What makes for a successful transfer window?
If it is down to the number of signings made then Nottingham Forest’s summer of 2022 would take some beating — but presumably, the quality of those signings should be taken into account, as well as how long those players stayed and their impact, or whether they made (or saved) the club money.
Some windows just stick in supporters’ minds because a few great signings happen at once to lift morale and performances.
Whatever your criteria, our club writers have given their views on each Premier League club’s best transfer window.
Let us know your views in the comments section below.
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Best transfer window: Summer 2021
Key signings: Ben White, Aaron Ramsdale, Martin Odegaard, Takehiro Tomiyasu
Considering the club’s trajectory over the past three years, the summer of 2021 stands out. It was the first time Arsenal’s recruitment strategy had been clear for a long while, with all six signings aged 23 or under. The idea was for these players to assimilate into an already young squad and evolve as a group.
The six in question were Albert Sambi Lokonga, Nuno Tavares, Ben White, Aaron Ramsdale, Martin Odegaard and Takehiro Tomiyasu. Four of those signings can be considered successes and helped Arsenal map out their strategy for the next two summer windows, allowing them to compete for the Premier League title for the first time in years.
Art de Roche
Martin Odegaard joined Arsenal permanently in August 2021 (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Best transfer window: Summer 2023
Key signings: Pau Torres, Youri Tielemans, Moussa Diaby
It may be recency bias, but Villa’s first full summer window under Unai Emery in 2023 was striking. It was the first time in over a decade they could purchase top-tier talent.
With Villa heading into the Europa Conference League, signing players with European experience was key to Emery. They secured his first-choice centre-back Pau Torres, who has been integral in implementing an intricate possessional style.
Youri Tielemans was signed on a free transfer before Moussa Diaby became the outstanding candidate in forward positions after Villa pivoted from Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams, who was deemed out of reach. Nicolo Zaniolo and Clement Lenglet were less successful, but only signed on loan and at least added depth.
Villa recruited three key players for a combined fee of around £76million ($98.4m at today’s rates), forming the spine of a team that qualified for the Champions League.
Jacob Tanswell
Youri Tielemans was signed on a free transfer from Leicester City (George Wood/Getty Images)
Best transfer window: Summer 2023
Key signings: Tyler Adams, Alex Scott, Luis Sinisterra (loan)
Under new owner Bill Foley, Bournemouth had aggressive aspirations last summer. They no longer intended to be viewed as Premier League minnows. Instead, they wanted to recruit upward: signing young, high-ceiling talent from the continent and beyond.
Bournemouth signed nine players for around £86million, including USMNT captain Tyler Adams, who, despite being hampered with injury, was a statement of intent at the time, from a footballing and commercial perspective.
Sought-after talents such as Alex Scott, Luis Sinisterra (loan) and Milos Kerkez joined, showing how Bournemouth had entered a new market where they could offer more than competitors.
This led to the club recording their best top-flight points tally under new head coach Andoni Iraola.
Jacob Tanswell
Best transfer window: Summer 2019
Key signings: Pontus Jansson, Christian Norgaard, Bryan Mbeumo, David Raya
The summer of 2019 has gone down in history at Brentford. Fans were initially sceptical when they sold Neal Maupay to Brighton & Hove Albion and Ezri Konsa to Aston Villa but the money they earned from these deals funded an overhaul of Thomas Frank’s squad.
Pontus Jansson left Leeds United to join Brentford and was instantly appointed captain. He helped them earn promotion to the Premier League and is considered by the club’s senior figures to be the most important signing in their recent history. Christian Norgaard, who replaced Jansson as captain last year, arrived in the same window from Fiorentina.
Brentford spent £5.8million on Bryan Mbeumo from French side Troyes. The winger has scored 50 goals and provided 42 assists in 200 appearances. Did we forget to mention they also signed Ethan Pinnock, David Raya and Mathias Jensen?
The recruitment department’s success rate that summer was 100 per cent.
Jay Harris
Best transfer window: Summer 2022
Key signings: Pervis Estupinan, Billy Gilmour, Julio Enciso, Simon Adingra
It is tempting to go for just one deal: Moises Caicedo in January 2021. Buying the Ecuador midfielder for around £4million from Independiente del Valle and selling him to Chelsea two and half years later for a British record fee of £115m takes some beating.
For overall impact, though, the summer of 2022 comes out on top. Pervis Estupinan, Billy Gilmour, Julio Enciso and Simon Adingra came in, along with a rare loan signing, Levi Colwill from Chelsea.
The departures included Yves Bissouma to Tottenham for £25million (another handsome profit over four years) and Marc Cucurella to Chelsea for a potential £63million.
Brighton finished sixth, reaching Europe for the first time under Roberto De Zerbi with the squad inherited from Graham Potter.
Andy Naylor
Chelsea
Best transfer window: Summer 2014
Key signings: Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas, Thibaut Courtois (return from loan)
Chelsea’s recruiting masterclass in the summer of 2014 was a combination of inspired strategy and nimble opportunism.
Jose Mourinho had persuaded Diego Costa to turn down a move to Liverpool 12 months earlier while talking his own club into waiting to fill their obvious No 9 need. This prescient groundwork put Chelsea in the box seat to activate the Spain international’s £32million buyout clause at the end of a career-best season for Atletico Madrid.
Winning the race to bring Cesc Fabregas back to England from Barcelona rested on Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger declining to exercise an option to buy him back but, as soon as the door cracked open, Mourinho wasted no time turning on the charm for Chelsea.
With the return of Thibaut Courtois from a loan at Atletico, it meant Chelsea added three world-class players in a single window — and in so doing, assembled the bulk of a core that went on to win the Premier League twice in the next three seasons.
Liam Twomey
Chelsea Football Club is delighted to announce the signing of Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona: http://t.co/HisZOFO45O pic.twitter.com/TEGC0E6dhs
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) June 12, 2014
Best transfer window: Summer 2021
Key signings: Michael Olise, Marc Guehi, Joachim Andersen
There was something special about the summer of 2021 for Palace. With fresh investment in the club following the arrival of fourth general partner John Textor, money was available to revitalise an ageing squad, which was under the tutelage of manager Patrick Vieira.
In came Michael Olise from Reading for £8million, Conor Gallagher on loan from Chelsea, Marc Guehi for £18m from Chelsea, Joachim Andersen from Lyon for an initial £15m, Will Hughes from Watford for an initial £6m and Odsonne Edouard from Celtic for £14m.
Guehi, Andersen and Olise have all thrived since, while Hughes has proven to be a valuable option for the money paid. Gallagher was instrumental in a successful first season for Vieira that propelled Palace to 12th place in the Premier League and an FA Cup semi-final. Several club records were broken.
Palace profited significantly from the sale of Olise to Bayern Munich this summer. If Guehi leaves, too, they will again make substantially more than they paid.
It will be remembered as an outstanding transfer window that helped pave the way for a successful and thoroughly enjoyable season.
Matt Woosnam
Best transfer window: Summer 2013
Key signings: Romelu Lukaku, Gareth Barry, James McCarthy
The summer of 2013 represented a new dawn for Everton. After 11 years at the helm, David Moyes left to join Manchester United and was replaced by Roberto Martinez.
What followed initially was smart recruitment, a fresh wave of optimism and the club’s best Premier League points total.
The tone was set on a dramatic deadline day, with Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea) and Gareth Barry (Manchester City) joining on loan and James McCarthy arriving from Wigan in a £13million move. The trio played a major role as Martinez’s side narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification, with Lukaku’s 15 Premier League goals seeing him finish as the club’s top scorer.
The loan signing of Gerard Deulofeu (Barcelona) earlier in the window was another astute pick-up — but the less said about Arouna Kone and Antolin Alcaraz’s time at Goodison, the better.
Patrick Boyland
Romelu Lukaku shone on loan at Everton in the 2013-14 season (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Best transfer window: Summer 2008
Key signings: Bobby Zamora, Mark Schwarzer, Zoltan Gera
Fulham have had some good windows lately. The summer of 2022 helped the club re-establish themselves in the Premier League and the summer of 2020 looks particularly strong in hindsight — not least because it included deals for Joachim Andersen, Ademola Lookman, Tosin Adarabioyo, Alphonse Areola, Kenny Tete, Ola Aina, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Harrison Reed, Antonee Robinson and Mario Lemina. They have all either become fan favourites at Fulham or enjoyed success elsewhere.
But Fulham’s best window dates back to the summer of 2008. Fulham had just completed their Great Escape under Roy Hodgson and were seeking to avoid a repeat. Among their summer recruits were Andy Johnson, Bobby Zamora, John Paintsil, Dickson Etuhu, Mark Schwarzer, Zoltan Gera and David Stockdale.
That group of players would help achieve the club’s best top-flight finish (seventh), and then reach the Europa League final a year later. They also signed Chris Smalling from Maidstone, who was sold for a huge profit to Manchester United in 2010. As windows go, this was a good one.
Peter Rutzler
Ipswich
Best transfer window: Summer 2021
Key signings: Wes Burns, Conor Chaplin and Sam Morsy
Ipswich had two vital mid-season transfer windows before securing promotion to the Premier League in 1999-2000 and the Championship in 2022-23. The signings of Marcus Stewart and Martijn Reuser in 2000 and Harry Clarke, Massimo Luongo, Nathan Broadhead and George Hirst in 2023 were crucial in getting the club over the line.
But arguably the best window was the summer of 2021, which teed Ipswich up for remarkable back-to-back promotions — even though the person who helped orchestrate it was not there to witness its success.
Paul Cook and the club’s new owners made 14 permanent signings, plus a further five loans. Cook labelled himself the “demolition man” as 14 first-team members left. Cook then followed suit as he was dismissed in December.
Ipswich then surged from League One to the Premier League under Kieran McKenna, with the squad featuring eight players signed in that 2021 window. The additions of Wes Burns, Conor Chaplin and Sam Morsy were particularly crucial, as Ipswich transitioned from one of the lowest points in their history to one of the most exciting.
Ali Rampling
Best transfer window: Summer 2015
Key signings: Christian Fuchs, Robert Huth, Shinji Okazaki, N’Golo Kante
The summer of 2015 was pivotal in forming the legendary side that would go on to win that season’s Premier League title in astonishing style.
Christian Fuchs was signed on a free transfer from Schalke, £3million was paid to make Robert Huth’s half-season loan from Stoke City permanent, £7m was the price for Japan striker Shinji Okazaki of Mainz and just £5.6m was spent on a relatively unknown Caen midfielder named N’Golo Kante. Manager Claudio Ranieri even initially played the latter on the left wing.
All four would play key roles in a Leicester team that hardly changed in the entire 2015-16 season.
It wasn’t all success in that window, though. They also paid a reported £5million for Gokhan Inler from Napoli to be the replacement for Inter Milan’s 2009-10 treble-winner Esteban Cambiasso, who had refused to sign a new contract after his one season in the East Midlands, and about the same for Atalanta defender Yohan Benalouane.
Neither would make much of an impact at the club but had front-row seats to watch history being made.
Rob Tanner
An obscure N’Golo Kante joined Leicester in 2015 (Geoff Caddick/AFP via Getty Images)
Liverpool
Best transfer window: Summer 2018
Key signings: Alisson, Fabinho, Xherdan Shaqiri, Naby Keita
It has to be the summer of 2018. After the heartache of Kyiv weeks earlier, when goalkeeper Loris Karius blundered in a 3-1 Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid, Liverpool were in desperate need of a lift. An injection of quality was required to help them make the leap from contenders to trophy winners.
Holding midfielder Fabinho was signed from Monaco of France’s Ligue 1 in a £43million deal. Triggering Xherdan Shaqiri’s release clause of around £13m at relegated Stoke City was another shrewd move. Naby Keita arrived from RB Leipzig for £52.75m — 12 months after Liverpool had struck a deal for him with the German Bundesliga club.
However, the real game-changer was Alisson. Briefly, he became the most expensive goalkeeper in the world as Liverpool agreed to pay Italy’s Roma £65million. Manager Jurgen Klopp would later joke that if he had known just how good the Brazilian was, Liverpool would have happily paid twice as much. The upgrade from Karius (and Simon Mignolet, who also started more than 20 matches the previous season) was huge.
Liverpool spent the £142million they got from the January 2018 sale of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona wisely. That effectively paid for Virgil van Dijk in that window and Alisson six months later. The latter was the final piece of the jigsaw as Klopp’s side went on to be crowned Premier League, European and world champions over the next two years.
James Pearce
Manchester City
Best transfer window: Summer 2017
Key signings: Ederson, Bernardo Silva, Kyle Walker
There is a picture that would qualify as ‘going hard’ from summer 2010 which shows Roberto Mancini, Manchester City’s manager at the time, standing proudly behind new signings Aleksandar Kolarov, David Silva, Yaya Toure and Jerome Boateng. So that is tough to beat.
But how about seven years later, when City completed the second half of their Pep Guardiola era rebuild by bringing in some fundamental pieces for their subsequent successes?
Not every signing worked out (Danilo, for example) and they did not get all of their targets (including Alexis Sanchez) but they did bring in Ederson, Bernardo Silva and Kyle Walker. Those three have all made massive contributions to the cause (which just about edges out that Class of 2010).
Sam Lee
Ederson has won the title in six of his seven seasons with City (Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
Manchester United
Best transfer window: Summer 2007
Key signings: Anderson, Nani, Owen Hargreaves, Carlos Tevez (loan)
The summer of 2007 saw Manchester United build upon the squad which had won the previous season’s title with a six-point cushion. Anderson and Nani joined for a reported total of £35million from Portuguese sides Porto and Sporting Lisbon respectively. Each would bring energy, guile and athleticism to their roles. England international Owen Hargreaves arrived for £17million from Bayern Munich, bolstering the club’s defensive-midfield options.
The piece de resistance was the acquisition of Carlos Tevez on a two-season loan from West Ham. The Argentinian may have left the club in acrimonious circumstances in 2009, but for two years he was a brilliant attacking tyro for Alex Ferguson’s side; a fantastic foil for Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo in a fluid and devastating forward line. The quartet would be important players in United’s 2007-08 Premier League and Champions League double triumph.
If you want a pre-2002 summer to look at, then 1998 is a highlight. Jaap Stam, Dwight Yorke and Jesper Blomqvist all joined and were all valuable players as United won the treble in their debut season.
Carl Anka
Anderson, left, and Tevez moved to Ferguson’s United in 2007 (Andrew Yates/AFP via Getty Images)
Best transfer window: January 2022
Key signings: Kieran Trippier, Chris Wood, Bruno Guimaraes
That initial post-takeover window in early 2022 was pivotal. In a month, Newcastle morphed from losers to winners, catalysed by a level of spending so unfamiliar after previous owner Mike Ashley’s tumbleweed windows.
The first to arrive was Kieran Trippier. The deal was a confusing one. A current England international was going to leave Atletico Madrid, who won La Liga the previous season and were through to the Champions League’s knockout phase, and sign for a club who were second bottom with one win from the first 19 games and heading for the Championship? But it happened.
Then came Chris Wood, which was fine, although he’d been struggling to score for Burnley, who were also in the relegation zone, so not quite the cavalry coming over the hill. And as the deadline loomed, Bruno Guimaraes. About £40million from Lyon in France. Interesting, yeah. Good clips on YouTube, but who is he exactly? And how do you say his name? That kind of signing.
Then, right at the end: Matt Targett on loan and Dan Burn permanently. The guy from Brighton? The tall guy? Think he’s a Geordie. Is he any good? Like, good enough to keep us up?
He was. They all were. An odd bundle of signings which somehow created a team of conquerors. They changed everything.
Andrew Hankinson
Nottingham Forest
Best transfer window: Summer 2021
Key signings: Djed Spence, James Garner, Philip Zinckernagel, Max Lowe (all loans)
For people who have become used in the past couple of seasons to seeing Forest spray money around with wild abandon and the whole squad getting replaced every few months, it probably seems a bit weird to choose a window in which they barely spent a penny as their best.
It would be a bit of a stretch to say all hope had been lost among Forest fans by the summer of 2021, but after over two decades away from the Premier League, optimism was low. Steve Cooper’s arrival that September to replace the sacked Chris Hughton was the main reason for the return of that hope and optimism, but it was also the five loanees who proved vital to their eventual promotion that season.
Djed Spence, James Garner, Philip Zinckernagel and Max Lowe arrived in the summer, while Hughton was still the manager, and were later complemented in the January by Keinan Davis (the other loanee) and the free signing of Steve Cook.
Cooper then moulded this collection of largely-borrowed misfits into one of the most beloved teams in the club’s history. In some ways, it doesn’t matter what Forest have done in the past two seasons or will do in the future, few sets of players will be held as close to the fans’ hearts as those guys of 2021-22.
Nick Miller
Best transfer window: Summer 2014
Key signings: Sadio Mane, Shane Long, Dusan Tadic, Fraser Forster, Graziano Pelle
The summer of 2014 brought a scarcely believable amount of talent through the door at St Mary’s under manager Ronald Koeman. Sadio Mane, Shane Long, Dusan Tadic, Fraser Forster, Graziano Pelle, Toby Alderweireld (on loan from Atletico Madrid) and Ryan Bertrand (initially on loan from Chelsea) all arrived to help Southampton to a seventh-place finish.
Add to that shipping out two transfer record-breaking flops in Dani Osvaldo (sent on loan to Inter Milan) and Gaston Ramirez (sent on loan to Hull City) and Southampton were on course for a season that lives long in the memory for their fans.
Nancy Froston
Sadio Mane joined Southampton in 2014 (Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Tottenham Hotspur
Best transfer window: Summer 2015
Key signings: Kieran Trippier, Toby Alderweireld, Son Heung-min
In the summer of 2015, Spurs rectified the mistakes of their worst-ever window (more on that in another feature; watch this space).
Roberto Soldado returned to Spain with Villarreal, Paulinho jetted off to the Chinese Super League and Etienne Capoue joined Watford. The departures of Benjamin Stambouli, Younes Kaboul, Vlad Chiriches and Lewis Holtby completed Mauricio Pochettino’s purge at the end of his first season as the manager. Andros Townsend went too, the following January, after hardly figuring in the first half of the season.
In the other direction came Kieran Trippier from relegated Burnley, Toby Alderweireld from Atletico Madrid and Son Heung-min from Bayer Leverkusen (Kevin Wimmer and Clinton N’jie did too, but they barely made an impact).
Alderweireld was the cornerstone of Tottenham’s defence for five years alongside fellow Belgium international Jan Vertonghen, while Trippier was a reliable full-back who broke into the England squad during his time in north London. Son is the side’s captain nine years on and recently moved into fifth place on their all-time goalscoring list.
Signing Son alone made this a successful window, but the additions of Trippier and Alderweireld elevated its status to the top of the tree.
Jay Harris
Son Heung-min is presented to Spurs fans in 2015 (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)
West Ham United
Best transfer window: January 2020
Key signings: Jarrod Bowen, Tomas Soucek
An honourable mention to last summer, which saw the arrivals of Mohammed Kudus, Edson Alvarez, James Ward-Prowse and Konstantinos Mavropanos. That was Tim Steidten’s first window as technical director, and he showed how effective he could be in convincing players to join the club.
But the best window has to be January 2020, and the arrivals of Jarrod Bowen and (initially on loan) Tomas Soucek. It was David Moyes had returned the previous month for a second spell as manager, and West Ham were in a relegation fight.
Soucek and Bowen had immediate impacts, helping to ensure the club’s Premier League survival. The duo have since become key players and they committed their long-term futures last season, while Bowen has reached club legend status thanks to his winner against Fiorentina in the 2022-23 Europa Conference League final.
Roshane Thomas
Best transfer window: Summer 2018
Key signings: Willy Boly, Rui Patricio, Adama Traore, Joao Moutinho
The summer of 2018 felt significant at the time, but looking back, it is even clearer just what a watershed moment it was for Wolves.
Having won promotion the previous season under Nuno Espirito Santo, the club rejected building a Premier League squad gradually and instead leapt several years ahead. In came centre-back Willy Boly, established Portugal No 1 Rui Patricio, new record signing on the wing Adama Traore and a Rolls-Royce of a midfielder in Joao Moutinho, while promotion-winning star Diogo Jota clinched a permanent move having joined initially on loan a year earlier.
They teamed up with Ruben Neves, who had arrived earlier in the Fosun project and helped Nuno clinch that promotion.
This window heralded the start of a magical couple of years with the greatest set of players to wear the Wolves shirt in generations.
Steve Madeley
(Top photos: Getty Images)
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