When clubs make transfer acquisitions, their biggest dream is to bring in players who make an immediate impact. While clubs in the Premier League and abroad invest in players for long-term return, having someone who steps right in and makes a difference both puts a club at ease that their investment will be fulfilled and offers the satisfaction of early results.
Premier League clubs were busy making signings this past summer transfer window, and here is a ranking of the five best players to make a considerable impact already in the 2025/26 season.
5. Sunderland CB Omar Alderete
Signed from Getafe for just 10 million pounds, Omar Alderete has proven to be one of the best signings of the summer 2025 transfer window thus far, even as he joined Sunderland as a relative unknown to the vast majority of Premier League fans.
I highly doubt most people watching the English top flight had even heard of Alderete, let alone watched him at highly defensive La Liga underdogs Getafe. But Alderete was a great leader in defense and a major key to Getafe’s success, and he’s made a very successful transition to the Premier League, which will perhaps inspire lower-table English sides to take punts on star defenders in Spain.
Alderete has helped buoy Sunderland into the top half of the Premier League table, and, on paper, they are even in top five contention. Sunderland have had a number of standouts to start the season, particularly defensively, but the best of the bunch has honestly been Alderete thus far.
The 28-year-old Paraguayan international is averaging a clean 1.8 tackles, 2.0 interceptions, and 4.5 clearances per game with a pass completion percentage of around 86 percent, making him one of the best all-around center backs in the league thus far.
He looks even better than he did at Getafe, and for just 10 million pounds, you really have to say that Sunderland got arguably the biggest steal of the summer transfer window based on what we’ve seen through four matchdays in the Premier League.
4. Arsenal DM Martin Zubimendi
Martin Zubimendi was the star of the afternoon this past weekend as Arsenal dispatched Nottingham Forest 3-0. That’s a highly impressive result for the Gunners, considering Forest were competing for a top five spot in the Premier League all the way up to the very end of the last season.
The Real Sociedad defensive midfielder is forming a formidable midfield anchorship with long-standing Premier League standout Declan Rice, and you really have to say that this pairing is starting to live up to its high-priced billing.
Arsenal were so keen on activating the 60 million euro release clause in Zubi’s contract with La Real that they had actually prioritized him over a striker, and after watching his quality in front of goal against Forest, well, you can understand why they were so bullish.
Zubi has been as good as advertised in the passing game and is averaging 2.5 tackles and interceptions per game defensively, too. Though you would have expected the highly technical and tactical Zubimendi to need a lengthy adjustment period to life in the Premier League, the Spanish international has taken wonderfully to his new environment.
And the best part of that for Arsenal is since he’s only expected to get markedly better, we could see Zubimendi blow up and fulfill his world-class potential with a team that has much, much more individual quality than even his sides in San Sebastian did.
3. Chelsea CF Joao Pedro
At 60 million pounds, Chelsea didn’t spend nearly as much to sign Joao Pedro as the other Big Six Premier League clubs spent on their strikers like Hugo Ekitike, Alexander Isak, Benjamin Sesko, and Viktor Gyokeres.
Given Pedro was already an established starting Premier League center forward at Brighton – and a highly underrated one, at that – this was already a big win for the Blues.
But the fact that Joao Pedro is outperforming all of those guys all-around is yet another feather in Todd Boehly’s cap and an example that for as much as Chelsea are memed on, they have done a wonderful job of recruiting high-caliber, young players.
An intelligent modern center forward, Pedro has fit an exciting, versatile, and multi-faceted young Chelsea attack with weapons like Alejandro Garnacho, Cole Palmer, and Estevao Willian wonderfully well.
Chelsea have a new look about them, and Pedro is already making a significant difference with two goals and three assists in four starts, dropping deep and moving all about the pitch like a Swiss Army Knife in the attack.
2. Everton LW Jack Grealish
Arguably no single player has elevated his team’s hopes more than Jack Grealish, who has turned Everton into a top-half team to start the 2025/26 Premier League season, and if the Toffees can manage to keep this up, they will have serious aspirations of threatening for European football after years of being threatened with relegation.
In truth, this is the level Everton should have always been aiming for, and Grealish has single-handedly brought the moxie back to Everton. The only thing holding back his ranking, really, is the fact that Evertonians shouldn’t be falling in love with him since he’s only a loan signing.
Now, the chances of Grealish earning a permanent transfer to Goodison Park should be theoretically high at the end of the season, since he has no viable future at Manchester City with their younger, new-look attack. Meanwhile, he’s been money for Everton.
Grealish and Iliman Ndiaye are creating one of the best winger partnerships in the Premier League, and if one of Beto or Thierno Barry proves to be a consistent solution and source of goals up top in the post-Richarlison world, then Everton have enough juice to make a sneaky run.
1. Tottenham RW Mohammed Kudus
Tottenham’s new star, Mohammed Kudus has been one of the best players in the Premier League to start the 2025/26 season, and Spurs have won three of their first four games.
Spurs are built on the back of an elite center back partnership and vastly upgraded their midfield, too, but Kudus is the clear centerpiece attacker under Thomas Frank, and even as another new signing, Xavi Simons, gets integrated, Kudus figures to be the focal point.
What makes Kudus so special is that he is the quintessential Spurs winger. He is athletic, exciting, inventive, relentless, willing to press, brave with his dribbling, and intelligent at finding the creativ solutions.
Any other forward benefits significantly from working with Kudus, who eases pressure off the entire team out wide and has already shown an impressive array of crosses to inflict serious damage on the opposition.
There are cheaper signings on this list, like Grealish and Alderete, but when it comes to long-term impact, the 25-year-old winger is someone who is coming to Tottenham right before his prime starts and has quickly helped change the fortunes of a club that finished 17th in the Premier League last season.
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.