The transfer window slammed shut with an almighty bang on Monday evening – and the culmination of one of the most tumultuous tussles of the summer. 

Alexander Isak’s monumental £125 million transfer from Newcastle to Liverpool, following his refusal to play and a provocative social media statement, set a new British transfer record for the second time this summer. This comes amid a frenzied market where Premier League clubs are pouring millions in a bid to secure their top desired talent.

Previously, Liverpool had also broken the record with Florian Wirtz’s acquisition, as Arne Slot aimed to enhance his championship-winning team during the off-season.

Several other Premier League teams made significant investments in the transfer window, with notable transactions including Arsenal’s signing of Viktor Gyokeres and Manchester United’s acquisition of Benjamin Sesko.

Newly promoted teams also made their presence felt in the market, while high-performing clubs like Bournemouth and Brighton showcased their astute player recruitment strategies.

How did your team perform during this transfer window? Are they equipped adequately for the upcoming season? Daily Mail Sport’s experts analyze each club’s window activities, grading their ins and outs.

Arsenal 

The Gunners secured a much-needed striker in Viktor Gyokeres and bolstered their squad across all positions, spending £267 million in total.

The acquisition of Eberechi Eze is a particularly exciting one, and Martin Zubimendi’s arrival is an underrated coup.

Though, the north London club’s failure to generate sufficient sales in this window – just £10m in total – is a blot and stops this summer from being a near perfect one.

Grade: B 

Isaan Khan 

Aston Villa 

Kept all their key players but failed to seal an exit for Emi Martinez and that hindered their ability to refresh the squad. Harvey Elliott looks a smart loan signing but Jadon Sancho is a gamble. The Europa League campaign may define Villa’s medium and long-term future. If they win it, they return to the Champions League. If they do not, they face a tougher future. 

Grade: C+ 

Tom Collomosse  

Brentford 

It’s been a tough window for the Bees.

Having lost their captain Christian Norgaard, first choice keeper Mark Flekken, and the attacking duo of Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo.

Not to mention the departure of Thoams Frank. However, the west London Club are no strangers to selling their best players.

The acquisitions of Jordan Henderson, Caoimhin Kelleher, Reiss Nelson and Dango Ouattara bring a wealth of Premier League experience.

Grade: D

Beau Brown 

Brighton 

Joao Pedro became the latest Brighton ace to walk the well-trodden path to Chelsea, with his £60m taking the amount spent by the Blues on Seagulls talent in the last three years to nearly £300m.

They spent some of the money on landing teenagers who will develop into future stars, like Greek striker Charalampos Kostoulas and England youth international winger Tom Watson.

Maxim De Cuyper came in to replace the departing full-back Pervis Estupinian and 21-year-old Diego Coppola looks like he’ll be Lewis Dunk’s replacement one day.

A victory over Man City might leaving you wondering who needs Premier League experience after all to replace Pedro and fellow striker Evan Ferguson, who joined Roma on loan, but their departures put yet more responsibility on the shoulders of a 34-year-old Danny Welbeck.

Brighton also managed to keep hold of other key players. Manchester United were kept at arm’s length in their pursuit of central midfielder Carlos Baleba while forward Kaoru Mitoma was also linked with a move to Bayern Munich. That was Brighton’s best bit of business.

Grade: C+

James Sharpe 

Bournemouth 

Wholesale changes on the south coast. After an outstanding campaign, Dean Huijsen, Illia Zabarnyi, Milos Kerkez have all departed for a combined £150m.

However, it can’t be argued they’ve not invested. The purchases of Adrien Truffert, Bafode Diakite and Amine Adli bring a wealth of experience, having all played in the Champions League.

The signings of Ben Doak and Alex Jiminez represent exciting prospects; the latter having come through Real Madrid’s academy.

Grade: C 

Beau Brown 

Burnley 

Burnley needed a big window. But I’m not sure they’ve done enough.

Matin Dubravka and Kyle Walker bring bags of experience at Premier League level and having both signed for next to nothing represent shrewd moves.

Lesley Ugochukwu arrived to replace departing skipper Josh Brownhill.

However, it’s the frontline where I’m concerned. Other than Marcus Edwards whose loan move from sporting was made permanent, it’s only Armando Broja who’s been signed to bolster the Clarets’ attacking ranks.

Grade: C

Beau Brown 

Chelsea

I mean, really, who knows? Chelsea appears to exist these days as a trading operation first and a football team second, so the constant whirr of activity will satisfy those in the corridors of power at Stamford Bridge. Joao Pedro is an excellent addition for Enzo Maresca but whether him, Jamie Gittens, Liam Delap, Alejandro Garnacho, etc represent significant upgrades on Nicolas Jackson, Noni Madueke, Christopher Nkunku and Joao Felix is open to question? 

More importantly, will any of them be given time to settle and develop? Or sold in a year to make way for another wave of talent?

Grade: C 

Matt Barlow 

Crystal Palace

Oliver Glasner may need a stiff drink after a tumultuous window at Crystal Palace. The Marc Guehi saga threatened to throw the club into chaos and while Glasner got his way in the end, it remains to be seen the impact it has on the Austrian’s long-term relationship with chairman Steve Parish. 

Eberechi Eze’s exit was a blow, albeit expected, and Yeremy Pino and Christantus Uche are exciting, if unproven additions. Jaydee Canvot, Borna Sosa and Walter Benitez expand the squad but there are still question marks over whether Palace have the depth to cope with European football. 

There is also a feeling they may rue not capitalising further on the best season in their history.

Grade: C 

Will Pickworth 

Everton

It has been a positive window for Everton, without question. Had they signed Jack Grealish on his own, that would have been a massive coup but there was more. 

David Moyes knew back in May that he was going to have an enormous challenge reshaping his squad, particularly as so many players were out of contract. At Molineux last Saturday, you could see what a toll it had taken in terms of the hours he had spent in meetings and in front of videos. 

However, Moyes ticked almost every box in terms of what he needed in terms of recruits – he wanted a defender on deadline day to go along with Merlin Rohl, the midfielder from Freiburg, but it wasn’t possible. Grealish can be a game changer for Everton but watch Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall develop. He’s been superb so far. Expect Moyes to look to add more goals in the January window. 

Grade: B

Dominic King 

Fulham

Frustration had crept in that Fulham had no signed an outfield player prior to Deadline Day but they flipped the script on that by adding a pair of wingers in Kevin, from Shakhtar Donetsk, and Samuel Chukwueze, on loan from AC Milan.

Marco Silva has managed to retain his most important players while simultaneously freshening up his front line.

Could have been more exciting, no doubt, but the Cottagers have had a solid summer.

Grade: C 

Nathan Salt 

Leeds

With ten signings and a summer spend of approximately £100M, Leeds have done plenty of business but deadline day was a categorical failure for Daniel Farke’s side in their hunt for an attacker. 

As Farke admitted on Saturday, it will be ‘difficult’ to stay up without quality up front. They look solid in defence but with injuries to Ethan Ampadu and Ao Tanaka in midfield, there are already concerns over whether this squad is ready for the season. 

Grade: C 

Isaan Khan 

Liverpool 

Top of the class. The best midfielder on the market in Florian Wirtz and perhaps the best all-round No 9 in the Premier League in Alexander Isak. Plus one of the brightest up-and-coming strikers in Hugo Ekitike and two new full backs in Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez. 

Daily Mail Sport predicted a ‘big summer’ but, to be honest, we did not think it would be quite this big. One of the greatest transfer windows of all time. It means that there can be no excuses now, the pressure is on…

Grade: A+

Lewis Steele 

Manchester City 

We won’t know the success or otherwise of this window for at least another 12 months. 

There have been huge calls made on a rebuild during Hugo Viana’s first summer, some icons and legends of the club moved on, and City have spent decent money on plenty of new faces rather than extraordinary finance on stellar names. 

It’ll take time to see whether that strategy was the right call – or whether they count the cost of not aggressively spending post-Treble.

Grade: B 

Jack Gaughan 

Manchester United

The key focus in the United boardroom was to transform an attack that mustered just 44 Premier League goals last season and they did just that with a £200million spend.

Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo are Premier League proven, while they’ve also rolled the dice on potential with Benjamin Sesko, Diego Leon and goalkeeper Senne Lammens.

Failure to land a midfielder – it’s difficult to buy they never felt it was a priority – stops this from being a higher grade. That area of the pitch remains very troubling.

Grade: B+

Nathan Salt 

Newcastle

Have they strengthened their squad? Yes, absolutely. Have they strengthened their starting XI? Probably not. In the modern game, there is an argument to say that achieving the former is just as important. 

But in losing Alexander Isak, they are weaker. They have been forced to gamble with a £69m club-record investment on Nick Woltemade, but the arrival of Yoane Wissa as a striker ready to hit the ground running is smart. 

Jacob Ramsey provides better quality in reserve in midfield and will play a lot of games. There are some concerns after a few matches as to the output of Anthony Elanga – he was brought in as a £55m upgrade on Jacob Murphy, but the latter displaced the new signing in the XI at the weekend. 

Newcastle’s summer has not gone to plan, to say the least, but they may just have salvaged a victory of some sorts from a difficult situation with six signings and a line being drawn under the Isak saga. 

Grade: B 

Craig Hope 

Nottingham Forest

Hanging on to Morgan Gibbs-White for another season is a coup and there is no doubt the squad is deeper and stronger than last year, thanks to 13 new players and more than £200million spent. 

This group of players would be envied by most outside the big six and some within it, yet doubts remain about whether Nuno Espirito Santo is the right coach to take charge of it. 

Grade: B+

Tom Collomosse 

Sunderland

The Black Cats have been busy. 14 new signings in all. Including the likes of Granit Xhaka, Nordi Mukiele and Simon Adingra.

Not to mention an excellent deadline day in which Brian Brobbey, Lutsharel Geertruida and Bertrand Traore all arrived.

Admittedly, the Mackems would have probably rather kept Jobe Bellingham who departed for Borussia Dortmund. But the deal worth a potential £32m is a club record.

If they do stay up, it’ll be in large part to their shrewd business this summer window.

Grade: A

Beau Brown 

Tottenham Hotspur 

Spurs focused on adding proven quality and experience to the first team pool as opposed to 2024 when they prioritised emerging talent. 

This they have done with Mohammed Kudus, Xavi Simons and Randal Kolo Muani in attacking areas, and Joao Palhinha in midfield. 

Mathys Tel and Kevin Danso signed permanently. Big misses, such as Eberechi Eze and Morgan Gibbs-White, removed some shine. 

They sold Heung-min Son. But it’s a fair old spend by their standards and they will feel they are stronger than at the end of last season, which they very much needed to be. 

Grade: B

Matt Barlow 

West Ham 

‘That’s one word for it,’ remarked a wry Graham Potter when Daily Mail Sport asked him last week if the transfer window was really living up to the ‘exciting’ one he’d promised at the end of last season.

Potter’s ageing, unbalanced squad needed a complete rebuild and, in the end, he managed to at least lay the foundations – but goodness, it took them a while to get there.

Mateus Fernandes was Potter’s top target and he got him in the last week of the window, the marquee signing of seven permanent deals worth around £125million, to add much-needed legs and creativity to midfield.

Goalkeeper Mads Hermansen from Leicester, Senegal full-back El Hadji Malick Diouf and Monaco midfielder Soungoutou Magassa were also on Potter’s wanted list while other signings were thrust upon him like free agent Callum Wilson and the automatic permanent signing of loanee Jean-Clair Todibo.

The club lost some much-needed leaders with departures of Vladimir Coufal, Lukas Fabianski and Aaron Cresswell while they also missed out on targets like Harvey Elliott and Douglas Luiz. Even with the late arrival of Brazilian defender Igor Julio on loan, the defence still feels creaky.

So not perfect by any means. More is certainly needed to get West Ham back to where they want to be. But it was a decent start.

Grade: C+ 

James Sharpe 

Wolves  

After losing Matheus Cunha and Rayan Ait-Nouri early in the window, Wolves were fearful of allowing other key men to leave and were determined to hang on to Jorgen Strand Larsen once it became clear they would not have time to replace him if he left for Newcastle. 

After three defeats, they need their new signings to hit the ground running but given none of them has Premier League experience, that will be a tall order. 

Grade: C

Tom Collomosse