The Daily Mirror have today ranked all twenty Premier League teams based on the success they’ve enjoyed within the transfer market this summer. We’ve summarised the list for you below and, in some cases, argued where they might have got it right and wrong.
Take a look and see if you agree…
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20) Sunderland
The Black Cats have been busy as they attempt to guard against relegation. Unfortunately, they haven’t impressed many of their critics with their array of signings. Two former Liverpool players – Fabio Borini and Sebastian Coates – are among their nine new faces – while one-time Reds target Yann M’Vila is perhaps their best buy.
19) Norwich City
The newly promoted Canaries don’t look much strong that when they went down in the summer of 2014. On the plus side, they’ve managed to add six new players, including Liverpool defender Andre Wisdom on loan. Other notable additions include West Brom pair Graham Dorrans and Youssouf Mulumbu and West Ham’s Matt Jarvis.
18) Bournemouth
Another newly promoted side who are likely to be facing a long and testing season. For the Cherries, the biggest priority was always likely to be holding on to the prize assets of their promotion campaign. However, they have picked up Tyrone Mings from Ipswich Town in a club record deal and experienced Everton man Sylvain Distin.
17) Watford
Rounding off the promoted trio are Watford, who have been very busy yet again under their new manager. An incredible 13 new players have joined, including former Tottenham man Etienne Capoue, ex-West Ham midfielder Valon Behrami and Chelsea utility man Nathan Ake. Will they all be able to learn to play together?
16) Newcastle United
The Magpies have done okay and look to be ranked a little harshly by the Mirror. Their performances so far this season under Steve McLaren have certainly been a lot better than they were last year with Carver, and the new signings have played an important part in that. Georginio Wijnaldum and Florian Thauvin both look good buys.
15) Aston Villa
Tim Sherwood, aided by the sales of Christian Benteke to Liverpool and Fabian Delph to Manchester City, has enjoyed a solid transfer window. The signings of City duo Scott Sinclair and Micah Richards look smart, while Rudy Gestede and rumoured Liverpool target Adama Traore should provide plenty of attacking flair.
14) Manchester United
It’s been a fairly bizarre window from our old rivals. Louis van Gaal could easily have been playing Football Manager when he signed Anthony Martial (who?) in a £36m deal, while Bastian Schweinsteiger appears to have been signed on reputation alone. Matteo Darmian, Morgan Schneiderlin and Memphis Depay look decent though.
13) Chelsea
Jose Mourinho appears, unusually, to have panicked somewhat in this window. Pedro looks a good buy while Asmir Begovic will be a decent back-up goalkeeper, but quite why he spent the money he did on Radamel Falcao, Baba Rahman and Papy Djilobodji is anyone’s guess. Their squad looks weaker than this time last year.
12) Tottenham Hotspur
Spurs did well to steal Toby Alderweireld away from Southampton, while Son Heung-Min from Bayer Leverkusen also looks like a very good signing. They’ve also managed to scrap a lot of the deadwood from the managerial reign of Andre Villas-Boas, ditching Etienne Capoue, Younes Kaboul, Vlad Chiriches, Paulinho and Roberto Soldado.
11) Everton
Our neighbours have had a typically quiet window, but have still managed to do some decent business and hang on to all of their top stars. Tom Cleverley and Gerard Deulofeu will add some much needed depth to their squad, while keeping the likes of Ross Barkley and John Stones must be considered a huge measure of success.
10) West Ham United
The Hammers of been buying players like it’s going out of style – and look to have done very well. Dimitri Payet is arguably one of the signings of the summer, while Angelo Ogbonna was on the bench in a Champions League final just a couple of months ago. Deadline day loan deals for Alex Song and Victor Moses complete a good window.
9) Leicester City
The surprise package of the season so far, having picked up two wins and two draws from their first four games, and they’ve been helped by some good work in the transfer window by their new manager. Gokhan Inler is a great buy for them, while Nathan Dyer from Swansea looks an astute last minute deal. They’ll be sad to lose Cambiasso.
8) Arsenal
We’re not quite sure how the Mirror have managed to rate the Gunners so highly, especially considering that they were the only club in Europe’s top five major leagues not to sign an outfield player. Still, Petr Cech is admittedly an improvement in a position they’ve struggled in over recent years. And who knows, maybe they don’t need a striker!
7) Southampton
Despite losing Morgan Schneiderlin and Nathaniel Clyne, the Saints have responded well once again, signing Cedric Soares from Sporting Lisbon and Jordy Clasie from Feyenoord. Virgil van Dijk, from Celtic, was a great one to pick up on deadline day, while Maarten Stekelenburg should be a good back-up keeper for them as well.
6) Liverpool
Here we are. The Mirror praise our crop of seven major signings and point out that Christian Benteke, James Milner and Nathaniel Clyne are all proven at this level already. They question our lack of leadership, following Steven Gerrard’s summer departure, and suggest we should have gone in for a centre-back. No arguments here.
5) West Bromwich Albion
The Baggies have boosted their forward line with Salomon Rondon, James McClean and former Liverpool striker Rickie Lambert, while they’ve also picked up two new centre-backs in James Chester and Jonny Evans. Serge Gnabry has joined on loan from Arsenal and has the ability to excite the fans as well if he can find some form.
4) Stoke City
Hard to argue much with this one. Xherdan Shaqiri and Ibrahim Afellay join Bojan and Mame Biram Diouf in a truly exciting front line – one that would have had most of us drooling on Football Manager a few years ago. They’ve also added former Red Glen Johnson and Chelsea midfielder Marco van Ginkel. A very impressive job.
3) Crystal Palace
Alan Pardew used his connections to score Yohan Cabaye from Paris Saint Germain – a fantastic coup for the them – while Bakary Sako has started well after joining from Wolves. They arguably lack a little bit of fire power up front, although Connor Wickham and Chelsea loanee Patrick Bamford will be hoping to change that this year.
2) Swansea City
A strange one this, as they’ve had a very quiet window. Andre Ayew and Eder have boosted their forward line and their early season form suggests that they will be typically difficult to beat this season. They have improved their squad, but not enough to score second place in this list in our humble opinion.
1) Manchester City
Providing you ignore the enigma that is Financial Fair Play, we have to admit that they’ve done well. They’ve splashed silly money yet again, but their squad is looking a lot stronger for it. Adding Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling to their forward line could make them hard to stop, while Nicolas Otamendi and Fabian Delph will provide further competition for an already packed squad.
