Pretty much every top club in the Premier League was after a new No. 9 this summer, as there’s been a clear gap in the quality at the striker position in the English top flight – and in world football as a whole – when comparing the names of today to the strikers gracing the pitch 10-20 years ago.
So Premier League sides were busy trying to snag new strikers in the summer 2025 transfer window, and there were plenty of splashes to be made around the top (and a certain team in the bottom) half of the table.
Here are the five best striker transfers of the summer 2025 window thus far.
5. Liam Delap to Chelsea
Ipswich Town were a predictable disaster last season and totally overmatched for the Premier League, but they did have a couple of young gems, including Liam Delap at striker.
Despite the futility of his team as a whole, Delap still managed to score 12 goals in the Premier League, and the 22-year-old showed off a quietly strong all-around game, too, with 2.5 combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn per game.
Given the Blues are already actively shopping around Nicolas Jackson, it’s fair to say that they saw enough from their new U23 striker to feel confident that they can pawn away their top option from the 2024/25 season.
READ MORE: The 5 best young Premier League players still available on the market
4. Joao Pedro to Chelsea
But Chelsea didn’t just stop at a sub-40 million euro punt on Delap. No, no, they spent a full 60 million pounds to buy yet another player from Brighton – following in the footsteps of Moises Caicedo, Levi Colwill, Robert Sanchez, and Marc Cucurella.
Joao Pedro was one of the most underrated players in the Premier League last season, and he comes to Chelsea with the qualities to be a better all-around forward than Jackson in terms of his distribution and passing ability.
He’s like having a playmaker at the 9, since Pedro is really more of a hybrid 9/10 in the vein of a La Liga or Serie A star, and Chelsea need that kind of an X-Factor to differentiate themselves as title contenders in the Premier League and build on an improved 2024/25 season.
If you combine the profiles of Delap and Joao Pedro into one player, you could make a real case that Chelsea had as good of a transfer window at striker as any team, considering they paid for both those players around the same price as what Manchester United and Liverpool paid for their Bundesliga superstars.
READ MORE: The top 10 young wingers in the Premier League
3. Benjamin Sesko to Manchester United
But those Bundesliga superstars do have the potential to be special and are higher-upside players than either Joao Pedro or Liam Delap, so while Manchester United paid far more than many thought would have been the price point for Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig, it was honestly better that they ended up with him than nothing at all.
Because Manchester United finished a humiliating 16th in the Premier League last season, and the fact that they haven’t been memed even harder for this is a testament to how far they’ve fallen; it’s like this has become the new standard at Old Trafford.
Manchester United could not score goals to save their lives despite having the best playmaker in the league last season in Bruno Fernandes. Now, Manchester United have totally overhauled their attack with Sesko finishing off a window that included Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo in supporting scoring roles.
Sesko hasn’t yet taken off fully, and, in all honesty, Lois Openda was Leipzig’s best striker during his time there. But Sesko has more talent because of his box presence and his ridiculous ball-striking. He just might have the most gorgeous shot of any striker in the game right now, and his rising shots are reminiscent of a certain John Arne Riise.
2. Hugo Ekitike to Liverpool
For the price of 79 million pounds, Liverpool signed arguably the best young striker on the transfer market in Hugo Ekitike, who scored 15 goals with 8 assists for Eintracht Frankfurt last season, shining in either a supporting role to Omar Marmoush or as the main man in the Frankfurt attack,
It’s a little off that Liverpool spent more to sign Ekitke than what Manchester City spent on Marmoush, who is the better player, but Ekitike is also younger and has crazy upside.
A phenom in the French league, Ektike was forgotten after a silly decision to join PSG at a time when the club was still mired in heavy dysfunction, but he, like so many other strikers, found his footing in Frankfurt.
Deadly with his finishing and blessed with a strong all-around game due to his exceptionally fluid movements for his size, Ekitike is an immediate upgrade on the wasteful Darwin Nunez with the potential to become as good as the last No. 9 Liverpool purchased from the Bundesliga.
ALSO READ: The 10 best signings of the Premier League transfer window so far
1. Viktor Gyokeres to Arsenal
Arsenal had to sign a striker capable of scoring more than 20 goals in a Premier League season, as the juxtaposition between their lack of a reliable goal-scorer and Liverpool’s and Manchester City’s video game production from Mohamed Salah and Erling Haaland was apparent.
In Viktor Gyokeres, Arsenal have signed a striker who scored a jaw-dropping 38 goals in the Primeira Liga, and given the Portuguese league is the sixth-best in Europe, that should still translate prettty well to the Premier League.
Plus, it’s not like there are any knocks on Gyokeres as an athlete, because he’s probably the best athlete on this list. Gyokeres is better as a passer than he gets credit for, and at a price point under 75 million euros, Arsenal bagged the best overall deal on the market.
Sure, Gyokeres doesn’t carry that much resale value since he’ll be over 30 by the time his new contract is done, but Arsenal aren’t buying the Swedish star to sell him; they are buying him to finally win a chip, and he has a legitimate chance at being the guy to help them get over that incredibly frustrating hump.
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.