Transfers: How has your club fared in summer sales?

With tens of millions of pounds spent by Premier League clubs on new players during the close season, Tom Peck, Giles Lucas and James Mariner assess who have bagged the bargain buys and who have landed the giant turkeys

Tom Peck,Giles Lucas,James Mariner
Saturday 02 August 2014 13:37 BST
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From left: Romelu Lukaku, Ander Herrera, Alexis Sanchez and Diego Costa
From left: Romelu Lukaku, Ander Herrera, Alexis Sanchez and Diego Costa

Arsenal

Any big signing who has proved themselves abroad remains a risk when joining the Premier League, but Chile’s Alexis Sanchez is as good as it gets. Fast, powerful, a consistent scorer and maker of goals, he should do just fine.

As a like-for-like replacement, Debuchy for Sagna at right-back is not bad.

And as of yet, no big-match winner has been sold off – a rarity. But Arsenal’s problem is always injuries and a lack of strength in depth, and they still don’t match Manchester City or Chelsea for that.

Players in A Sanchez (Barcelona, £35m), M Debuchy (Newcastle, £12m), D Ospina (Nice, £3m), C Chambers (Southampton, £16m). Total spent £66m

Players out L Fabianski (Swansea City, free), B Sagna (Manchester City, free) T Eisfield (Fulham, £400,000), Carl Jenkinson (West Ham, loan). Total received £400,000

Aston Villa

The accountants might have all but had the summer off, but that paints a false picture of a squad significantly improved. Philippe Senderos might not have enjoyed a great World Cup but next to Ron Vlaar in defence he should not be underestimated. Kieran Richardson is dangerous, and if anything remains of the once great Joe Cole perhaps he will find it at Villa.

Players in T Leggett, I Nehemie (both Southampton, free), J Cole (West Ham, free), P Senderos (Valencia, free) K Richardson (Fulham, free). Total spent £0

Players out M Albrighton (Leicester City, free), J Bowery (Rotherham United, £250,000), Y Sylla (Kayseri Erciyesspor, loan) Nicklas Helenius (Aalborg BK, loan). Total received £250,000

Players released N Delfouneso (Blackpool).

Burnley

Manager Sean Dyche says there are other “works in progress”, which will add to the six players brought in. Though they have not cost him much, Gilks, Taylor, Reid and the rest would look equally at home at the top of the Championship as the bottom of the Premier League, and they will have a serious fight on to stop one turning into the other.

Players in M Kightly (Stoke, £1.5m), M Gilks (Blackpool, free), M Taylor (West Ham, free), S Reid (West Bromwich, free), L Jutkiewicz (Middlesbrough, £1.5m). Total spent £3m

Players out C Baird (West Bromwich, free), J Mills (Oldham, free), D Edgar (Birmingham, free), J Stanislas (Bournemouth, free). Total received £0

Chelsea

Losing defenders of the calibre of Ashley Cole and David Luiz (who should not be defined by one World Cup semi-final) will not help a team who dropped too many points to poor opposition last season, but the arrival of Atletico Madid’s La Liga-winning Felipe Luis will.

Chelsea without Lampard is almost unimaginable, even with Drogba back, but enter Fabregas. Goals, work ethic and tons of Premier League experience.

Last year Jose Mourinho moaned about a lack of strikers, but he has nonetheless let Lukaku go to Everton. Will Diego Costa bang in the goals? In short, he’ll have to.

Players in C Fabregas (Barcelona, £30m), D Costa (Atletico Madrid, £32m), M Pasalic (Hajduk Split, £3m) F Luis (Atletico Madrid, £20m) D Drogba (unattached, free). Total spent £85m

Players out D Luiz (Paris Saint-Germain, £50m), D Ba (Besiktas, £4.7m), P van Aanholt (Sunderland, £1.5m), R Lukaku (Everton, £28m). Total received £84.2m

Players released A Cole (Roma), S Eto’o, F Lampard (New York City).

Costa could lead Chelsea to Premier League glory this season

Crystal Palace

Fraizer Campbell for £900,000 is something of a bargain, and Palace will be relieved that Puncheon, Chamakh and various others are not on a lengthy exit list. But Campbell alone will not slake their considerable thirst for goals.

Tony Pulis did most of this year’s buying in the January window, but he will be disappointed that Tom Ince, whom he had on loan from Blackpool last season and has since heaped praise upon, has joined Hull City for free instead.

Players in C Kettings (Blackpool, free), F Campbell (Cardiff, £900,000), B Hangeland (free). Total spent £900,000

Players out K Dikgacoi (Cardiff City, free), J Campana (Sampdoria, £1.4m) J Hunt (Nottingham Forest, loan), K Appiah (Cambridge United, loan), A Wynter (Portsmouth, loan). Total received £1.4m

Everton

They have smashed their transfer record but they look much the same. Lukaku and Barry were superb loan acquisitions last summer; now they are permanent. The gifted Delofeu will be missed following his return to Barcelona after a year-long loan.

Bosnian Besic is a talented 21-year-old defensive midfielder but may not be a regular starter. If Everton do as well this season as last, they may have to thank Roy Hodgson. If England’s form player Ross Barkley had started every match in Brazil, he might have been prised away.

Players in G Barry (Manchester City, free), M Besic (Ferencvaros, £4m), R Lukaku (Chelsea, £28m), B Galloway (MK Dons, £4m) Total spent £36m

Players out M Gueye (Millwall, free), F Junior (Stromsgodset, loan). Total received £0

Lukaku made his loan move to Everton permanent

Hull City

If Robert Snodgrass plays as well this season as he did last for Norwich, £7m is money well spent. Maguire from Sheffield United and Robertson from Dundee United have had considerable faith placed in them by manager Steve Bruce. It is a huge leap up. It will be a struggle, again, for Hull but with no notable departures, the squad is significantly stronger than it was last season, and stronger, probably than the newly promoted teams too.

Players in J Livermore (Tottenham Hotspur, £8m), R Snodgrass (Norwich City, £7m), T Ince (Blackpool, compensation), H Maguire (Sheffield United, £2.5m), A Robertson (Dundee United, £2.85m ). Total spent £20.35m

Players out M Fryatt (Nottingham Forest, free), C Stewart (Ipswich, free), P McElroy (Sheffield Wednesday, free), M Oxley (Hibernian, loan), J Dudgeon (Barnsley, loan). Total received £0

Leicester City

At £8m, Argentine Leonardo Ulloa is a record signing. In the second tier, he has scored at will, in both Spain and England, but his top-flight credentials are less impressive (one season and five goals at bottom-of-the-table Almeria in La Liga is far from the only relegation of his career).

Rowley and Jack Barmby (son of Nick) have not impressed Louis van Gaal enough to be kept by Manchester United, and Matthew Upson, who at 35 is almost their age combined, waved goodbye to his best days some time ago. They will need more quality to survive. They may not get it.

Players in J Barmby (Manchester United, free), M Upson (Brighton & Hove Albion, free), M Albrighton (Aston Villa, free), L Rowley (Manchester United, free) L Ulloa (Brighton, £8m). Total spent £8m

Players out L Dyer (Watford, free), Z Whitbread (Derby, free), N Danns (Bolton Wanderers, free), P Gallagher (Preston, loan), M Waghorn (Wigan Athletic, free). Total received £0

Liverpool

Luis Suarez is irreplaceable, but the money and more besides has been spent, and it doesn’t look like they have even tried.

Lovren will bolster things at the back, but is he a champion?

Lallana, Markovic, Lambert and Origi all have quality to varying degrees but may not score or make Suarez’s 35 goals between them. The bigger squad will help now they have the Champions League to worry about.

They lived without the suspended Uruguayan for five matches last year and made their best start to a Premier League season. But this campaign will be tougher than the last, and they will be weaker.

Players in R Lambert (Southampton, £4m), A Lallana (Southampton, £25m), E Can (Bayer Leverkusen, £10m), L Markovic (Benfica, £20m), D Lovren (Southampton, £20m), D Origi (Lille, £10m). Total spent £89m

Players out L Suarez (Barcelona, £75m), L Alberto (Malaga, loan), I Aspas (Sevilla, loan), A Wisdom (West Brom, loan), J Sokolik (Yeovil, free). Total received £75m

Liverpool said farewell to Luis Suarez...

...but said hello to Adam Lallana

Manchester City

The quietest summer many a Manchester City fan can recall, but for a club that could comfortably make the Champions League with their entire first XI injured, what is there to be done?

Lescott would be missed by any club but this. Sagna, signed from Arsenal, is probably the Premier League’s best right-back, apart from Zabaleta, who is already a City player.

If Porto’s uncapped Brazilian Fernando is meant to be cover for Yaya Touré – City’s only truly irreplaceable player – he is not even close to good enough. A long year sat on the bench (next to Jack Rodwell) awaits.

Players in B Sagna (Arsenal, free), Fernando (Porto, £12m), W Caballero (Malaga, £4,4m). Total spent £16.4m

Players out C Pantilimon (Sunderland, free), G Barry (Everton, free), J Lescott ( West Bromwich, free), M Lopes, (Lille, loan), A Henshall (Ipswich, free). Total received £0

Manchester United

Everybody wants to talk about the midfield – or lack of it – but rarely does a team of champions wave off their world-conquering defence in one dramatic hit. How do the rest of the players feel with no Evra, Ferdinand or Vidic? Shaw is a talent, but not a leader, yet.

Herrera has been mouthwatering in pre-season, and big things are expected.

Van Gaal says he will not buy for the sake of it (like paying £27.5m for Fellaini?) but there is surely a lot of shopping still to do. The lack of experience in defence should terrify United fans.

Players in A Herrera (Athletic Bilbao, £29m), L Shaw (Southampton, £27m), V Milinkovic (Vojvodina, undisclosed). Total spent £56m

Players out N Vidic (Internazionale, free), A Buttner (Dynamo Moscow, £5m), P Evra (Juventus, £1.2m), Bebe (Benfica, £2.4m). Total received £8.6m

Player released R Ferdinand (QPR).

United spent £27m on 19-year-old Luke Shaw

Newcastle

Alan Pardew’s – or should it be Alain De-Pardieu’s? – Gallic activities continue at Newcastle-sur-mer, with the club’s most expensive signing since £16m Michael Owen. Cabella was not good enough to start for France at the World Cup in Brazil, yet he is expected to revolutionise a midfield which can be undynamic. Rivière might bring goals, but Pardew is still looking for another striker.

Mainly, Newcastle were annihilated far too many times last season. Enter Janmaat, the Netherlands’ finest right-back and a fine replacement for Debuchy, but it is only like for like, and it’s improvement that’s required.

Players in A Perez (Tenerife, £1.5m), S de Jong, (Ajax, £6m), R Cabella (Montpellier, £12m), D Janmaat (Feyenoord (£5m), E Rivière, (Monaco, £6m). Total spent £30.5m

Players out M Debuchy (Arsenal, £12m), D Gosling (Bournemouth, free), R Amalfitano (Dijon, free), Shola Ameobi (released), S Marveaux (Guingamp, loan). Total received £12m

QPR

Harry Redknapp used to tell a young Rio Ferdinand that “God [Bobby Moore] wouldn’t have done that” on West Ham’s east London training pitch. You can expect Harry to bring out whatever Ferdinand has left to offer, and it might also get passed on to Caulker, a young defender of clear quality.

Redknapp often seems to enjoy the transfer window more than the season itself. He will not be done yet.

Players in R Ferdinand (Manchester United, free), S Caulker (Cardiff City, £8.5m). Total spent £8.5m

Players out A Hughes (Brighton, free), T Hitchcock (MK Dons, free), Y Benayoun (Maccabi Haifa, undisclosed), E Granero (Real Sociedad, £4.5m). Total received £4.5m

Southampton

It happened to JD Sports a few summers ago. This time it’s Southampton FC. They have been smashed open, kicked apart and mercilessly looted. The few players who have turned up to pre-season training must be wondering where everybody else is after a summer of sales and departures.

Plainly, the club are a shell of their former selves. And more may yet go out of the door. They have coped with losses before (Bale, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain) but nothing on this scale. The promising Bertrand is in at left-back for the promising Shaw, but almost, unimaginably, Bertrand is six years Shaw’s senior. Europe looks like it might suddenly be a long way away from the South Coast.

Players in D Tadic (Twente, £10.9m), G Pelle (Feyenoord, £9m), R Bertrand (Chelsea, loan). Total spent £19.9m

Players out L Shaw (Manchester United, £27m), A Lallana (Liverpool, £23m), R Lambert (Liverpool, £4m), D Lovren ( Liverpool, £20m), C Chambers (Arsenal, £16m). Total received 90m

Southampton spent a small chunk of the money generated from player sales on Dusan Tadic

Stoke City

From Barcelona to Stoke is a journey usually made only by returning stag parties, but the £3m Serb Bojan Krkic is only 23 and has seasons of experience with Roma, Milan and Ajax.

Already he has scored a superb goal, against Schalke, though Stoke lost anyway. But will he, Steve Sidwell and all 6ft 6in of new Slovak defender Teixeira be enough to improve on last season’s first ever top 10 finish?

Players in P Bardsley (Sunderland, free), S Sidwell (Fulham, free), M B Diouf (Hannover, free), D Teixeira (Banska Bystrica, £400k), Bojan Krkic (Barcelona,£3m). Total spent £3.4m

Players out M Kightly (Burnley, £1.5m). Total received £1.5m

Sunderland

The tide seems to have gone out, but will it come back in? Pantilimon was rather forced into proving his worth in goal for Manchester City last season and is an excellent acquisition, but Sunderland, as their manager, Gus Poyet, has admitted, are a long way short of where they want to be. The indications are that there are more signings to come.

Players in J Gomez (Wigan, free), B Jones (West Bromwich, free), C Pantilimon, Manchester City, free), P van Aanholt (Chelsea, £1.5m) Total spent £1.5m

Players out P Bardsley (Stoke City, free), C Gardner (West Bromwich, free), J Colback (Newcastle, free), O Utari (Newell’s Old Boys, free), I Scocco (Newell’s Old Boys, £2.1m). Total received £2.1m

Swansea City

Swansea got used to missing Michu’s goals last year – he scored only two in the Premier League, and fans will want and need his replacement, Gylfi Sigurdsson, to do rather better.

Fabianski is not as dependable as Vorm in goal, and the £3.5m profit they’ve made on the switch could easily equate to a single league place come the end of the season. It might not have been worth it.

Players in L Fabianski (Arsenal, free), B Gomis (Lyons, free), M Emnes (Middlesbrough, £1.5m), G Sigurdsson (Tottenham Hotspur, undisclosed), J Montero (Morelia, £4m), S Kingsley (Falkirk, £850,00). Total spent £6.35m

Players out Michu (Napoli, loan), B Davies (Tottenham Hotspur, undisclosed), M Vorm (Tottenham Hotspur, £3.5m), A Pozuelo (Rayo Vallecano, undisclosed). Total received £3.5m

Tottenham

Not like last year, is it? With Spurs fans still wondering – quite rightly – whether last year’s signings will gel as a unit, at least this year, thus far, there are almost no further concerns on that front. Vorm replaces the erratic Gomes as stand-in goalkeeper, and a crowd of middlingly talented midfielders is one down.

Tottenham’s most crucial signing, though, is in the manager’s office. Mauricio Pochettino from Southampton may yet go back to pick over the carcass of his former club for whatever players remain.

Players in B Davies (Swansea, undisclosed), M Vorm (Swansea, £3.5m), E Dier (Sporting Lisbon, £4m). Total spent £7.5m

Players out H Gomes (Watford, free), J Livermore (Hull, £8m), A Pritchard (Brentford, loan), G Sigurdsson (Swansea, undisclosed), K McEvoy (Peterborough, loan). Total received £8m

Ben Davies joined Tottenham from Swansea in a swap deal involving Gylfi Sigurdsson

West Bromwich

West Bromwich’s £10m Nigerian striker and record signing Brown Ideye is relatively unknown to the world at large, having not been selected for his country’s World Cup squad. Nor has his manager, Alan Irvine, ever seen him play live, which he has claimed is “not ideal” but “not a problem”.

The former Dynamo Kiev man may have much to prove, but Lescott and Gardner are tried, tested and superb free signings. West Bromwich are much stronger.

Players in B Ideye (Dynamo Kiev, £10m) C Gardner (Sunderland, free), J Lescott (Manchester City, free), C Baird (Burnley, free), A Wisdom (Liverpool, loan). Total spent £10m

Players out L Ridgewell (Portland Timbers, free), B Jones (Sunderland, free), S Reid (Burnley, free), C Gayle (Shrewsbury, free), G Thorne (Derby, undisclosed). Total received £0

West Ham

West Ham will need to score more goals to avoid another miserable season – and without Andy Carroll for the first four months of it. Ecuador’s other Valencia – striker Enner – joins, having scored three World Cup goals in three games, and has so far said all the right things.

Senegalese Kouyate is a brute of a defensive midfielder and is precisely what the team requires.

Joe Cole will be mourned but not missed, as he moves on hoping to resurrect his career at yet another club in the shape of Aston Villa.

Players in E Valencia (Pachuca, £12m), A Cresswell (Ipswich, £2m), C Kouyate (Anderlecht, £7m), D Poyet (Charlton, undisclosed), C Jenkinson (Arsenal, loan). Total spent £21m

Players out J Cole (Aston Villa, free), M Taylor (Burnley, free) S Henderson (Charlton, free), R Spiegel (Crawley, loan), S Maguire (Sligo Rovers, loan). Total received £0

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