Grading every single Premier League club on how successful their summer business was | OneFootball

We’ve reached the midway point of the 2025-26 campaign, which is enough time for a reasonable assessment of how every Premier League club did in the summer transfer window.

Premier League clubs spent over £3billion in the summer, a new record, but it’s fair to say that some invested their transfer dosh better than others.

Here’s how we’ve graded every club in the Premier League on their summer business, halfway through the 2025-26 campaign.

Arsenal – B+

Martin Zubimendi has been an inspired signing. Maybe even the signing of the season.

He’s been a huge upgrade on Thomas Partey in the Gunners’ midfield engine room, with a transformative effect on their balance and ability to control games and dictate the tempo.

That alone means they’re worthy of a strong score, even if the early signs are that Viktor Gyokeres is a dud and Eberechi Eze – North London derby aside – hasn’t really pulled up any trees.

The 2025 window ensured that Mikel Arteta is blessed with the strongest, deepest squad in the country.

Admittedly that probably should be the case when you bolster an already stacked squad with £200million worth of reinforcements, barely losing anyone important or recouping anything in sales, but ultimately what counts is getting it done.

Aston Villa – C

Villa’s recent winning run was an ode to the genius of Unai Emery and the limitations of xG.

It was another window in which Monchi, who is no longer at the club, failed to back Emery’s brilliance with sufficient quality.

Jadon Sancho has had his moments but looks unlikely to ever fulfil his Dortmund promise, Harvey Elliott has been a head-scratching non-starter, while the one big-money addition – Evann Guessand – struggled to make an impact before jetting off to AFCON. Victor Lindelof has done alright for a free transfer, we suppose.

Imagine what Villa would be doing with a better hit-rate in the transfer market.

Bournemouth – C

A strong start to the season has fizzled away. Their early-season promise hinted that they’ve struck gold again, but we’re getting the feeling that constantly selling will catch up with them. Southampton vibes.

Three of last season’s back four went to Liverpool, PSG and Real Madrid. Instantly building something of similar quality was a near-impossible task, although Adrien Truffert looks a find.

The Cherries’ task will only get harder with the presumably imminent sale of Antoine Semenyo. Two wins from their last 14 matches has put pressure on the previously untouchable Andoni Iraola.

Brentford – B+

Many expected Brentford to have a wobble once Thomas Frank departed but Keith Andrews has perhaps shown a club’s foundations is more important than the man in charge of it.

Transfer-wise, Dango Ouattara on the right wing and Antoni Milanamdio are strong signings for the future, while Caoimhin Kelleher looks like a major upgrade between the sticks.

The signing of Jordan Henderson was also a wise bit of business. His experience and leadership have shut up those who wrote him off as a has-been.

Brighton & Hove Albion – C

In a competitive season, Brighton perhaps should have made more of the opportunity to rise up the table and yet are down in 14th after six wins, seven draws and six defeats.

The good news for Fabian Hurzeler is three points would have them up to seventh and after playing the two Manchester clubs, they have some favourable fixtures in January.

Maxim De Cuyper has proven to be their best bit of business in the summer and new centre forward Charalampos Kostoulas has scored just one goal in his 13 matches.

Burnley – C

While the other two promoted sides are achieving far beyond expectations, Burnley in 19th seems about par for the course.

A 2-0 win against Sunderland in the second game of the season meant there would not be a long wait for that first victory of the year but it would be another six games before they got three points again, against another promoted side in Leeds.

Their wins have only come against their fellow promotees or Wolves and although they are not getting battered every week, losing 1-0 compared to 5-0 outright makes little difference.

A couple of draws in December against Bournemouth and Everton suggested they were not destined for the drop already but if the teams around them strengthen in January, it is hard to see a way out.

They did strengthen in the summer with Martin Dubravka, Lessly Ugochukwu, Zian Fleming, Jaidon Atnony and Kyle Walker being the main acquisitions who have slotted in nicely. But Amando Broja has not impressed all that much.

Chelsea – C-

Chelsea are a very confusing team this year. They’re fifth, doing okay in the Champions League and have beaten the likes of Liverpool and Barcelona and yet they are not nearly convincing.

Enzo Maresca’s not-so-cryptic comment about him enduring the worst 48 hours of his Chelsea career hints at unrest behind the scenes, and summer signings like Joao Pedro and – especially – Liam Delap have yet to really make a mark.

Alejandro Garnacho remains a frustrating watch, while Jamie Gittens has not lived up to his £48.5million price tag as of yet.

Definitely there has been improvement with only Arsenal and City conceding fewer, and the return of Cole Palmer is a welcome boost but their last five matches includes at least one of every possible result, highlighting their inconsistency.

While the title is gone, top four and Champions League qualifying is feasible. Maresca needs to find turn more draws into wins and make the most of his expensive squad.

Crystal Palace – C+

Losing Eberechi Eze, having lost Michael Olise the year before, could have been enough to sink some clubs, but Olivier Glasner continues to impress with his Palace team.

Jean-Philippe Mateta remains a great striker, and the longer Palace hold on to Adam Wharton, the better their fortunes will be.

Marc Guehi has been crucial, and his performances have justified Palace turning down £35m from Liverpool in the summer. If they do decide to sell in January, it will be a big blow for Glasner, who also looks to be heading off in the summer.

Signing-wise, they have not made too much of an impact with Yeremy Pino the only arrival to become a consistent starter.

Everton – B-

The good vibes that David Moyes brought to Everton at the end of the season has continued into the new one and a new stadium.

In Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Jack Grealish, they have a couple of fun midfielders.

Thierno Barry, though. Oof.

Fulham – C

Marco Silva seems frustrated with the sense of stagnancy at Craven Cottage. Fulham took their sweet time to do any business.

AC Milan loanee Samuel Chukwueze has taken time to adapt to a new league, but he looks as though he could be a big signing in the second half of the campaign once he returns from AFCON.

The jury remains out on club record signing Kevin, who has done little since his eye-catching debut against Leeds.

Leeds United – B+

Joel Piroe finished top scorer in the Championship last season, but every Leeds fan seemed acutely aware the Dutchman wouldn’t cut it in the Premier League.

A new striker was top of the wishlist, so spending zero pounds to bring in Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha was met with something of a collective shrug.

Nmecha is far from proven, while Calvert-Lewin’s paltry goalscoring return and fitness issues in recent seasons made it look like Leeds were taking a big risk in the goalscoring department.

Fans needn’t have worried. Calvert-Lewin has rediscovered his best Everton form and shut up his many doubters, while Nmecha has proven handy enough in his intermittent opportunities.

With free transfers up top, that allowed the PSR-hamstrung club to invest funds elsewhere. Anton Stach, Sean Longstaff, Lucas Perri, Noah Okafor and Gabriel Gudmundsson have all been effective, particularly since Daniel Farke started to really embrace the summer’s Big B*stards FC recruitment policy.

Leeds are far from safe, but at the midway point this all looks like a plan nicely coming together.

Liverpool – D

There’s every chance that in a few years we’ll look back at Liverpool’s madcap summer 2025 as an excellent window. The first big step in a major rebuild inevitably had some early teething issues.

We’re certainly not writing any of their summer signings off just yet. Florian Wirtz looks on the cusp of showing what the hype was all about, while Hugo Ekitike has looked superb since day one.

Alexander Isak, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong and Giovanni Leoni have all had their issues with form and/or fitness, but they all possess enough ability to come good.

But judging the summer business in January 2026 and we can’t escape the feeling the balance is all wrong. They’re lacking defensive cover, Arne Slot seems stuck between two stools, last season’s talisman Mohamed Salah out of place in the new-look setup.

They’ve gone from runaway champions to a side that look miles off. The summer’s strategy looks a bit muddled, to put it mildly.

Manchester City – B+

Well, it’s a lot better than this time last year, isn’t it?

This time last season, Pep Guardiola and City were reeling from an incredible drop off that had them down in 6th after 19 games but if it was a season of pain, it showed now was the time for a rebuild.

In came a new look midfield with Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki. The defence was strengthened with Rayan Ait-Nouri and two new goalkeepers to complement January spending and the result is a familiar looking Guardiola side beginning to click into top gear ahead of a title push.

If the start of the season still had a few question marks as the new players bedded in, the team looked to have clicked into gear now and Cherki in particular has impressed. No team is in better form and in Erling Haaland they have the most natural goalscorer in the league.

Judging City mid-season is tough given how much their season is defined trophies but Guardiola has the confidence of a man who knows how to apply pressure to his former pupil.

Manchester United – B

A positive 1-0 win over Newcastle on Boxing Day followed by an underwhelming draw to Wolves just about sums up Manchester United, but think what the atmosphere was like heading into the season.

No matter how much time Jim Ratcliffe suggested Amorim needed, there was the feeling that he was only a few bad results away from the sack but to his credit, he has steadied the ship.

The signings of Cunha and Mbuemo rejuvenated a forward line and United are sixth, two points off the top four. But Benjamin Sesko has not yet lived up to his expensive price tag.

There is still work to be done – no team has conceded more goals in the top half – and typical United results like the Wolves draw need to be ironed out, but it is a vast improvement from where the club was 12 months ago.

Newcastle United – B-

The Isak saga cast a shadow over the summer.

The Magpies actually look to have done alright out of that sorry situation, striking gold with Nick Woltemade, while Yoane Wissa – unfortunately injured for the first half of the season – offers extra depth, competition and quality.

Malick Thiaw, too, looks a more than decent addition to Eddie Howe’s defensive ranks.

It’s elsewhere we’re unsure about. After qualifying for the Champions League for the second time in three seasons, it once again feels like Newcastle have missed an opportunity to raise the level of their squad. Around £100million on Jacob Ramsey and Anthony Elanga does not look like smart investment.

Nottingham Forest – C-

What better way to celebrate qualifying for Europe for the first time in 30 years? Have a very public falling out with your manager of course.

The Forest ownership and Mr Marinakis are lucky there have been three worst teams than them so far this season as the decisions they have made do not justify staying up. Had Nuno perhaps ran out of steam? Yes as evident by their slipping down the table towards the end of last year but he had a squad he could get the best out of.

Once they sacked him, the club went for almost the polar opposite style manner in Ange Postecoglou which surprise, surprise didn’t work out.

Facing the threat of relegation, Forest have moved back to their old way of playing under Sean Dyche but Dycheball has its limitations and will not satisfy a fan base for too long.

They did though make some good moves in the summer with Igor Jesus having replaced Chris Wood up top and Omari Hutchinson has become an important player after shaking off doubts over his price tag.

Sunderland – A+

Necessity is the mother of invention and all that.

Few clubs in Premier League history have gone into a transfer window needing as wholesale a rebuild as Sunderland. The last six promoted clubs have all sunk back done like a stone, and Sunderland finished 24 points behind the automatically promoted top two. Their Championship squad looked nowhere near it.

What can you say but they’ve smashed it out of the park? Granit Xhaka is one of the most ambitious, eye-catching signings ever made by a newly-promoted club, and he’s completely lived up to his billing. Noah Sadiki, Habib Diarra, Nordi Mukiele and Robin Roefs have been inspired additions.

Their squad is looking a bit light during AFCON, but they’ve already built up enough leeway for that not to matter.

Credit where it’s due to Regis Le Bris for getting a new-look side clicking so seamlessly and instantaneously.

Tottenham Hotspur – D

After the Ange experiment ended, Spurs fans may have hoped that seasoned Premier League manager Thomas Frank would have brought some calmness to the club, but it has been more of the same.

Frank may be a more cautious manager than his predecessor, but just two wins at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is not exactly the kind of thing that will endear you to fans paying some of the highest season ticket prices in the country.

Their away form has been marginally better, although that too has taken a turn for the worse, and there are already questions over whether Frank can survive in the job. Perhaps he will, but there has been little evidence so far to suggest he warrants that stay of execution.

Joao Palhinha is the pick of their signings and a player profile Spurs needed, but Xavi Simons has been inconsistent.

West Ham United – D

Take away that Conference League win and it has been a depressing decade for West Ham fans. The days of Upton Park or Dimitri Payet scoring worldies seem like a lifetime ago and instead, they are left with a team sleepwalking into relegation.

As a London club with a 62,500 stadium, West Ham shouldn’t where they are, and the owners cannot be accused of not getting the chequebook out. What they can be blamed for, though, is a history of shocking signings.

That remained true this summer with the injury-prone Calum Wilson the only number nine they could find. Kyle Walker-Peters and Jean-Clain Todibo have also failed to sure up the defence.

Wolverhampton Wanderers – F

Awful. Shocking. Horrendously bad.

Whatever way you want to describe Wolves this season, it does not do justice to how bad they have been.

Years of selling their best players and not finding adequate replacements have exposed the Molineux outfit, and without three promoted teams to prop them up, they find themselves rooted to the bottom of the table on a pitiful three points.

John Arias, Jackson Tchatchoua and David Moller Wolfe all arrived in the summer, but there has been little to suggest their careers in the Premier League will be long ones.

Wolves are not just on course to beat Derby County’s 11 points from the 2007-08 season but destroy it with their current form seeing them finish the year on six points. By matchday five of this season, every team had achieved as many or more points than Wolves are on now.

The blame is to be given to the board for their mismanagement of the club, and Rob Edwards’ decision to leave a promotion-chasing Middlesbrough for this mess looks all the more misguided now.