Now that the 2025 transfer deadline has officially passed, the focus can turn fully to the 2025/26 Premier League season, which has already experienced three Matchdays and plenty of marquee fixtures, including Liverpool’s gritty 1-0 win over top title challengers Arsenal this past weekend.
There weren’t too many blockbuster deals made on deadline day, but Big Six sides Liverpool and Tottenham did reenforce their attacks with strikers Alexander Isak and Randal Kolo Muani, while Manchester City finally landed a bona fide world-class player in PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Let’s take a broader view of the 2025 summer transfer window and grade the moves each Big Six club in the Premier League made.
Manchester United
Manchester United had a very productive transfer window, because they actually went out and bought three players who considerably help the team’s attack instead of just trying to sign random young forwards without rhyme or reason.
The Red Devils need goals, above all else, and the new starting trio of Benjamin Sesko, Matheus Cunha, and Bryan Mbeumo have a clear track record of scoring goals. Or, at least, in the case of Sesko, have a documented history of goal-scoring with the upside to score even more in the future.
Mbeumo has already proven to be a difference maker with a Man of the Match display in Man United’s first win of the 2025/26 Premier League season against lowly Burnley.
Despite the positives of overhauling the attack and a promising new goalkeeper in Senne Lammens who should already be a big upgrade on what they had, Manchester United still have real structural questions in midfield and defense.
Still, you can’t realistically address every single need in one summer transfer window, and Man United did effectively address their biggest question marks. Now it’s down to Ruben Amorim to stop being so stubborn with his formation and get these players firing on all cylinders.
Grade: B
Tottenham
If you told a Tottenham Hotspur supporter before the summer transfer window started that they’d hire a manager with the personability of Ange Postecoglou but much better tactical acumen, a proven Premier League No. 6, two young attackers with world-class potential, a quality striker, and would secure the permanent signing of Mathys Tel at a rate nearly half of the original fee attached to the winter loan deal, then they would have taken that in a heartbreat.
Tottenham were humbled this past weekend by Bournemouth, but with clean sheet victories against Burnley and Manchester City on a 5-0 aggregate plus the new additions of Randal Kolo Muani and Xavi Simons – two former Bundesliga superstars – Spurs have to like their chances of reentering the top five this season.
Although Tottenham didn’t sign the Son Heung-min replacement they needed on the left wing and do have depth question marks at fullback, Spurs are in a much stronger position now than before the window started and didn’t make any overly risky signings.
They have four players who are immediate upgrades or positive pieces to the puzzle, and if Tel or Wilson Odobert can get going under Thomas Frank, missing out on Ademola Lookman and Savinho doesn’t look half as bad.
Grade: A-
Manchester City
Manchester City signed three of the biggest fish in the summer 2025 transfer window, stealing away AC Milan’s most consistent player in Tijjani Reijnders, signing French phenom Rayan Cherki from Lyon for a bargain price, and then closed the transfer window by adding Gianluigi Donnarumma to the young James Trafford as two Ederson upgrades in goal.
Every single summer transfer signing Manchester City made was smart and either improves the team immediately or in the future – or both. Man City didn’t make as many marquee signings as the other Premier League title contenders, and they run the risk of falling just as far behind Arsenal and Liverpool as they were last season, especially in midfield and defense.
But City’s goalkeeper situation will be much improved in 2025/26, and the attack is going to have that much more firepower with Reijnders and Cherki capable of playmaking at an elite level.
All in all, Manchester City helped themselves more than they hurt themselves and didn’t leave their team as vulnerable to risky transfers blowing up in their face, which is more than can be said for other clubs like Arsenal.
Grade: B-
Chelsea
Chelsea are used to being big spenders in the summer transfer window, but instead of splurging on one or two players, the Blues have moved into a new phase of their project under Todd Boehly and have instead focused on making smarter signings at lower costs.
Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Andrey Santos, Estevao Willian, Joao Pedro, Liam Delap, and Dario Essugo all didn’t break the bank, but each of these players has the potential to be one of the best in their position in the Premier League.
Pedro was, in fact, already one of the best attackers in the Premier League last season but was massively underrated at Brighton, and he’s already blown up through the first three games of the season as one of the best center forwards in world football – yes, the entire world.
Estevao, Bynoe-Gittens, and Santos were all among the best in their respective leagues last season, and Estevao is quickly proving to be a gem in the Premier League and could very well end up being the best teenage player in the top flight this season – and there are loads of talented youngsters in the Big Six these days.
Chelsea have a clear recruitment strategy focused on ascending young players with the potential to be world-class, and based on what we have seen from these signings through the Club World Cup and the start of the Premier League season, Chelsea remain on the right track after a very encouraging 2024/25 campaign and Club World Cup triumph over PSG.
The only signing that looks a bit too risky is Alejandro Garnacho from Manchester United, but if the U23 playmaker ends up breaking out a la Cole Palmer at Stamford Bridge, then Chelsea will have one of the steals of the transfer window for a 40 million pound price tag that is probably worth the flier.
Grade: A
Arsenal
Arsenal were able to land a new No. 9 in Viktor Gyokeres, who scored 38 goals for Sporting CP last season but still has a lot of doubters to prove wrong due to his rigid playing style and high flop potential in the much more competitive Premier League.
But Gyokeres is also a phenomenal athlete with the physical strength and finishing ability to be a big hit for Arsenal. There’s boom-or-bust potential and not much resale value, but considering Arsenal signed the Swedish international for less than most of the other Premier League clubs signed their new strikers, the Gunners are honestly better off with Gyokeres than without.
In addition to a new striker, Arsenal signed a world-class No. 6 in Martin Zubimendi, a gem of a center back prospect in Cristhian Mosquera, and London hero Eberechi Eze to compete with either captain Martin Odegaard in the attacking midfield or Gabriel Martinelli on the left wing.
But in all honesty, do Eze and Noni Madueke make the Arsenal starting lineup that much better for a combined price tag of around 120 million euros? And could Arsenal have spent their money more wisely this summer transfer window and targeted the attack more?
Arsenal’s starting XI looks better this season from a forward perspective with young Ethan Nwaneri coming in and Gyokeres at striker, but Arsenal should have recruited a better left winger than Eze, who isn’t a true winger. And Madueke feels like surplus when Nwaneri could just as easily be Bukayo Saka’s right wing cover.
Sometimes it seems like Arsenal’s transfer strategy is, like the Kai Havertz signing, simply throwing darts at a board randomly to see where things fall. Not only is that not how you actually play darts, but it’s also how you end up treading water year after year without making real progress towards winning a Premier League title.
Grade: C
Liverpool
Liverpool had, by far, the most active summer transfer window of any club in world football, and while they did strike out on Marc Guehi on deadline day because of a weird veiled threat Oliver Glasner made at his own management, the Crystal Palace manager’s move only means that the center back can join Liverpool for free next season – and the Reds still have one of the best center back duos in the Premier League in Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate anyway.
And now, they have the world’s finest attacking quartet, too, adding strikers Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak to goal-scoring winger archetypes Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo, who, by the way, are two of the best inverted wide creators this sport has to offer.
Ekitike has already gotten off to a sterling start at Anfield with three goal contributions in his first three games – all wins – and with the second-best pure goal-scorer in the whole Premier League now manning the middle, Ekitike will get to flex more of his creative chops on the left wing while still getting to interchange inside with the other fluidly athletic No. 9.
Liverpool came into the season with an enviable collection of midfielders before they acquired the most promising young playmaker in the world in Florian Wirtz, who honestly goes beyond “promising” at this point as a multi-time Player of the Season and the leader of a team that literally went invincible.
The Reds won the Premier League by a healthy margin last season and were the closest team to knocking PSG out of the Champions League. They spent a ton of money and thus took on a burden of risk, but players like Isak and Wirtz are the ones worth gambling on. I mean, who else would you spend big on?
Grade: A+
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2011. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has contributed to sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. Joe’s work has appeared in ESPN, Bleacher Report, and Sports Illustrated. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling, respectively.