Having essentially signed no-one last summer, Liverpool are in a very good position to spend big as champions, and the imminent arrival of Florian Wirtz will be striking fear into their rivals that this may be the start of a period of Premier League dominance.
And teams don’t typically get transfer windows right after winning the title. We’ve ranked every champion this century (with the season they won in brackets) by their summer transfer windows after lifting the trophy.
We have the top 10 signings by Premier League champions here as we warm to the theme…
25) Leicester (2015/16)
Nampalys Mendy (Nice, £13m), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96, £2.6m), Luis Hernandez (Sporting Gijon, free), Raul Uche Rubio (Rayo Vallecano, undisclosed), Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow, £16m), Bartosz Kapustka (Cracovia, £7.5m), Islam Slimani (Sporting, £29.7m).
It’s fair to say Mendy didn’t quite rise to the unreasonable challenge of replacing N’Golo Kante and actually, none of this bunch of misfits really rose to the challenge of playing Premier League football.
24) Chelsea (2009/10)
Yossi Benayoun (Liverpool, £5m), Matej Delac (Inter Zapresic, £2.7m), Tomas Kalac (Sigma Olomouc, £5m).
This sorry trio makes the decision to sack Carlo Ancelotti at the end of the 2010/11 season after finishing second, a year on from the double, all the more absurd.
23) Manchester City (2011/12)
Jack Rodwell (Everton, £12m), Scott Sinclair (Swansea, £8m), Maicon (Inter Milan, undisclosed), Richard Wright (Preston North End, free), Matija Nastasic (Fiorentina, undisclosed), Javi Garcia (Benfica, £16m).
City were really quite sh*t at transfers before Pep Guardiola and Txiki Begiristain arrived.
22) Manchester City (2013/14)
Fernando (Porto, £12m), Bacary Sagna (Arsenal, free), Willy Caballero (Malaga, £6m), Eliaquim Mangala (Porto, £32m), Frank Lampard (New York City, loan), Bruno Zuculini (Racing Club, £1.5m).
See, terrible.
21) Manchester United (2012/13)
Guillermo Varela (Penarol, £1m), Marouane Fellaini (Everton, £27.5m).
David Moyes was on a hiding to nothing.
20) Manchester United (1999/00)
Fabien Barthez (Monaco, £7.8m)
He was essentially proof of United being so good that even a liability for a goalkeeper couldn’t knock them off course.
19) Chelsea (2016/17)
Danny Drinkwater (Leicester, £35m), Davide Zappacosta (Torino, £23m), Alvaro Morata (Real Madrid, £60m), Willy Caballero (Manchester City, free), Antonio Rudiger (Roma, £34m), Tiemoue Bakayoko (Monaco, £40m), Ethan Ampadu (Exeter, free)
Rudiger is a big reason why Chelsea won a second Champions League, but Drinkwater and Bakayoko have got to be up there with pound-for-pound the worst midfield signings in Premier League history and Alvaro Morata’s Premier League goals cost Chelsea just shy of £4m each.
18) Chelsea (2014/15)
Pedro (Barcelona, £21.4m), Baba Rahman (FC Augsburg, £17.7m), Asmir Begovic (Stoke, £8m), Kenedy (Fluminense, £6.3m), Nathan (Atletico Paranaense, £4.5m), Papy Djilobodji (Nantes, £2.7m), Danilo Pantic (Partizan Belgrade, £1.25m), Michael Hector (Reading, Undisclosed), Radamel Falcao (AS Monaco, Loan).
We would suggest the excellent addition of Pedro from Barcelona was counteracted somewhat by them signing Baba Rahman for nearly as much money, putting him on £90,000 per week and then inexplicably extending his contract after three years, meaning his seven-year stay at Chelsea cost them nearly £33m. He made 23 appearances.
17) Manchester City (2023/24)
Savinho (Troyes, £21m), Ilkay Gundogan (Barcelona, free).
Signing a £50m player from themselves for £21m hasn’t worked out as well as many hoped/feared and Gundogan hasn’t been the Gundogan which left for Barcelona, and crucially, not a Rodri.
READ MORE: Where will Man City 2024/25 end up in the top 10 worst Premier League title defences?
16) Manchester City (2022/23)
Mateo Kovacic (£25m, Chelsea), Josko Gvardiol (£77m, RB Leipzig), Jeremy Doku (£55.5m, Rennes), Matheus Nunes (£53m, Wolves).
Kovacic has been fine and Gvardiol’s probably been the best left-back in the Premier League across his two seasons at the club, but Doku hasn’t lived up to his early promise and there’s been no promise of a positive sort from Nunes.
15) Manchester City (2020/21)
Jack Grealish (£100m, Aston Villa), Karky (£9m, Fluminense).
We’re guessing the majority would say Grealish has not been a success as Manchester City, but surely a treble is worth far more than £100m and we don’t think they would have done it without him.
14) Manchester United (2007/08)
Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham, £31m), Zoran Tosic (Partizan, £5m), Ritchie De Laet (Stoke City, £200k).
Adding Berbatov to a striker canon of Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez and Danny Welbeck was just plain greedy and speaks to a squad built to the point of not needing to sign anyone.
13) Manchester United (2008/09)
Antonio Valencia (Wigan, £16m), Michael Owen (Newcastle, free), Gabriel Obertan (Bordeaux, £3m), Mame Biram Diouf (Molde, undisclosed).
A window saved by Valencia, who was an inspired addition.
12) Arsenal (2001/02)
Gilberto Silva (Atletico Mineiro, £4.5m), Pascal Cygan (Lille, £2m).
Gilberto was a lovely footballer; Cygan less so.
11) Liverpool (2019/20)
Kostas Tsimikas (£11.7m, Olympiakos), Thiago (£20m, Bayern Munich), Diogo Jota (£41m, Wolves).
Jota has largely been excellent when fit but Liverpool surely wouldn’t have signed him had they known he would miss 99 games though injury in five years at the club. The definitely wouldn’t have signed Thiago, who missed over 100 games in four years.
10) Manchester City (2017/18)
Riyad Mahrez (£60m, Leicester), Philippe Sandler (£2.25m, PEC Zwolle), Daniel Arzani (undisclosed, Melbourne City).
We love Mahrez so, so much and will continue to bat for him being named among the Premier League’s greatest ever wingers. He makes our greatest 10 signings made by Premier League champions list.
9) Chelsea (2004/05)
Michael Essien (Lyon, £24.5m), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City, £21m), Asier Del Horno (Athletic Club, £9m), Lassana Diarra (Le Havre, £3m).
Essien proved himself well worth what was seen as a massive transfer fee for a midfielder. Wright-Phillips never quite made the grade and Del Horno is best only remembered for charging at a 19-year-old Lionel Messi and being sent off while both of them rolled around on the floor.
READ MORE: Florian Wirtz next? The last five times every Premier League club broke transfer record
8) Manchester United (2010/11)
David De Gea (Atletico Madrid, £17.8m), Phil Jones (Blackburn, £16.5m), Ashley Young (Aston Villa, £16m).
Four Player of the Year awards makes De Gea arguably one of the best indicators of United’s demise – you don’t want a goalkeeper to be your best player – but it also obviously means he was a successful signing, as was Young, and Jones too, despite a career of wholly unfair p*ss-taking.
7) Chelsea (2005/06)
Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan, £31m), John Obi Mikel (Lyn, £16m), Khalid Boulahrouz (Hamburg, £9m), Ashley Cole (Arsenal, £5m), Salomon Kalou (Feyenoord, £1.5m), Michael Ballack (Bayern Munich, free), Hilario (Nacional, free).
Cole and Ballack for a combined £5m is very good going and Kalou was a snip too. Plus we had the whole Mikel in a Manchester United shirt before signing for Chelsea story arc, which was a joy.
6) Arsenal (2003/04)
Manuel Almunia (Celta Vigo, £3.5m), Robin van Persie (Feyenoord, £2.75m), Mathieu Flamini (Marseille, £400k), Arturo Lupoli (Parma, £200k).
Incredible that Almunia cost more than Van Persie. Flamini for less than half a million isn’t bad going either.
5) Manchester United (2000/01)
Juan Sebastian Veron (Lazio, £28m), Ruud van Nistelrooy (PSV, £19m), Roy Carroll, (Wigan, £1.5m), Luke Steele (Peterborough, £400k), Laurent Blanc (Inter, free), Kieran Richardson (West Ham, free).
Veron was the British record transfer at the time and didn’t work out, but they recouped a decent wedge of that fee by duping Chelsea into signing him two years later. Van Nistelrooy entirely made up for that misstep and then some.
4) Manchester United (2002/03)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Sporting, £12m), Kleberson (Atletico Paranaense, £6.5m), Eric Djemba Djemba (Nantes, £3.5m), Tim Howard (MetroStars, £2.5m), David Bellion (Sunderland, £2m).
Quite possibly the worst transfer window of any club ever without the 936-goal elephant in the room.
3) Manchester City (2018/19)
Zach Steffen (£7.2m, Columbus Crew), Angelino (£5.3m, PSV), Rodri (£62.8m, Atletico Madrid), Joao Cancelo (£60m, Juventus), Scott Carson (loan, Derby), Pedro Porro (£11m, Girona), Ryotaro Meshino (£900,000, Gama Osaka).
A middling window without the signing of the current best footballer on the planet as they made a tidy profit on Angelino and, before the Guardiola fallout, Cancelo was arguably the best full-back in the Premier League. But Rodri makes it brilliant, particularly given all the doubts as to how they would ever replace Fernandinho.
READ MORE: Who will win the Ballon d’Or trophy in 2025? Yamal, Salah among favourites but what about PSG?
2) Manchester United (2006/07)
Anderson (Porto, £27m), Nani (Sporting, £25m), Owen Hargeaves (Bayern Munich, £17m), Carlos Tevez (West Ham, loan), Tomasz Kuszczak (West Brom, £4m).
Not at all surprising that United won the Premier League three times in four years after this window.
1) Manchester City (2021/22)
Erling Haaland (£51m, Borussia Dortmund), Stefan Ortega (free, Arminia Bielefeld), Kalvin Phillips (£45m, Leeds), Sergio Gomez (£11m, Anderlecht), Manuel Akanji (£16.7m, Borussia Dortmund).
They could have signed a team of Phillips’ and this still would have been one of the best. Haaland and Akanji from Dortmund is surely among the best double transfer window swoops in history.
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