Morgan Rogers, Mamadou Sangare and Konstantinos Tzolakis
The signings of the season so far...
Which new players have made the biggest impact in the Premier League this season and what would it look like if we put them all in one team?
To construct our XI, we’ve used average ratings from WhoScored and fit them into a formation to include the best players possible.
That means a 3-4-2-1 formation for now but we’ll be keeping this fluid as the season progresses…
GK: Konstantinos Tzolakis (Hull City) – 7.57 Hull City have made a far better start to the season than any of us imagined. There were some shouts that they could rival Derby’s record for the lowest number of points in a Premier League season; in reality, they’re more than halfway to making a mockery of those predictions after just three games.
The fact they seem to have unearthed a goalkeeper they can depend upon has certainly helped. A £20m signing from Olympiacos, Tzolakis has kept clean sheets in each of his first three Premier League games – and two of those were against sides in the Champions League this season.
CB: Maxence Lacroix (Chelsea) – 7.06 After years of focusing too heavily on youth, Chelsea wised up to their need for more experience this summer, taking it to unexpected extremes with the signings of Jordan Henderson and Danny Welbeck but finding a sensible middle ground with Lacroix.
The 26-year-old has become an instant starter at Chelsea and even marked his debut with an assist against Fulham.
CB: Tarik Muharemovic (Leeds United) – 7.38 Leeds spent big on Muharemovic this summer and the imposing left-footed centre-back has been ever-present for them so far.
He made the third-most clearances in Serie A last season with Sassuolo and has continued doing what he does best in the Premier League, also currently ranking third for clearances this season.
CB: Nobel Mendy (Hull City) – 7.43 Another Hull representative and the second left-footer in our back three, Mendy became the Tigers’ record signing when he joined from Rayo Vallecano.
He was brought in for his defensive ability, but enjoyed a dream debut at the other end by scoring against Manchester United.
RB: Anan Khalaili (Crystal Palace) – 7.33 Crystal Palace’s new wing-back leads the early running for most tackles in the Premier League this season with 17 so far – at least five more than anyone else.
He has relatively big boots to fill after Daniel Munoz’s exit and has only been on the winning side once so far, but has made an encouraging start.
CM: Elliot Anderson (Manchester City) – 7.25 You’d hope so for all that money.
In fairness, Anderson isn’t doing a bad job of silencing those of us who predicted he’d be a massive flop. And there were lots of us.
He ranks highly for passes, touches and interceptions this season after starting all three of Manchester City’s Premier League games so far.
He now faces that age-old challenge of having to add goals and assists to his game to truly win over the naysayers. Work in progress.
CM: Mamadou Sangare (Brentford) – 7.15 We’re not sure Sangare passes off as a shrewd signing given he cost more than anyone Brentford have ever bought before, but boy, he looks a find.
The £39m-or-so man (reports vary on the actual size of the fee) has started all three of Brentford’s games so far, taking just 12 minutes to make an assist on his debut against Spurs.
He’s also one of the top interceptors in the Premier League this season.
LB: Andy Robertson (Tottenham Hotspur) – 6.54 Bit of a curveball here and the lowest-rated player fitting into our XI. Nobody was exactly screaming about Robertson as a signing of the season contender when Tottenham picked him up on a free transfer after his Liverpool exit.
But it was a sensible enough move to add some experience into a squad bereft of genuine leaders.
Spurs are struggling again so far this season, with Robertson starting their first two games and coming on in their third.
AM: Morgan Rogers (Chelsea) – 7.58 You’d hope so for all that money.
Currently the highest-rated new signing of them all, Rogers has been involved in a goal in each of his three Premier League appearances for Chelsea so far.
Goals against Fulham and Arsenal have bookended his assist against Brighton. A bright start, then, for the most expensive English player in football history. Yes it still sounds weird.
AM: Christos Tzolis (Arsenal) – 7.00 In a summer of extortionate spending, the parameters for a bargain became blurry. But a £34m investment in Tzolis looks to be paying off already for Arsenal.
After his impactful debut in the Community Shield, it took until his third Premier League appearance for his next goal contribution, an assist against Chelsea.
Arsenal sold Gabriel Martinelli for a lot more money than they paid for Tzolis, but they may have made an upgrade.
CF: Gonzalo Garcia (Fulham) – 6.97 Big striker moves were few and far between in the Premier League this summer, unlike last year with your Alexander Isaks, your Benjamin Seskos, your Viktor Gyokereseseses.
Garcia following Alvaro Arbeloa to a dysfunctional Fulham from Real Madrid would have been small noise last summer, but was a fairly big deal in the year it actually happened.
Garcia headed in his first Fulham goal on his Premier League debut against Chelsea, but it is his goal only so far.