Winners and Losers of the EPL Transfer Window

Well the Transfer Window is closed and it’s now time to reflect. Some teams improved and some didn’t. Let’s take a look at some of the winners and losers of the summer. (Teams listed in alphabetical order)

WINNERS

Chelsea
Players In-Diego Costa, Didier Drogba, Cesc Fabregas, Felipe Luis and Loic Remy
Players Out-David Luiz, Samuel Eto’o, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, Demba Ba, Romelu Lukaku among others
Net Cost-Spent around 100k pounds

Chelsea deserves to be a winner for convincing PSG that David Luiz was worth 50 million pounds. That one transfer pretty much got them Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas. And for a manager who had recently spent money with reckless abandon, Jose Mourinho broke even and put Chelsea in a pretty good financial position especially with Financial Fair Play rearing its head.

Everton
Players In-Gareth Barry, Muhamed Besic, Samuel Eto’o, Brendan Galloway and Romelu Lukaku
Players Out-Mason Springthorpe, Iboi Touray, Apostolos Vellios, Magaye Gueye among others
Net Cost-Spent around 36 million pounds

Everton’s big strategy was to keep the players they had, like Romelu Lukaku, and then make value buys across the board. They splashed some cash too but they’re definitely set up for the future.

Hull City
Players In-Michael Dawson, Mohamed Diame, Tom Ince, Gaston Ramirez, Robert Snodgrass among others
Players Out-George Boyd, Shane Long, Conor Henderson, Joe Dudgeon among others
Net Cost-Spent around 17.85 million pounds

We know the top teams in the EPL spend money but Hull City really splashed the cash and I loved every move they made. With all the issues between the team and the supporters in regards to things like the changing the name of the team, this went a long way in patching that relationship. This was money well spent and it shows that even though Hull is one of the poorer teams in the EPL, they’re trying to do all they can to win.

Liverpool
Players In-Mario Balotelli, Emre Can, Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert, Alberto Moreno among others
Players Out-Luis Suarez, Daniel Agger, Martin Kelly, Pepe Reina, Conor Coady among others
Net Cost-Spent around 33.5 million pounds

Liverpool sold currently suspended Luis Suarez to Barcelona and used the money to find pieces to build on depth. They saved their big move last by signing Mario Balotelli. There was debate on how this move would go about but I think Liverpool were comfortable with the risk if they only paid 16 million pounds. With reports that they had a deal with QPR for Fabio Borini for 13 million pounds but fell through on Borini’s negotiation with QPR, Pool would’ve spent a net of 3 million pounds and Borini for Balotelli. If Borini was currently wearing blue tonight, Liverpool would’ve had the deal of the century.

 

LOSERS

Arsenal
Players In-Calum Chambers, Mathieu Debuchy, David Ospina, Alexis Sanchez, Danny Welbeck among others
Players Out-Cesc Fabregas, Nicklas Bendtner, Thomas Vermaelen, Bacary Sagna among others
Net Cost-Spent around 37.1 million pounds

Arsenal spent the money but their big signing this summer was Alexis Sanchez, who may have been playing the position they needed the least. No doubt Sanchez is a talented player but Mesuit Ozil is there and they’re playing in similar positions. I felt that they could’ve spent the money in better positions. Danny Welbeck getting signed on the final day was a nice push but it’s not enough to get them off the list.

Crystal Palace
Players In-Fraizer Campbell, Martin Kelly, Chris Kettings, Brede Hangeland and Wilfried Zaha
Players Out-Neil Alexander, Jose Campana, Jonathan Parr among others
Net Cost-Spent around 2.4 million pounds

Crystal Palace can’t do much in terms of spending money in signings but they were practically invisible in the last part of the transfer window. I would give this more of an incomplete than anything.

Manchester United
Players In-Daley Blind, Angel Di Maria, Radamel Falcao, Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw among others
Players Out-Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, Javier Hernandez, Danny Welbeck among others
Net Cost-Spent around 147.7 million pounds

Exactly what is the plan at Manchester United? Do United plan on playing a 1-2-7 or something? On the final day, they spent to get Falcao (another striker) on loan with the option to buy. When Man U’s team is obviously suffering on defense, more money was spent on attacking. Manchester United bought all the flash but none of the substance. They spent more than any other team in the EPL by a mile and don’t have Champions League revenue this year. For a team who is over 700 million pounds in debt and no Champions League, where is this money coming from? Sponsors can only provide so much money. With this team, they better make Champions League this year or it could get even worse.

Tottenham Hotspur
Players In-Ben Davies, Eric Dier, Michel Vorm, DeAndre Yedlin among others
Players Out-Jake Livermore, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Michael Dawson among others
Net Cost-Made around 10 million pounds

Tottenham made money so that’s always a plus. I just found it weird that Tottenham was focused (whether intentionally or unintentionally) on making money when they sold Gareth Bale last year in the richest transfer ever. Tottenham is the equivalent of that person who wins the Powerball for hundreds of millions and then goes broke after a couple years. I may be judging things based on this and last season but they were just flushing money down the toilet last year and shouldn’t have needed to save money.

 

About Phillip Bupp

Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @phillipbupp

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