The five worst 2026 summer windows, featuring Everton and Aston Villa | OneFootball

The Premier League spent heavily, yet some clubs endured grim summers. Here are five that fell flat.

According to yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk, a frantic window left clear winners and losers.

Everton’s business jarred. David Moyes wanted a right-back, but finished with £5m Ainsley Maitland-Niles on Deadline Day, no left-back and one striker after a failed Folarin Balogun chase on 1 September. Iliman Ndiaye joined Manchester City for £65m, a fee surely £10m light, and Jack Grealish and Hayden Hackney could not mask it.

Aston Villa saw their spine stripped, leaving Unai Emery to rebuild fast. Sales aided rivals, with Youri Tielemans to Manchester United, Emi Martinez to Chelsea and Ezri Konsa to Arsenal, then Ollie Watkins chose the Saudi Pro League at 30, a competition ranked 39th behind Peru’s Liga 1, Cyprus’s top flight and Germany’s second tier.

Newcastle United lost Eddie Howe mid pre-season and key men Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes, the latter pair to Premier League opponents. Two major targets, Victor Munoz and Johan Manzambi, were hijacked and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg said no, while youthful arrivals offer promise without certainty.

Fulham gave Alvaro Arbeloa latitude and he signed four Real Madrid prospects, the oldest just 22. He knows them, yet building around such youth is a bold gamble and the squad looks light.

Crystal Palace waved off Maxence Lacroix and Daniel Munoz to league rivals and their additions felt short of Europa League level. A chaotic Deadline Day pursuit ended with Sunderland taking Malick Fofana, leaving Palace looking foolish.

Source: yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”