Sam TigheSep 1, 2025, 03:45 PM ET
- Sam is a writer, broadcaster and podcaster for ESPN. He will write on the Premier League, scouting and transfers.
For Europe's biggest clubs and leagues, the time for transfers in 2025 has come and gone, and they won't be able to do any more business until January. Which is probably a good thing given the overall spending record in the Premier League has been broken again.
Having had two transfer windows this summer -- as FIFA allowed an additional registration period, which ran from June 1 to 10, due to the Club World Cup -- the second period closed at 7 p.m. BST (2 p.m. ET) in England, Italy, France and Germany on Monday, and a few hours later in Spain.
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Now the clubs, players, managers and agents will sit back and assess. Some got their wishes and some didn't; some excelled in their movements over the summer, while others will be lamenting missed opportunities.
With that, let's look back at what happened during the window and sort the results into winners and losers (with a few who sit in between). Here's who nailed it -- and who didn't.
WINNERS
Liverpool
We'll start with by far the biggest spenders, Liverpool. Only time will tell if this truly is the greatest transfer window of all time (as some excited individuals have claimed), but it's certainly an eye-popping haul of players.
The Reds broke the British transfer record twice this summer, first to sign Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen for £100m plus a potential £16m in add-ons, then again on deadline day to sign Alexander Isak from Newcastle United for £130m. Outside of these two monster deals, they also scooped up Hugo Ekitike for £69m, Milos Kerkez for £40m, Jeremie Frimpong for £29m and Giovani Leoni for £26m. All of this business supplements a title-winning squad that secured Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk to new contracts earlier in the summer.
2:05
Laurens: Liverpool still don't look good despite victory over Arsenal
Julien Laurens believes Liverpool still don't "look good" despite their 1-0 victory over Arsenal.
As usual, they played the exits game tremendously well too, raising over £200m in proceeds on players like Luis Díaz, Jarell Quansah, Darwin Núñez and more. Now, it's a case of fitting all the new pieces together.
There was one hiccup in the form of Marc Guéhi for £35m: His £35m move from Crystal Palace was all agreed on deadline day, but it fell through late on because the Eagles couldn't secure his replacement. But it's still a remarkable body of work on a massive scale.
Too much change in a short space of time can sometimes be a bad thing, and Liverpool's early season performances have been pretty ropey, but they're picking up wins while still finding their feet. It's ominous.
Arsenal
Sensing an opportunity, or feeling the pressure to simply keep up with their big-spending rivals? Whatever the reason, Arsenal went for it this summer, adding eight first-team players to the squad in an effort to bulk up for another title challenge.
The Gunners stocked up and improved in almost every position. Viktor Gyökeres, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke enhanced the front line; Martín Zubimendi and Christian Nørgaard beefed up the midfield; Cristian Mosquera and Piero Hincapié bolstered the defence; and Kepa Arrizabalaga will competently back up David Raya in goal.
This is now a tremendously deep squad, capable of covering injuries and absences in a way it simply was not before. We've already seen evidence of that, with Madueke impressing in Bukayo Saka's stead and Mosquera stepping in valiantly for William Saliba during Sunday's defeat at Liverpool.
1:54
Nicol: Arsenal didn't come to Anfield to win
Steve Nicol criticises Mikel Arteta's approach in Arsenal's 1-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield.
What makes this haul of players even sweeter is that at least two of them were poached from under the noses of rival interested parties. Zubimendi was a major target for Liverpool in 2024, but held on for a year to move to Arsenal, while arch-rivals Spurs thought they had Eze wrapped up ... only for the Gunners to gazump them in the 11th hour.
Real Madrid
Understandably furious with their 2024-25 performance, Real Madrid acted swiftly and decisively early this summer, setting the tone for what they'll hope is a significantly better 2025-26 campaign.
Xabi Alonso was selected and installed as manager in time for the Club World Cup. The perfect combination of modern, suave and tactically astute, it signalled that change was afoot.
The club then furnished him with some superb signings: Trent Alexander-Arnold, one of the best right-backs in football, was secured on the cheap; Dean Huijsen, one of the finest centre-backs in football, was brought in to alleviate issues in the heart of defence; Álvaro Carreras, a more defensive-minded left-back, was recruited to balance out Trent's attacking nature; Franco Mastantuono, the gem of Argentine football, arrived despite interest from Paris Saint-Germain.
In terms of exits, only a handful of aging stars -- Luka Modrić and Lucas Vázquez -- departed, meaning the oft-linked-away Rodrygo stayed put. That makes the Brazilian a depth option for los Blancos -- a ridiculous thing to say really, given his talent -- and underlines how seriously Madrid are taking the task of dethroning Barcelona this year.
NEUTRAL
Manchester United
The bad bits from United's window were: Overpaying for Matheus Cunha (£62.5m) and Bryan Mbeumo (£65m) -- ESPN's Ryan O'Hanlon does a good job of explaining why -- and not signing a new central midfielder. But there were some good bits, too. Signing striker Benjamin Sesko and goalkeeper Senne Lammens represented a return to their previous strategy of acquiring young talent to develop -- considering they are deep into a painful rebuild, it's the right idea.
2:07
Will less pressure at Napoli help Højlund succeed?
Don Hutchison discusses Rasmus Højlund's loan deal to Napoli after a tough few seasons with Manchester United.
They also cleared out the majority of their unwanted players, most of them permanently. Antony, Alejandro Garnacho are definitely gone; Rasmus Højlund is as good as gone, and the financial burden of Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho has been mostly lifted for another season.
All of that combined leaves them in the neutral zone.
Manchester City
Joining them in that neither good-nor-bad zone is their arch-rivals Man City, who have done some really good business this summer, but also struck some deals that raise more questions than answers.
Starting with the good, Tijjani Reijnders has already shown flashes of his brilliance and Rayan Aït-Nouri was surprisingly cheap to acquire from Wolves. But while Rayan Cherki and Gianluigi Donnarumma are obviously excellent players, they seriously jar with Pep Guardiola's style -- the former does not offer anything from a defensive standpoint, while the latter is one of the poorest goalkeepers with the ball at his feet you'll see anywhere. Why would Pep want him?
0:57
Can Man City get the Donnarumma deal over the line?
Rob Dawson explains Gianluigi Donnarumma's expected move to Manchester City, conditional to Fenerbahçe signing Ederson.
They've also let stalwarts Manuel Akanji and Éderson go for relative peanuts, which seems to be a direct result of simply having so many players, a few were destined to leave.
Off the back of 2025's transfer work, City certainly look younger and more energised. But are they actually better?
LOSERS
Newcastle United
Newcastle's entire summer was haunted, and effectively ruined, by the spectre of Alexander Isak. He expressed his desire to leave the club in July, sparking a bid from Liverpool that was firmly declined. What followed was a very long, very draining staring contest between the two clubs, with the player continually making it clear he was determined to leave.
This standoff gave the Magpies roughly six weeks to source two strikers as replacements for the towering Sweden international (and the departed Callum Wilson), but every time they entered the market for a player, they seemed to lose out. They tried and failed to sign Hugo Ekitiké, Benjamin Sesko, João Pedro, Liam Delap and Jørgen Strand Larsen -- and those are just the ones we know about.
Finally, in the last hours of the window, they struck deals for Stuttgart's Nick Woltemade (£65m) and Yoane Wissa (£50m) and allowed Isak to leave for £130m. That said, it's an exchange that unfortunately leaves them worse off than they were at the end of last season.
They did at least get some other business done: Jacob Ramsey joined for £39m to bolster the midfield, while centre-back Malick Thiaw was a good get for £33m from AC Milan. But it's nowhere near enough to overcome what has been a very sore summer for the Toon army.
Bayer Leverkusen
Leverkusen made a lot of money this summer, but they also lost a lot of talent and experience. Every transfer window is an exercise in balance, and it's pretty obvious die Werkself have tipped the scales way too far here in the wrong direction.
Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Jonathan Tah, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky, Odilon Kossounou and Piero Hincapié -- all of whom made 20 or more Bundesliga appearances in 2023-24's title win -- left the club this summer. Former manager Erik ten Hag -- yes! Former! He was sacked on deadline day after two league games! -- openly complained about the talent drain out of the club this summer, so it's not as if this all happened in secret.
2:21
Were Bayer Leverkusen right to have sacked Erik ten Hag?
Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens debate if Bayer Leverkusen were right to sack Erik ten Hag after just 60 days.
Leverkusen have been active with incomings, too -- Malik Tillman, Jarell Quansah, Loïc Badé and Eliesse Ben Seghir are all good additions -- but they've launched themselves backwards, into a rebuild and as of Sept. 1, they're also in search for a new manager.
Bayern Munich
It was a tough summer for Bayern Munich who, for the most part, really struggled to get deals over the line. That led to a lot of questions, a fair amount of panicking, and then two big fees dropped on Premier League players that could go either way.
June began with the signing of Jonathan Tah from Leverkusen, a long-term target. He was celebrated as a free transfer, but reports suggest they paid a substantial signing-on fee and handed him monster wages, despite the fact he does not definitively improve their XI. Then they turned their attention to signing a winger, but missed out on their No. 1 target, Nico Williams, who opted to stay at Athletic Club. They were then linked to Marcus Rashford, but he joined Barcelona.
Meanwhile, Leroy Sané left for Galatasaray, Thomas Müller departed for the Vancouver Whitecaps in Major League Soccer, Kingsley Coman joined Al Nassr and, worst of all, Jamal Musiala suffered a serious injury at the Club World Cup. It left them astonishingly short of attacking bodies, forcing them into action.
Paying €75m for Liverpool's 28-year-old winger Luis Díaz has been universally scoffed at as an overpay, but after also failing to sign Stuttgart's Nick Woltemade (who went to Newcastle), it was obvious Bayern were running out of ideas.
On deadline day, they signed Chelsea's Nicolas Jackson for a loan fee of €16.5m plus an obligation of a further €65m -- another huge commitment to a player who is good, but perhaps not great.
Aston Villa
1:16
Why are Manchester United happy about Sancho deal?
Rob Dawson explains why Manchester United are largely satisfied with Jadon Sancho's loan move to Aston Villa, despite him having just one year remaining on his contract.
A flurry of deadline day activity brought three signings -- Victor Lindelöf on a free, Jadon Sancho on loan from Manchester United and Harvey Elliott for an eventual £35m package from Liverpool -- but it's not enough to paper over what was a frustrating and genuinely uncomfortable summer window for Aston Villa.
Operating under extreme cost-cutting measures following a settlement agreement and fine from UEFA, Villa were faced with the task of at least treading water (and of course trying to get better) while reducing their wage bill by 20-25%, or else be banned from European competition in the future. That's pretty tough to do.
Rumours stalked most of their key players all summer, creating a sense of unease during pre-season, and it became clear Villa needed to clear out their squad depth and potentially lose an important asset before they could commit to making signings. They lost their homegrown, boyhood fan of the club Jacob Ramsey to Newcastle.
Entering deadline day, it was expected that Emiliano Martínez would leave for Manchester United, potentially creating more room to spend, but his move fell through. While the fact they haven't lost a top-class goalkeeper is a positive on paper, it represented yet another zigzag to navigate for Villa's decision-makers, trying desperately to improve the team while not breaching UEFA's rules.
