The 2020/21 transfer window was by no means a record-breaking one, but it still offered exciting action for most of the teams. Chelsea were by far the most active outfit out there, but it is quite reasonable because the ban forced them out of the market in the last couple of windows.
Overall, the teams spent €1,447,546,800 in total. Although the number of arrivals is bigger than the number of departures by only 21, the Premier League teams earned much less money for selling their players (€443,843,170).
With ten gameweeks behind us, we feel this is a great time to evaluate the moves made by the elite clubs in England. We are going to analyze the impact some of the most expensive signings have made so far in the campaign. Were they worth all the money invested?
Chelsea
The Blues were the stars of the 2020/21 summer transfer window without a doubt, as confirmed by the experts at betting tips 4 you. Chelsea hold as many as five of the top 25 most expensive moves. The list includes three of the top four overall.
Kai Havertz was the most expensive newcomer to the Premier League last summer. He arrived at Stamford Bridge from Bayer Leverkusen in an €80 million move. He was followed by fellow compatriot Timo Werner and Ben Chilwell who came for €53m and €50.2m respectively. The aforementioned top 25 Premier League transfer list is completed by two more Chelsea assets, Hakim Ziyech, whose €40m move from Ajax puts him at the 8th place overall, and Edouard Mendy. The latter came as a genuine saviour from Ligue 1 side Rennes in a €24 million move. Mendy has been just fabulous as he completely turned Chelsea’s fortunes around since taking over out-of-form Kepa Arrizabalaga between the posts.
Overall, Chelsea’s game has improved drastically with all these arrivals even though we feel there is much more to come from this group of players. Frank Lampard is yet to field his strongest line-up possible. Christian Pulisic only features three matches and got injured again, Ziyech missed the opening four games, while Havertz played just seven so far.
Nevertheless, each of the aforementioned players has already shown fantastic prospects. Werner bagged four goals and two assists in nine outings, Ziyech notched a goal and three assists in just five matches, Chilwell scored a couple of goals and assists apiece in six games, while Havertz contributed with a goal and an assist each in seven appearances.
Chelsea are genuine title contenders with this squad.
Manchester City
While they haven’t been as active as usual, Manchester City still hold three of the top 25 Premier League transfers. Pep Guardiola decided to strengthen his back line by signing a couple of centre-backs in the likes of Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake. The 23-year-old Portuguese talent came from Benfica in a €68 million deal, marking the second biggest summer transfer in the whole league. Ake was by no means cheap either as he left the relegated Bournemouth side for €45.3 million. Finally, there is Ferran Torres who came to Etihad from Valencia in a €23 million move.
Ruben Dias is nailed on the centre-back spot as he made six appearances, while Ake will likely have to battle for his spot in the team’s strongest XI with the like of Aymeric Laporte. Surprisingly, the 20-year-old Ferran Torres has already made six Premier League appearances. He has been particularly impressive in the UEFA Champions League where the former Valencia winger notched a goal in each of Man City’s three opening fixtures. Nonetheless, Pep Guardiola will likely have to be more active in the winter window in an attempt to strengthen his attacking line considering the Citizens’ relatively modest kick-off to the new campaign.
Arsenal
Next up the Gunners (who would think so?). They gave €50 million for Thomas Partey and €26 million for Gabriel. While these transfers did make an impact on the team’s defensive displays as Arsenal have the joint-second-best defensive record in the division, the team is struggling badly to perform at the opposite end. Mikel Arteta’s troops hold a disappointing 12th position having only scored nine goals in nine games. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette are miles away from their best form, while the youngsters are failing to step up either.
Liverpool
The reigning champions made only three significant transfers last summer, one of which is in the top 25 in the league. Jurgen Klopp brought a player to three different parts of the pitch by signing Diogo Jota, Thiago, and Konstantinos Tsimikas.
Jota, who was destined to be benched when he came in from Wolves, took advantage of every single second on the pitch. He notched four Premier League goals in seven appearances, usually coming on as a sub in the process. His stellar showings forced Klopp to even shift his usual formation and play an unordinary 4-2-4 style with Jota, Salah, Mane, and Firmino all on the pitch at the same time.
Thiago Alcantara has been struggling with injuries at the start of the season, while Tsimikas is yet to make a league debut in the new shirt.
The rest of the crew
We will complete the list of the top 25 Premier League transfers with the following likes:
- Fabio Silva and Nelson Semedo – The Portuguese duo signed by Wolves (was not hard to guess, right) in a massive €40 & €30 million deals brought distinct impacts. Porto’s teenager is yet to deliver (made just four appearances), while Semedo is a standard right wing-back for Nuno Espirito Santo.
- Donny van de Beek – The former Ajax midfielder looked like a phenomenal addition to the Manchester United squad, but he has been struggling to get minutes under Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer so far in the season. He made six appearances and notched a goal in the process.
- Wesley Fofana and Timothy Castagne – Leicester strengthened their back line with a pair of exciting prospects in the likes of Fofana and Castagne who arrived for €35m and €24m respectively.
- Sergio Reguilon, Giovani Lo Celso, and Gareth Bale – Although Bale is not in the top 25 league transfers, we had to mention him as a massive boost to Spurs’ potential title ambitions.
- Ollie Watkins – Ollie almost brought Brentford to the elite last season. He got off to a fabulous start for Aston Villa in this campaign.
- Rodrigo – Leeds showed high ambitions by adding Rodrigo to Patrick Bamford in the attacking line
- Ben Godfrey, Allan, and James Rodriguez – Although the latter left a much better impression so far, it was Godfrey’s move from Norwich and Allan’s transfer from Napoli that earned Everton a spot in this Top 25 list.
- Rhian Brewster – Last but not least, Sheffield United broke the club record by signing Liverpool’s young forward Rhian Brewster in a €26 million deal.
If you want to check the latest betting picks, visit www.bettingtips4you.com.
