The transfer window has...
closed. For Europe’s leading football clubs, the chance to revamp, reshape and — in certain cases — reduce their squads is over, until January at least. It was another busy summer for Chelsea , while after years of bringing in significant funds by selling players, Brighton & Hove Albion transformed themselves into a buying club, spending almost £200million ($263m) to give new manager Fabian Hurzeler plenty of options.
Advertisement Arsenal lured Euro 2024 luminaries Riccardo Calafiori and Mikel Merino to north London, Liverpool added Federico Chiesa to Arne Slot’s attacking options, and Manchester United were seen making some potentially sensible additions to their squad in their first summer of the INEOS era. But who was the best buy? Who should have moved but didn’t? And which transfers went completely under the radar? Five of The Athletic ’s writers offer their thoughts on another big-money summer. Mark Carey: Taking Kylian Mbappe out of the equation, I’m going for Joshua Zirkzee .
I may live to regret it, but Zirkzee could be a key cog in the Erik ten Hag system, stitching Manchester United’s attack together more coherently than Bruno Fernandes’ hero-ball attempts. Zirkzee is not an out-and-out goalscorer, but he brings others into play beautifully. With a bit of time, he could have a major impact on United’s attack.
Oliver Kay : It’s weird. Nearly £2billion has been spent in the Premier League but I can’t really think .