Winners and losers from transfer deadline day: Tottenham signed how many players?
The Premier League transfer deadline has passed. Here’s a look at the biggest winners and losers over the summer window.
The Premier League’s new, earlier transfer deadline, coupled with the World Cup, wreaked havoc on English club’s business this summer, with most players waiting until they were knocked out of the tournament before deciding on their future.
The earlier deadline also led to increased transfer fees, as clubs around Europe knew they held leverage over Premier League sides. Some clubs handled this situation better than others, and as with every window there were some clear winners and losers. Here are the biggest three of each.
Winner: Wolves
The West Midlands side picked up from where they left off in the Championship with a window filled with enterprise and a clear aim. Wolves have ambitious owners and they don’t want to just survive in the Premier League like most other clubs. Their summer business represents that objective well and they have a good chance of establishing themselves as a top-half side.
They started off by securing the majority of their loanees to permanent deals in order to keep the strong spine to the team. Willy Boly, Diogo Jota, Leo Bonatini and Benik Afobe all played key roles last season. Ruben Vinagre is an exciting talent for the future. Afobe was sold to Stoke for £12.15 million, so they made a slight profit on him.
After that, they focused on improving key areas with targeted signings. The links with Jorge Mendes have certainly helped because veterans Joao Moutinho and Rui Patricio have both been brought in.
Moutinho provides Ruben Neves with an experienced partner which should allow him the freedom to express himself and assert his influence on games. Patricio was brought in on a free due to the situation at Sporting Lisbon, which is an excellent piece of business. He could easily be one of the best goalkeepers in the division.
Adama Traore and Raul Jimenez provide Nuno Santo with more attacking options. Jimenez isn’t the most convincing finisher, but he could work well as an outlet with the two wingers playing off him. Bonatini showed last season that his form can fluctuate significantly because he started well, but didn’t score in the league after December. Therefore, signing another striker was pivotal. Traore provides dribbling ability in abundance, and will probably have the most successful take-ons in the division by the end of the season, but he has to work on his end product.
Jonny Castro and Leander Dendoncker complete their business as they both joined on loan. They will strengthen key areas because Jonny is likely to be first-choice left-back while Dendoncker will provide competition for the central midfield roles. The Belgian ensures that Moutinho can be rotated out to avoid fatigue because he is 31-years-old.
None of their main players were poached by bigger clubs and the players from the first team that have been sold such as Barry Douglas were effectively replaced. Therefore, this represents a hugely successful window for Wolves.