The transfer window has finally closed, leaving behind a trail of record fees, inflated valuations, spectacular deals and enough questionable recruitment decisions to keep football fans arguing until Christmas.
Premier League clubs once again treated the transfer market like an open bar, spending billions. At the same time, some European rivals watched with the increasingly bemused expression of people wondering whether the English clubs had collectively lost their minds.
Nine of the 10 most expensive transfers involved Premier League clubs, with Yan Diomande’s move from RB Leipzig to Real Madrid the only exception, and the scale of some fees was extraordinary even by modern football standards.
But money alone does not determine who won the window.
Some clubs spent intelligently and addressed obvious weaknesses. Others spent enormous sums only to discover that they had somehow managed to make their squads even more confusing.
Here are the biggest winners and losers of the 2026 summer transfer window.
Arsenal – Winner
Arsenal had one of those windows that should make their rivals deeply uncomfortable.
The Gunners did not need to tear everything apart because they already had the strongest squad in England last season. They just needed to add quality, depth and a little more nastiness to a team that had already learned how to win.
Andrea Berta delivered.
Bruno Guimaraes gives Mikel Arteta a midfielder capable of controlling games through physicality, intelligence and sheer competitive aggression, while Ezri Konsa gives Arsenal an outstanding defensive option with William Saliba injured.
Then there is Christos Tzolis, who already looks like the kind of signing rival supporters will eventually hate seeing on the team sheet.
Arsenal also managed to turn Gabriel Martinelli’s increasingly frustrating situation into a club-record sale, which is exceptional business when you consider how difficult it can be to extract serious money from a player whose performances have become increasingly inconsistent.
Yes, Arsenal missed out on Vinicius Junior, Morgan Rogers and Julian Alvarez.
So what?
They still finished the summer with a squad that is deeper, stronger and more adaptable than the one that won the Premier League last season.
Arsenal did not need to win every auction.
They just needed to make sure everybody else was still chasing them when the music stopped.
They did.
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Manchester United – Loser
Manchester United’s midfield has received a makeover.
The defence apparently received a motivational speech.
United brought in Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba, with Baleba potentially becoming the most important of the three, and there is no denying that the centre of the pitch looks considerably healthier.
But somebody should probably tell Michael Carrick that Premier League matches are also played in the areas occupied by defenders.
United conceded 54 league goals last season, then entered another transfer window with a defence crying out for serious surgery and somehow emerged with most of the same problems still sitting there.
Luke Shaw remains an uncomfortable solution at left-back, the centre-back group lacks the authority expected of a title-chasing side and the overall defensive structure still looks one injury away from falling apart.
The opening weeks have already offered a preview of what could come, with United conceding four goals in their first two league matches, both against newly promoted opposition.
Carrick may genuinely believe this is a better squad.
Perhaps it is.
But leaving that defence largely untouched while spending heavily elsewhere is like buying an expensive new engine for a car with three bald tyres and then congratulating yourself on improving the vehicle.
United have improved. They just have not improved where they most desperately needed to.
Real Madrid – Winner
Jose Mourinho has spent years trying to convince people that his best days were not behind him.
Florentino Perez has now decided to give him the most expensive possible opportunity to prove it.
Real Madrid’s summer was magnificent in its ambition.
Marc Cucurella, Denzel Dumfries, Bernardo Silva, Ibrahima Konate and Yan Diomande have transformed the squad into something that looks frighteningly well equipped for Mourinho’s preferred brand of football.
Diomande was the statement signing, arriving from RB Leipzig for around €125 million and becoming the only non-Premier League player among the summer’s biggest deals.
The message from Madrid was brutally simple.
They were not rebuilding.
They were loading the cannon.
And Mourinho has been handed enough ammunition that failure will be impossible to disguise as bad luck.
That is a spectacular position for any manager to be in, particularly one whose career had begun to look increasingly like a museum exhibit dedicated to his former greatness.
Perez has given Mourinho one final enormous stage.
Now he has to perform.
Liverpool – Loser
Liverpool supporters may eventually look back at this transfer window and wonder whether Richard Hughes was running a football club or conducting a particularly expensive experiment in improvisation.
The Reds spent heavily, with Bradley Barcola eventually arriving from Paris Saint-Germain in a blockbuster deal, while Victor Muñoz offered another intriguing attacking option and Ronald Araujo arrived to reinforce the defence.
Barcola could become sensational.
That is precisely why Liverpool supporters will be so frustrated by the rest of the window.
Andoni Iraola needed a squad capable of playing his aggressive, physically demanding football, yet Liverpool finished the summer with glaring holes still visible.
There is no specialist No. 6.
The full-back situation remains awkward.
The squad lacks depth in several areas.
And somehow, after spending enormous money, Liverpool still look like they are waiting for the next transfer window to finish the job.
That takes some talent.
Hughes was supposed to give Iraola the tools to rebuild Liverpool.
Instead, the manager has been handed a box of expensive parts, three instruction manuals and apparently no one has checked whether the pieces actually fit together.
The most painful part for Liverpool fans is that the club had the resources.
This was not poverty.
This was not austerity.
This was not a club unable to compete financially.
They had the money and still managed to leave supporters feeling short-changed.
That is why Hughes’ summer deserves every bit of the criticism coming his way.
Barcelona – Winner
Barcelona’s greatest signing this summer may have been something considerably less glamorous than Rodri or Anthony Gordon.
Competence.
For once, Camp Nou was not watching its executives sprint around Europe in the final weeks of the window trying to find another financial lever to pull.
Barcelona registered their new players, strengthened the squad and simultaneously worked to reduce the pressure on their wage bill.
Deco deserves enormous credit.
The club moved on expensive players, generated meaningful transfer income and brought in players capable of contributing immediately.
Rodri’s arrival from Manchester City is particularly enormous for Hansi Flick, giving Barcelona the elite midfield controller they have desperately needed.
Anthony Gordon adds pace and directness.
Karim Adeyemi adds another dangerous attacking option.
Joao Cancelo brings experience and flexibility.
For a club that has spent years making transfer windows feel like emergency financial meetings, this one felt remarkably calm.
Barcelona finally looked like a giant behaving like a giant again.
Julian Alvarez – Loser
Julian Alvarez wanted Barcelona.
Barcelona wanted Julian Alvarez.
Atletico Madrid essentially replied: No. We’re not selling to a rival
Arsenal want Alvarez. Alvarez say No
And that was that.
Alvarez made his preference clear, Barcelona made their interest impossible to miss and Atletico refused to surrender their star forward simply because the player wanted a different destination.
There is something almost refreshing about it.
Player power has become one of the defining forces in modern football, but Atletico decided that this particular battle was worth fighting.
For Alvarez, however, the outcome is considerably less comfortable.
He wanted the Camp Nou dream and instead remains at the Metropolitano, where the relationship with supporters has already become strained.
He is still an exceptional footballer and will probably score enough goals to make everyone forget the drama eventually.
But football supporters have long memories.
Alvarez now has to score his way out of a hole that he helped dig.
Saudi Pro League – Winner
The Saudi Pro League’s critics were beginning to believe the enormous spending spree had finally lost momentum.
Then Saudi clubs came back with another suitcase of money and ruined the theory.
Francisco Trincao, Tijjani Reijnders, Crysencio Summerville, Ollie Watkins and Gabriel Martinelli all moved to Saudi clubs for substantial fees.
The more interesting aspect is the age profile; these are not retired superstars arriving for one final payday.
Several are still in their prime. That changes the conversation.
Saudi Arabia may still have a long way to go before genuinely competing with Europe’s elite leagues, but it has already established something very important: Premier League players with plenty of football left in their legs are now willing to consider the move.
The Ronaldo Effect may have changed shape.
It certainly has not disappeared.
Everton – Winner
Everton’s recruitment department spent the summer giving supporters hope and then repeatedly setting fire to it. The club desperately needed a striker.
They sold Beto, they lined up replacements and they failed to sign them.
By deadline day, Folarin Balogun had become the latest name in a procession of potential solutions before the move collapsed, leaving David Moyes with Thierno Barry as his only senior centre-forward.
This is the sort of transfer planning that makes supporters stare silently at the ceiling.
Everton also spent much of the summer refusing to solve the right-back problem, while the proposed sale of Harrison Armstrong to Nottingham Forest collapsed amid furious fan opposition.
There was supposed to be a new era at Everton following the Friedkin Group’s takeover.
Instead, the club managed to produce another summer in which the supporters were left wondering what exactly the people in charge were doing.
Selling your striker and failing to replace him is poor recruitment. Doing it while knowing you have months before the next opportunity to correct the mistake is bordering on self-sabotage.
Bayern Munich – Winner
Bayern Munich’s transfer window was less about fireworks and more about ruthless squad management.
The biggest victory was keeping Michael Olise.
Real Madrid wanted him.
Madrid usually gets the player when Madrid wants the player.
This time, Bayern said no.
That alone deserves enormous praise.
Olise gives Bayern one of Europe’s most dangerous attacking weapons, and retaining him could ultimately prove more valuable than signing another headline name.
Ismael Saibari was also secured before his World Cup performances pushed his profile higher, while Nathanial Brown adds promising young quality. Bayern may still have concerns over depth, particularly behind Harry Kane and Luis Diaz, but they have preserved the core of a squad capable of making another serious Champions League run.
Sometimes the smartest move in football is refusing to sell your best player.
Bayern understood that.
Tottenham – Loser
Tottenham spent money this summer with the subtlety of a man who has just discovered his bank card has no spending limit. After consecutive 17th-place Premier League finishes, Spurs absolutely needed reinforcements.
They got them. They also paid spectacular amounts of money for them.
Sandro Tonali reportedly cost around £92 million.
Mateus Fernandes arrived for roughly £85 million.
Savio cost another £75 million.
That is an astonishing amount of money for a club that still looks desperately short of elite attacking quality.
Spurs have somehow managed to spend hundreds of millions and leave their manager with a squad that still feels incomplete.
That is not easy. There should be a coaching course for it.
Roberto De Zerbi now has to make sense of a squad assembled at extraordinary expense, while the early performances have offered little evidence that Tottenham suddenly possess the quality of a top-four side.
The funniest part is that ENIC spent years being criticised for refusing to spend.
This summer they finally answered the critics.
They opened the wallet, emptied it spectacularly and may still finish the season needing half a new team.
Congratulations.
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Elite sellers – Winner
The 2026 transfer window belonged to clubs that understood one basic principle.
If somebody is willing to overpay, let them.
PSG were outstanding.
They spent heavily but generated roughly €280 million from four major forward sales, including Bradley Barcola, Goncalo Ramos, Randal Kolo Muani and Lee Kang-in.
Chelsea were equally ruthless, with Aston Villa taking Nicolas Jackson and Alejandro Garnacho off their hands for a potential £100 million, while Manchester United paid handsomely for Andrey Santos.
But Manchester City deserve the trophy for transfer-market robbery.
Rodri left for £65 million.
Tijjani Reijnders brought in around £52 million.
James Trafford generated a healthy profit despite making only four Premier League appearances last season.
And then City somehow persuaded Tottenham to pay £85 million for Savio.
Savio scored twice in 52 Premier League appearances for City.
2 goals, 52 appearances.
Tottenham paid £85 million.
City executives should probably be investigated for possession of an illegal sales technique. Perhaps Savio becomes brilliant at Spurs and scores 25 goals next season and makes everyone look stupid.
But City did not need to predict the future.
They simply convinced Tottenham to pay an enormous price for a player they were perfectly happy to sell. The Savio deal also raised wider questions about how the transfer was structured and what the numbers really meant for both clubs.
That is how you win a transfer window without buying half the world.
Aston Villa – Loser
Aston Villa’s summer was the footballing equivalent of winning the lottery and discovering the tax bill before you have even celebrated.
They had Champions League qualification, and also had a major European trophy. They had a squad finally beginning to look like one capable of establishing itself among England’s elite.
Then the dismantling began.
Morgan Rogers left.
Ezri Konsa left.
Youri Tielemans left.
Ollie Watkins left.
Lucas Digne and Emiliano Martinez also departed.
Unai Emery has repeatedly explained that the sales were necessary for the club’s financial health, and Villa have reinvested heavily in younger players.
That is understandable; however, it is also brutal.
A team that spent years building towards this moment has suddenly been forced to start another cycle just as it appeared ready to enjoy the fruits of the previous one. Emery may eventually turn the rebuild into another success story.
But right now, Villa supporters have every reason to feel like someone has taken their Champions League ticket and replaced it with a receipt for a very expensive renovation project.
