**The summer transfer window is now over. Teams in the Premier League have assembled their squads, but who conducted the best business this time around?**
We’ll aim to find this out today, when we grade the performance of every club in England’s top division over the course of the summer. Who do you think should receive top marks and who should be bottom of the class?
Honestly, Arsenal didn’t need to register anything more than a ‘C’ grade in the transfer window this summer. Having won the league last season, their squad was not in need of any major overhaul. Still, in bringing Bruno Guimaraes, Christos Tzolis and Ezri Konsa on board, they’ve undoubtedly become stronger.
A troubling window for Aston Villa. Five key players left the club this summer, including Morgan Rogers, who is practically irreplaceable. Sure, they’ve made some decent signings, especially so in the case of Johan Manzambi, but Unai Emery’s men are a weakened outfit in comparison to last season.
Bournemouth enjoyed a great start to the transfer window, signing Antonio Silva for just £26 million, but didn’t do much in the weeks that followed. Furthermore, we must dock them points for losing Marcos Senesi, one of their best players last season, on a free transfer.
All in all, a brilliant window for Brentford. None of their top players from last season departed the club, while they’ve made some obvious improvements in the interim. Particularly, bringing in Mamadou Sangare looks to be an inspired piece of business.
There have been some obvious negatives for Brighton to mull over this summer, but most of them have been ameliorated. Jan Paul van Hecke left the club, which was a big blow, but Luka Vuskovic was brought in to soften the impact. Losing Carlos Baleba could prove to be crucial, though – this is one loss that wasn’t accounted for.
It’s very hard to grade Chelsea’s summer window, due to the amount of business conducted. With so many players having flown in and out of their doors, we’ll have to see how they all settle in – but, on account of their strong start, we feel emboldened enough to give them a ‘B’.
Right now, with two losses from two games in the Premier League thus far, Coventry City look ill-equipped to launch a successful survival campaign. Taiwo Awoniyi may prove to be a good signing, but he hasn’t hit the ground running. Likewise, Carl Rushworth and Gustavo Hamer were also decent additions, but will they be enough?
Crystal Palace fans are understandably worried after their team was gutted in the summer. Daniel Munoz and Maxence Lacroix both left the club, neither being replaced particularly well. Still, they made a couple of decent free signings – namely Ben Chilwell and Takehiro Tomiyasu, who could prove to be canny pickups.
A desperately poor summer window from Everton. So many false starts, so many shattered dreams. Fair enough, they brought in Jack Grealish on loan again and upgraded upon Dwight McNeil by signing Brennan Johnson, but losing Iliman Ndiaye without a real replacement could be a killer blow for the Toffees.
Again, it’s hard to rank Fulham’s window, due to the amount of uncertainty around players they’ve signed. We’re going to give them a ‘D’ grade, though – losing Harry Wilson on a free transfer was a bitter pill to swallow. Losing Sasa Lukic wasn’t ideal, either.