cranie to Luton Town for £0
Nathan Thomas to Carlisle United on loan
Danny Lafferty to Shamrock Rovers for £0
Jake Eastwood to Scunthorpe United on loan
Jake Wright to Bolton Wanderers on loan
Mark Duffy to Stoke City & ADO Den Haag on loan
Ravel Morrison to Middlesbrough on loan
Kean Bryan to Bolton Wanderers on loan
Callum Robinson to West Bromwich Albion on loan
Jake Wright released

They offloaded a number of unwanted players but they received almost nothing in return, which is the only negative from their season at all really. Long term they will need to build a more sustainable transfer policy, as their wage bill increases while income stabilises, but in the short term they will be fine to continue as they are. Mark: C

Overall: A fantastic season which could have been even better but for the enforced break due to the coronavirus. They were the team who suffered most due to the stoppage as injuries disrupted their rhythm. Missing out on Europe for next season might turn out to be a good thing due to the small size of their squad and how badly injuries disrupted their run in. Mark: A

8. Arsenal

Ins
Nicolas Pepe from LOSC Lille for £72m
William Saliba from Saint-Etienne for £27m
Kieran Tierney from Celtic for £24.3m
David Luiz from Chelsea for £7.83m
Pablo Mari from Flamengo on loan for £7.2m loan fee
Gabriel Martinelli from Ituano for £6.03m
Cedric Soares from Southampton on loan
Dani Ceballos from Real Madrid on loan

It was a very mixed bag of transfers, huge amounts wasted on Pepe, Mari and Luiz. Then there was Tierney who would have pretty much missed the season but for the lengthy stop due to the virus. Saliba looks a fantastic signing for the future, as does Martinelli, but is that enough to make up for the huge fee blown on Pepe? Mark: D-

Outs
Alex Iwobi to Everton for £27.36m
Krystian Bielik to Derby County for £7.38m
Laurent Koscielny to Girondins Bordeaux for £4.5m
David Ospina to Napoli for £3.15m
Henrikh Mkhitaryan to AS Roma on loan for £2.79m loan fee
Carl Jenkinson to Nottingham Forest for £1.98m
Takuma Asano to Partizan Belgrade for £900,000
Nacho Monreal to Real Sociedad for £225,000
Stephan Lichtsteiner to Augsburg for £0
Cohen Bramall to Colchester United for £0
William Saliba to Saint-Etienne on loan
Aaron Ramsey to Juventus for £0
Danny Welbeck to Watford for £0
Konstantinos Mavropanos to 1.FC Nuremberg on loan
Dejan Iliev to SKF Sered & Jagiellonia Bialystok on loan
Eddie Nketiah to Leeds United on loan
Mohamed Elneny to Besiktas on loan
Petr Cech retired

The Gunners worked a minor miracle getting any kind of fee for the woeful Iwobi and Mkhitaryan, the only issue is that the Armenian is still on their books drawing a big wage for nothing. The only real loss was Ramsey and Koscielny, both of whom wanted to leave, so it was probably best they did move. Mark: B+

Overall: While some seem to think the FA Cup rescued their season, to me finishing 8th in the league, with absolutely no signs of anything having changed in terms of them being able to defend, is a terrible season for a club that is meant to be challenging the top 4. If anything they look further away from being a title challenger than ever. Even worse, from the fans' point of view, must be that once again they are below bitter rivals Spurs, despite them also having a poor season. The only bright spark is the appointment of Arteta, which has brought the fans onside, even if he has shown little sign of improving anything yet. Mark: D-

7. Wolverhampton Wanderers

Ins
Raul Jimenez from Benfica for £34.2m
Patrick Cutrone from AC Milan for £19.8m
Daniel Podence from Olympiacos for £17.64m
Pedro Neto from Lazio for £16.11m
Leander Dendoncker from RSC Anderlecht for £12.42m
Bruno Jordao from Lazio for £8.01m
Luke Matheson from Rochdale for £990,000
Renat Dadashov from Estoril for £450,000
Leonardo Campana from Barcelona (Ecuador) for £0
Jesus Vallejo from Real Madrid on loan

An excellent transfer window, mainly due to the arrival of Jimenez on a permanent deal. The team and squad showed real improvement thanks to the signings. Mark: A-

Outs
Ivan Cavaleiro to Fulham on loan for £5.31m loan fee then permanent for £10.62m
Kortney Hause to Aston Villa for £3.06m
Patrick Cutrone to Fiorentina on loan for £2.7m loan fee
Jack Ruddy to Ross County for £0
Michal Zyro to Korona Kielce for £0
Ethan Ebanks-Landell to Shrewsbury Town for £0
Luke Matheson to Rochdale on loan
Ryan Bennett to Leicester City on loan
Sylvain Deslandes to ACS Arges for £0
Leo Bonatini to Vitoria Guimaraes on loan
Bright Enobakhare to Wigan Athletic on loan then released
Renat Dadashov to Pacos Ferreira on loan
Will Norris to Ipswich Town on loan
Rafa Mir to Nottingham Forest & SD Huesca on loan
Connor Ronan to Blackpool on loan
Helder Costa to Leeds United on loan
Jesus Vallejo to Granada on loan
Roderick Miranda to Famalicao on loan
Harry Burgoyne released
Jordan Graham to Gillingham on loan

They lost no one important to the squad, but they did not recoup anything like as much as they spent. That is their one issue, not getting in enough money, otherwise it would have been an excellent window. Mark: C+

Overall: Another good season with Wolves looking like a club progressing towards becoming a regular European competitor. While they did just miss out this time, they are putting the cat amongst the pigeons and have turned the regular top 6 into a top 7. It is a sign of their progress that some even see 7th as a disappointment. Mark: C-

6. Tottenham Hotspur

Ins
Tanguy Ndombele from Olympique Lyonnaise for £54m
Steven Bergwijn from PSV Eindhoven for £27m
Ryan Sessegnon from Fulham for £24.3m
Giovani Lo Celso from Real Betis on loan for £14.4m loan fee
Jack Clarke from Leeds United for £9.9m
Gedson Fernandes from Benfica on loan for £4.05m loan fee
Michel Vorm free agent

On paper they brought in some excellent players of the kind they needed to improve their team, though they did pay heavily for them. The issue was that the players failed to make enough of an impression on the team to justify their price tags just yet, though there were some promising signs. Mark: C+

Outs
Christian Eriksen to Inter Milan for £24.3m
Kieran Trippier to Atletico Madrid for £19.8m
Vincent Janssen to Monterrey for £8.1m
Georges-Kevin N'Koudou to Besiktas for £3.6m
Danny Rose to Newcastle United on loan for £1.8m loan fee
Cameron Carter-Vickers to Stoke City & Luton Town on loan
Josh Onomah to Fulham for £0
Victor Wanyama to Montreal Impact for £0
Fernando Llorente to Napoli for £0
Jack Clarke to Leeds United & Queens Park Rangers on loan
Kyle Walker-Peters to Southampton on loan
Michel Vorm released

They managed to clear out unhappy and unwanted players, so all in all a good window. Mark: B-

Overall: Despite the good transfer window, on the pitch Spurs failed to make any progress and looked, at times, to be going backwards as a team. They did bring in some good young talent to improve the squad for the long term, but those players need to finally show what they can do on a consistent basis. This season was a disappointment as the team failed to reach the top four and Champions League qualification. Mark: D-

5. Leicester City

Ins
Youri Tielemans from Monaco for £40.5m
Ayoze Perez from Newcastle United for £30.06m
Dennis Praet from Sampdoria for £17.28m
James Justin from Luton Town for £6.03m
Ryan Bennett from Wolverhampton Wanderers on loan
Callum Hulme from Bury for £0

The Foxes have continued to invest heavily in building their squad, as they look to win another Premier League title. It is questionable whether they spent the money as well as they could have done, particularly in the case of Perez. Mark: C-

Outs
Harry Maguire to Manchester United for £78.3m
Callum Elder to Hull City for £1.35m
Shinji Okazaki to Malaga for £0
Rachid Ghezzal to Fiorentina on loan
Fousseni Diabate to Amiens on loan
George Thomas to ADO Den Haag on loan
Andy King to Huddersfield Town & Rangers on loan
Filip Benkovic to Bristol City on loan
Islam Slimani to Monaco on loan
Danny Simpson released

They got an obscene fee for an average defender but little else. That is something they cannot rely on being able to do each season. With the continous investment they are undergoing, they will have to make ends meet at some point if they are to compete regularly in Europe. Mark: B+

Overall: What started off as an exceptional season fell off the tracks after Christmas and they lost their way. While 5th would usually be a very good season for the Foxes, the way it ended with the team folding just when it mattered will leave a bitter taste in the mouths of supporters. It is a worry as this is a continued pattern for manager Brendan Rodgers teams, whenever the pressure is on they always seem to fail to get the results needed. He will have to change that soon or it will begin to prey on the minds of the players. Mark: C

4. Chelsea

Ins
Mateo Kovacic from Real Madrid for £40.5m

A difficult transfer window due to a transfer embargo meaning they could only make the Kovacic loan deal into a permanent one. There was little they could do. Mark: C+

Outs
Eden Hazard to Real Madrid for £103.5m
Ola Aina to Torino for £8.82m
Tomas Kalas to Bristol City for £8.1m
David Luiz to Arsenal for £7.83m
Michael Hector to Fulham for £5.31m
Kenneth Omeruo to Leganes for £4.5m
Tiemoue Bakayoko to Monaco on loan for £2.7m loan fee
Ethan Ampadu to RB Leipzig on loan for £585,000 loan fee
Victor Moses to Inter Milan on loan for £194,000 loan fee
Eduardo to Braga for £0
Todd Kane to Queens Park Rangers for £0
Gary Cahill to Crystal Palace for £0
Davide Zappacosta to AS Roma on loan
Kenedy to Getafe on loan
Abdul Rahman Baba to RCD Mallorca on loan
Lucas Piazon to Rio Ave on loan
Danilo Pantic to Fehervar on loan
Jamal Blackman to Vitesse Arnhem & Bristol Rovers on loan
Matt Miazga to Reading on loan
Danny Drinkwater to Burnley & Aston Villa on loan
Lewis Baker to Fortuna Dusseldorf on loan
Rob Green retired

It is shocking how many players nowhere near good enough for Chelsea that they still have on their books. The number that continue to be farmed out on loan each year is incredible. This season they did manage to reduce them, with the embargo meaning no one could come in. They also finally ended the tedious 'I want Madrid' saga with Hazard and got a very good fee for him. Yes he was, when he wanted to be, a fantastic player, but he was disruptive and it was time for him to go. It was a very good window for Chelsea. Mark: B+

Overall: About as good as could be expected for Chelsea in Lampard's first season. He was just about the only option they had to keep the fans onside and bring the club together while they got past the transfer embargo. He turned out to be a decent option, though he could not quite hold it together when it mattered in the cups. That is the issue long term, that need to produce when the chips are down. So far Lampard has yet to show he can do that in his career and it could become an anchor weighing him down if he does not get over this hurdle soon. Lampard needs a trophy to build on. For now though, top 4 was the aim and he achieved it. Mark: C+

3. Manchester United

Ins
Harry Maguire from Leicester City for £78.3m
Bruno Fernandes from Sporting CP for £49.5m
Aaron Wan-Bissaka from Crystal Palace for £49.5m
Daniel James from Swansea City for £15.3m
Odion Ighalo from Shanghai Shenhua on loan

They may have overpaid, as clubs always put the price up for a club so rich, and Maguire is not the answer at the back, but there is no doubt the signings improved the team. A very expensive step forward, but it was a step forward. Mark: C-

Outs
Romelu Lukaku to Inter Milan for £66.6m
Chris Smalling to AS Roma on loan for £2.7m loan fee
Matteo Darmian to Parma for £2.23m
Ashley Young to Inter Milan for £1.53m
James Wilson to Aberdeen for £0
Ander Herrera to Paris Saint-Germain for £0
Antonio Valencia to LDU Quito for £0
Joel Pereira to Heart of Midlothian on loan
Alexis Sanchez to Inter Milan on loan
Cameron Borthwick-Jackson to Oldham Athletic & Tranmere Rovers on loan
Marcos Rojo to Estudiantes on loan

They managed to get a good fee for Lukaku and clear out a number of unwanted players. Added to that Smalling's loan increased his value and will no doubt ensure a better fee in the next window. It is hard to judge this window as anything but a success for United. Mark: B

Overall: This is a difficult one to judge, at times United were dreadful, defending deep and hitting on the break, but the arrival of Bruno improved the team no end. They ended the season in a position that was about as good as they could have hoped for, but they still got just 66 points and were there as much because the rest failed as because they succeeded. All of that makes the cup competitions the only fair way to judge their season overall, they were in a good place to lift one and yet failed to do so. It was a case of so near and yet so far. Mark: C

2. Manchester City

Ins
Rodri from Atletico Madrid for £63m
Joao Cancelo from Juventus for £58.5m
Angelino from PSV Eindhoven for £10.8m
Pedro Porro from Girona for £10.8m
Zack Steffen from Columbus Crew for £6.14m
Ryotaro Meshino from Gamba Osaka for £900,000
Scott Carson from Derby County on loan

As usual, lots of full-backs arrived for far more than they were worth and flopped. Only Rodri even managed to earn himself a regular place in the team and he did not prove to be an improvement, so far, over Fernandinho. As usual, they failed to fix their central defensive issues as well. It was yet another surprisingly poor window for a club that is lucky enough to be in a strong position to begin with. Mark: E

Outs
Danilo to Juventus for £33.3m
Douglas Luiz to Aston Villa for £15.12m
Fabian Delph to Everton for £8.55m
Manu Garcia to Sporting Gijon for £3.6m
Pablo Mari to Flamengo for £1.53m
Vincent Kompany to RSC Anderlecht for £0
Luke Brattan to Sydney for £0
Anthony Caceres to Sydney for £0
Eliaquim Mangala to Valencia for £0
Arijanet Muric to Nottingham Forest on loan
Philippe Sandler to RSC Anderlecht on loan
Aleix Garcia to Mouscron on loan
Ryotaro Meshino to Heart of Midlothian on loan
Pedro Porro to Real Valladolid on loan
Marlos Moreno to Portimonense on loan
Tosin Adarabioyo to Blackburn Rovers on loan
Yangel Herrera to Granada on loan
Patrick Roberts to Middlesbrough & Norwich City on loan
Zack Steffen to Fortuna Dusseldorf on loan
Ante Palaversa to KV Oostende on loan
Angelino to RB Leipzig on loan

The loss of captain Kompany was huge, even though he struggled with injuries he was still the key leader at the club and they have no one to replace him. Other than that, they mainly offloaded a few expensive, and not so expensive, mistakes at a loss. With his age and injury problems even losing Kompany should have been a positive in this window, it is only down to the failings in recruitment that him going is not seen in a good light. Mark: D

Overall: It is a sign of how far City have come that finishing second and winning the Community Shield and League Cup is seen as a failure. It may well be harsh, but that is how they must be judged, second is simply not good enough. Worse is the failings in Europe, when Pep's appointment was specifically intended to be the catalyst for success in Europe. Once again he has been almost solely responsible for them losing the chance to lift a European trophy. The owners have invested a lot of money for European success, previous managers have already shown that domestic success is attainable, so you have to wonder when will the faith in Pep slip? Or will he finally manage to get the European trophy so badly craved by the City faithful. Mark: D

1. Liverpool

Ins
Takumi Minamino from RB Salzburg for £7.65m
Sepp van den Berg from PEC Zwolle for £1.71m
Andy Lonergan from Middlesbrough for £0
Adrian from West Ham United for £0

On the face of it, the transfer window was not a good one for the Reds. Minamino did not even join until January, so the summer seemed a bit of a failure. The only area of need filled was a back up keeper, which turned out to be a key signing during the season, as Alisson missed games through injury and suspension. In the main Adrian filled in ably and enabled the team to maintain its incredible form. It could have been a disaster, with not one player coming in to strengthen the first team. Mark: D-

Outs
Danny Ings to Southampton for £19.98m
Ryan Kent to Rangers for £6.48m
Simon Mignolet to Club Brugge for £6.3m
Harry Wilson to Bournemouth on loan for £2.43m loan fee
Marko Grujic to Hertha Berlin on loan for £1.8m loan fee
Taiwo Awoniyi to 1.FSV Mainz 05 on loan for £450,000 loan fee
Alberto Moreno to Villareal for £0
Daniel Sturridge to Trabzonspor for £0
Ben Woodburn to Oxford City on loan
Ovie Ejaria to Reading on loan
Connor Randall released
Adam Bogdan released
Sheyi Ojo to Rangers on loan

The outs saw good fees received and did not weaken the team at all, other than the loss of Ings as a back up forward. On the whole it was a very good window for Liverpool. Mark: B

Overall: What can you say? A fantastic season which saw the end of 30 years of failing to win the Premier League. It was not just a win, the team trampled over all comers until it was won. It was probably the most dominant league title of my lifetime. The only low points came in the cups, but not before the youngsters had provided some incredible moments. All in all, this season was all about getting that league trophy and so has to be seen as a complete success. Mark: A+

Written by Tris Burke August 20 2020 17:14:20