The five teams enduring the worst summer transfer windows in the Premier League so far - and what’s gone wrong.
There will always be winners and losers in the transfer window, but this summer has been remarkable for the number of Premier League teams that have struggled to get the signings they need – and five teams, in particular, are starting to look in rather worrying shape just a week away from the start of the new season.
There’s still time between now and the end of September for these sides to get their affairs in order and do some business, but as it stands these are the clubs who need to pull their fingers out the furthest – and the reasons that they’re finding it tough to get deals over the line.
Newcastle United
Newcastle ended the 2024/25 campaign on a high, winning the League Cup and qualifying for the Champions League, but the summer has been a struggle, not least because of the ongoing situation surrounding Alexander Isak.
Liverpool first beat Newcastle to the signing of Hugo Ekitike and then unsettled Isak before low-balling with their transfer bid – and now reports suggest that they may well miss out on Benjamin Šeško as well. The result is a team without a second striker and with a first-choice forward whose head may not quite be in the game.
Even outside of the centre-forward situation, Newcastle have been repeatedly beaten to players that they’ve shown interest in and have either been forced to settle for second best (such as Aaron Ramsdale instead of James Trafford) or simply not got hold of a player at all. With Liverpool (again) showing interest in Marc Guéhi, they may miss out on their preferred centre-back as well.
It doesn’t help that director of football Paul Mitchell left earlier in the summer after less than a year in the position, and was only replaced in July by Sudarshan Gopaladesikan. The consequence has been a confused transfer policy and perhaps a failure to sell the footballing project to potential recruits – or to pay high enough wages.
Persistent grumbling about the spending restrictions placed on the club by the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules can only explain so much. Newcastle have identified the wrong targets, been beaten to the punch by teams with more clout or cash, and have arguably overpaid to sign Anthony Elanga for £55m – a good player, but an inconsistent one. Newcastle have time to refocus and make the signings they need before September, but they need to find targets that are obtainable and affordable. So far, they have failed to do that.
Bournemouth
On the one hand, the sales of Dean Huijsen, Milos Kerkez and probably Ilia Zabarnyi represent a profitable proof of concept for the Cherries’ impressive recruitment model – but on the other, the speed at which they have identified and signed replacements is deeply concerning.
Only around a third of the money earned has been spent, and while Kerkez has been replaced by Adrien Truffert from Rennes – likely a very good piece of wheeling and dealing based on Truffert’s performances in France – they could well be heading into the new season without an established centre-back pairing.
They have also failed to find a single new midfielder or striker and it’s tricky to imagine the club improving on their impressive showing last season or moving further towards a European placing without more depth and more firepower up front. They did, at least, tie Antoine Semenyo down to a new contract despite interest from several rival clubs.
Andoni Iraola appears to be taking the slow summer in his stride so far, calmly telling the media that “no team is complete right now” towards the end of July, but pre-season defeats to Manchester United and West Ham aren’t providing the impression of a team maintaining its momentum from the 2024/25 season. Two new defenders and a new forward feel like a bare minimum in the coming weeks.
Crystal Palace
While Iraola seems to be taking Bournemouth’s frustrating summer in stride, Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner has made his feelings about a turgid transfer window rather more public.
Warning that “another false start is possible” and suggesting that “we haven’t made the most of the transfer window” in an interview with the Austrian media, there is a concern that Palace could lose their manager as well as two more star players in the near future if things don’t turn around.
The likely departures of Eberechi Eze and Marc Guéhi have been hanging over the squad’s head all summer, a deal for immensely promising defender Ousmane Diomande seems to have been put on ice, and as it stands Palace only have 17 outfield players available for the start of the new campaign. Deals for back-up goalkeeper Walter Benítez and the £2m purchase of Ajax’s Borna Sosa won’t cut the mustard.
Not only will Eze and Guéhi need replacing, but there is a sense that they still need to find someone to fill the boots of Michael Olise, who left for Bayern Munich a year ago. Palace won the FA Cup and will play some form of European football next season, but with minimal squad depth and a worrying lack of fresh talent coming in, it’s hard to see that upward curve lasting for very long. The money is there, and the need is pressing, but the recruitment team have been working in slow motion.
Fulham
Palace may have been worryingly quiet, but Fulham have been all but silent, and the £0.4m spent on Benjamin Lecomte to be a reserve goalkeeper represents the totality of their business – the least spent by any club in the Premier League so far. While Marco Silva appears to be largely content with a settled squad and there is no urgent need to make sweeping changes to a squad which overperformed last year, Fulham have one of the oldest teams in the top flight and desperately need to get younger.
Tying Kenny Tete down to a new contract when he had seemed set to sign for Everton was a good move, but with Raúl Jiménez getting long in the tooth and uncertainty over the future of Rodrigo Muniz there is a clear need for a new striker and surely seem extra creativity in midfield, especially given a relative dearth of young talent coming through the ranks past midfield Josh King.
There was interest in Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall but he ended up signing for Everton, and while the club remain relatively likely to secure the permanent signing of former loanee Reiss Nelson from Arsenal, there is a sense that Fulham are taking their calm satisfaction with the team too far and are failing to show any urgency to improve.
Fulham are unlikely to be in any danger of relegation next season and don’t need to panic buy, but there does not appear to be a roadmap towards reaching the next stage and becoming a serious contender for European places – and if the squad isn’t gradually refreshed over the next year or two, it will begin to look very old indeed.
Everton
New owners, a new stadium… but not many new players, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Thierno Barry the only high-profile new additions to David Moyes’ squad. In other years, that may not be such a bad thing, but Everton have lost too many players not to make more moves. Everton lost eight first-team players over the summer, seven of them as free agents, including regular starters such as Abdoulaye Doucouré and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The latter, at least, has been replaced by Barry, but there are still glaring holes in the squad.
Everton missed out on Tete and Kyle Walker-Peters and desperately need a new full-back, their midfield looks frighteningly thin and there is a lack of creativity up front which the arrival of Dewsbury-Hall and the permanent signing of Charly Alcaraz will only go so far towards resolving.
Moyes had told the media that he expected transfer business to tick up a notch in the past week, but Dewsbury-Hall’s arrival has been the only change. Everton know they need to add at least two more starting players to get their squad up to the standards required, and depth is an evident issue in a number of areas.
Everton’s spending is somewhat hobbled by the many errors of the Farhad Moshiri era, but there are resources available which the club have failed to use appropriately. Their pursuit of a right-back, in particular, has been chaotic and unfocussed. Leicester City’s James Justin is the latest target.
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