Did Manchester United quietly have a decent window? Was it better than Liverpool’s? What about Arsenal?
Send your transfer window inquests to theeditor@football365.com
Transfer madness is the new black
Now that the window has “slammed shut” and a record amount of money has been spent, have football clubs actually completely lost their minds or is it the supporters? Almost no fanbase of the major players is happy!
Arsenal: signed a top-class midfielder and defender but didn’t sign the striker or left winger the fans craved.
Man City: spent £300+ million (very well), but will they replace two of their best players of the last decade? Lost 2 very good forwards replaced by 1, uncertainty is the word that springs to mind.
Man Utd: £120mil net to get 2 run of the mill midfielders and not the left back or centre back the fans craved.
Chelsea: Fans could actually be happy with net spend (pulled a lot of pants down) but 1 good signing and 1 OK hasn’t really made them any stronger. Failed in a desperate attempt to replace the outgoing record sale.
Liverpool: 1 stellar signing but none of the gaping holes filled, reliant on injured players coming back and a new manager getting more out of the same players that were awful last season.
Spurs: £200 mil net on a decent midfielder and players from relegated clubs, some fans may be happy but the rest of us know “it’s Spurs”.
Newcastle: Small net spend but have lost 3 of their best players and replaced them with unknowns.
Everton: Fan outrage stopped the sale of a highly promising 19 year old but failed to do anything about the loss of their best player and last season’s leading goalscorer. Provided the most hilarious ending to a transfer “saga” ever.
As for the rest and with apologies, there will be some happy people and hope that the millions spent will unearth some gems to generate profit in the future but it’s hope.
Howard (thanks EFC) Jones
READ: Which gaping Premier League holes were filled or neglected after wild transfer window?
This Man Utd fan is happy
As a Utd fan, I have to say I’m actually reasonably happy with how the transfer window went for a number of reasons.
Firstly, we have expanded the squad, our first XI was incredibly thin to be able to compete on more than one front, we now have more bodies and they seem to be decent quality – time will tell whether they are good enough.
Secondly, we actually have plenty of cover across the back four despite calls to the contrary. Luke Shaw may be getting on a bit but we have Harry Amass coming through and other defenders that can do a stint there too if needed.
Thirdly, in seasons gone we would have splashed ridiculous amounts of money on star signings who don’t guarantee anything and don’t stick around for long. They also command ridiculous salaries that make it impossible to get off the books if they end up being rubbish. They do unfortunately give a false hope of a title challenge which is ridiculous and not what we need or even been realistic for a long time.
I do however wish Mount wasn’t permanently injured, De Ligt was back and Mainoo stayed in the team and keeps getting better but let’s see…
Overall, we need to build a squad with a healthy competition for places and then maybe we can start thinking about adding one or two star players that might make the difference to challenge for the title. In past seasons we’ve tried to add the star players on top of some gaping holes and it does not work. This season should be about staying in the Champions League places and seeing how far we can go in the cups.
Think about it, how did Arsenal get to where they are? Arteta built a squad of competing players, got ridiculed for spending 1 Bn or whatever for no trophies (when Utd were still winning the odd trophy) and then added some real quality such as Declan Rice and now they are the team to beat. It did not happen overnight.
Jon, Cape Town (P.S. don’t tell any Arsenal fans I praised how they built up the squad)
Liverpool trying to balance the unbalanceable
I have avoided football post WC by going on holiday and playing golf, but now, as summer draws to a close, I have had to return my gaze to Liverpool, and I’m not particularly hopeful. The best you could possibly say is we might have slightly better players after the transfer window than we did before, but frankly quality of players wasn’t Liverpool’s problem, balancing a first 11 was where everything went wrong.
In Aug 2025 I sent a mail stating Liverpool’s squad was worse than the season before. This was before we had signed Isak and bungled Guehi, and we were still in the afterglow of splashing cash on a title winning team. I also wrote in towards the end of last season saying I thought our squad was so poorly balanced after the disasterclass of spending in summer 2025 that our only sensible option was to avoid purchasing wingers and commit to a 3 CB formation with width provided by Frimpong/Bradley and Kerkez/Tsimikas playing as WB’s.
Unfortunately, considering we have just spent over £100m on a winger, I still believe this is the case.
The main crux of the balance issue lies in 2 key areas – the full back positions and midfield. We have extremely attacking full backs who are quick but generally small in stature. They are dribblers and creators not strong, solid defenders. That’s fine, you can have attacking full backs in successful teams, but there has to be balance. Where you add attacking inclination in one area you must balance it with tactical discipline or defensive nous in another. A team can be overall attacking or defensive, but no team can be exclusively attacking or defending, and the balance of that paradigm is where much of the nuance and success of modern football lies.
There is a good example of balancing attacking and defensive attributes in Klopp’s early Liverpool team. In the summer of 2017 Liverpool had 2 attacking FB’s in Moreno (latterly Robertson) and Trent. The midfield consisted of Henderson, Coutinho and one of Can, Milner or Lallana. Jurgen had no intention of changing the dynamics of his midfield and tried to convince Coutinho not to leave. By summer 2018 however Coutinho had left for Barca and Robertson had cemented his position at LB. Allison had replaced Karius and Van Dijk had replaced Lovren whilst Fabinho was brought in to replace Henderson at No.6. These are sizeable upgrades in personnel, but I believe the most significant upgrade was in balance.
With Coutinho gone and Hendo refusing to accept demotion, he persuaded Klopp to let him play in the No.8 role alongside Fabinho and Wiljnaldum. Suddenly the midfield had a balance of ball retention, defensive solidity and athleticism which complimented the attacking full backs perfectly. As the FB’s provided bucket loads of assists and attacking threat (alongside width for the narrow front 3 and midfield) the more workmanlike midfield provided tactical rigidity, defensive nous, better physicality and stopped counter attacks. They went from conceding 38 goals in 17/18 to 22 goals in 18/19.
So, back to the 2026 edition. Liverpool’s problem is not what we are missing, but what we have purchased. Currently our best player is Szoboslai, but only when he plays No. 10. We also have a £100m+ player bought to play no.10 too. We have 2 centre forwards bought for a combined £200m+ for one position. Of the left sided attacking wingers we currently have Barcola, Gakpo, Munoz, Ngumoha and Chiesa. For the right sided winger position we have *checks notes * erm… nobody. We can play any of that plethora of naturally left sided players, but not a single one of them would default to the right if given the choice. That is laughably bad recruitment. It also adds to the sense that Liverpool are scrambling to recreate an idea of a former Liverpool team instead of addressing what would be best for its current iteration.
Barcola is a very good player. He will hopefully do better than Gakpo. But was Gakpo really the problem? Other teams certainly don’t think so considering the queue willing to sign him for £80m. Also, his stats have been remarkably solid even in the quagmire of a season just gone. Instead, I think last season was Slot desperately trying to work out the enigma of balancing attack and defence whilst accepting there was little real variation allowed in Liverpool’s paper thin squad. It was largely the same players but with their attacking inclinations toggled ala Football Manager. Regardless of which players he tasked with sitting deeper and which had a little arrow pointing down the field, the same unflattering results where teams sit back, soak up pressure, and repeatedly and extremely effectively counter-attack Liverpool cropped up, eventually with job losing regularity.
And so, we arrive at the aforementioned 3 centre-backs, something few fans or even players want, and certainly extremely un-Klopp like. I don’t even like it, if truth be told. But it is the answer to too many questions…
The benefit isn’t in what it provides the back line, it is what it does to the rest of the team. Firstly, our awkward full backs become natural wing-backs, providing width the length of the field. Our too-attacking midfield has the extra insurance of a CB directly behind, helping to defend those regular counter attacks. And with WB’s providing width we can play either two attacking no.10’s or two no.9’s. Utilising where we have spent so much money and the only place of real world class depth in the squad.
Obviously, this isn’t going to happen now, not with Barcola signed. It’s also not something Iraola has utilised in his career as far as I can see. I think you could even do it with Barcola (though Iraola obviously won’t) I would just play him as a no.10 without the ball, offering pace on the counter, and as the left sided wingback with the ball. He could alternate with Szobo who would provide better defensive cover when slipping into the left WB role.
I think the main issue with 3 CB’s is that it isn’t very fashionable. There hasn’t been a successful iteration since Conte’s title winners in 2017, and to many it might seem a little old hat. Wouldn’t it all be horrifically ironic if that attitude was blown apart by the manager Liverpool clearly should have brought in, as Alonso leads Chelsea to success over the coming years by utilising 3 centre backs to get the most out of his incredibly disorganised Chelsea squad…
Ed Ern
A tip for the transfer window
I generally ignore transfer windows and just see who is a Liverpool player when it’s all over. Just far too much hype, bull and clickbait for my liking.
But even from my hermit’s cave I noticed something and think I have a tip for LFC (possibly others… I dunno).
Don’t spend your entire time trying to get a big signing and then have to go to established premier league clubs in the final days of the window and try to low ball them for players in their starting 11. Palace last year, Palace and Brighton this year.
If you’re gonna try to buy from them, get it done early so they have time to find replacements and might be willing to do business. Otherwise they have you over a barrel!!
Now… back to football.
Joe lfc
Why rate transfers now?
Is it because it’s quite an easy article to write? Or is it people are just a bit dim and want to read about something that legitimately can’t be disproven, until it can?
Here’s a short list of players who were considered good signings, there is a theme amongst them (City, Chelsea and United’s list after a brief check is considerable).
Wirtz, Nunez and Isak.
Ndombele, Lo Celso and Soldado (Richarlison and Solanke are expensive but large numbers of fans were puzzled/annoyed/pissed off with their signings).
Pogba, Di Maria, Hojlund, Veron, Sancho, Alexi Sanchez
Mangala, Reijnders, Kalvin Phillips, Maicon, Rodwell, Bony….
Mustafi, Pepe, Mkhytarian
Lukaku, Morata, Bakayoko, Mutu, Kezman, Veron (again but less so), Torres.
That’s without going abroad and pretty much every move over £100m in Spanish football.
The winners and losers just never makes sense to me.
Unless it’s Everton and Palace however. Case closed. Sorry lads.
Dan Mallerman
The drop-off
There was an interesting thread on Twitter the other day where Sunday league footballers shared stories of playing with ex pros from lower leagues, and that these players were levels above anyone they’d ever played with. The crux of the thread was that the player you’d shout “you’re sh*t” at from Hull or Bolton was better than any other human you’d ever come in contact with.
And then I was looking at the free agent lists and it got me thinking. The level of the top leagues now is so much higher than it’s ever been, certainly in terms of fitness and athleticism (quality of the spectacle is a whole other debate). A few years ago, a 10% drop-off in a top 6 club player would usually mean they would comfortably be the best player at a lower league club. We now have more English players moving to slower leagues and drop-offs like we’ve never witnessed.
There obviously will be other factors at play (attitude, too much money in the game, bad management etc) but the drop offs of players like Martial, Sancho and even players like Harvey Elliot & Mason Mount will be studied in years to come.
Anyway. I’d certainly lash a pay-as-you-play contract at Sancho as we don’t have any RW’s in the squad. A stop gap till big Jeff’s billions get lashed at Olise [raised brow emoji]
Si, LFC
Celtic, money and ambition
The Celtic financials piece is why I keep coming back to this site, that and the mailbox which even without Stewie can be the good ol wild west of footballing opinions.
Easy to just think they screwed the pooch in the away leg and had a historically bad European qualifier night. But the cash reserve growth shows the real picture of a club more intent on interest income than footballing outcomes.
Hard to find a club of Celtic’s stature that misses out on Champions League football twice in a row and chooses to retain their cash reserves and grow their net spend rather than ensure qualification and grow revenues.
But then again ask any fan, what is it that they like about their club and they’ll no doubt say its the healthy bottomline and shareholder value created.
Please keep these kinds of pieces coming!
Shy Ronnie
(FFP Failed for this)
Wealth = power in football and life
“What I find far more difficult to understand is the lack of scrutiny being applied to Manchester City.
Here is a club facing 115 charges, while there has also been reporting in the Financial Times about the UAE and its efforts to put pressure on the British Government to ensure that restrictions affecting City do not materialise”
You’ve kinda answered your own question there mate. In case it has somehow previously escaped your attention, wealth=power. Write that one down, it may come in handy in your day to day life.
In other news, someone thinks I’m a Liverpool fan. If that doesn’t prove that football fans* are blinded by their own prejudices, I don’t know what does (*not normal, well adjusted humans who happen to follow a club, the kind of folk who spend a huge chunk of their free time every day arguing black’s white with each other BTL here, presumably compensating for something missing in their everyday lives).
Lastly, and reference the outrageous rules that protect the elite because they’re scared of competition, and hamstring everyone else, there’s a deep irony here. Both Newcastle and the Villa have shown more nous and creativity in one window than any of the scaredy cats with deep pockets have in a long time, because they HAD to. Or, necessity is the mother of invention if you prefer. And Shunt’s point bears repeating here too – maybe try some fecking coaching too lads.
Unless and until the artificial insulation enjoyed by Liverpool, Arsenal, Man U, Chelsea, City, and ummmm Spurs (lol) is at the very least massively toned down, it’s gonna be like this evermore. Yeah there should be SOME incentive for having bigger revenues and therefore bigger spending power, but if you can’t or won’t see that the logical conclusion to them having ALL the protection is an increasingly stale league at the top, where the Spanish work experience kid can sit and build one of the most depressingly defensive and horrible to watch teams in living memory, to the tune of a billy plus, AND take 7 years to win anything that justifies his existence even slightly, then you’re probably an Arsenal fan.
You have to have some sort of similarly sensible counterpoint to the toned down protection I’m proposing too – sure Mr Deeply Problematic Billionaire (because they ALL are to one degree or another), buy Newcastle/Villa or whoever, spend your tits off for 5 years tops, so long as your insurance money has been paid into the right escrow arrangement so the club’s future is safe if you get distracted and divert your attention/funds into something more interesting. Like, oh I don’t know, bombing Yemen for example.
Regardless of all the above though, the American/Middle Eastern wolves are not just at the gate, they own it and are currently furiously arguing over a gate naming rights deal with either Mossad or Hamas. The pooch has been screwed, the bollock has been dropped, we have failed to paint it black. Read Barney Ronay’s latest bit, ostensibly about the transfer window, but really a beautifully written and razor sharp skewering of the whole stinking obscene edifice. Incredibly funny too IMO.
RHT/TS – proudly going nowhere near AI since forever – how very dare you x
(All that said, wtf are Everton’s owners playing at? ‘Those rotters across the way are at the lowest ebb they’ve been since Brenda, quick – let’s f*** ourselves hard and ensure we fail too’)