Rate your Transfer Window

For Chelsea:

In:
Batshuayi,
Kante,
Eduardo,
Alonso,
Luiz,

Out (Notable):
Falcao,
Pato,
Cuadrado,
Remy,
Traore,
Kenedy,
Baba,

Chelsea addressed their main issues by signing a defender, midfielder and CF. We also improved on Baba by signing Alonso and improving on Amelia with Eduardo.

But Chelsea spent much of the summer chasing shadows, Manolas, Nainggolan and Koulibaly are notable here. While Kante and Batshuayi are the best we could hope for, Alonso and Luiz left me feeling like we could have done better. Unless Conte gets the best out of these two, Chelsea could well be trying to sign a couple of new defenders sooner rather than later. Only time will tell.

Another positive is that most of our key players were kept.

Overall, 7/10. A good summer in terms of positions fixed, but some transfers could go either way. We could have done better, but we could have also done a lot worse.

I'd say 6/10 (Arsenal).

For the first time in for ever, we are actually going into a season without being 1-2 players short (at least in numbers). We needed reinforcements in defense, midfield, and a new forward.

We signed Xhaka nice and early - exactly the profile we were desperately lacking, a Coqzorla. Now the big question here is, how will Wenger rotate. He still hasn't fixed on his first choice midfield pairing. While I am ok with the vastly different skillsets that Coquelin, Cazorla, Elneny, Xhaka (and Ramsey) bring to these 2 positions, it would be typically a tactical mess for us.

Rest of our business took for ever. But in the end, Mustafi is a very good piece of business - when you consider how much Chelsea ended up paying for 29yo Luiz for example.

Holding, so far, seems to be a decent bit of business too, and one for the future. He has performed pretty well so far, especially since Koscielny returned. He has also edge out 16m man Chambers out on loan (good for him to get game time, he's not finished yet fo sho). I look forward to how the Holding and Chambers will develop in the future, while Gabriel and/or Mustafi will have the baton in the next 1-2 years from Mertecielny.

Perez is an underwhelming signing. However, looking at the skillsets AW seems to have desired in a forward addition (see Vardy), this seems to make some sense. I guess most of us are patient or at least cautiously optimistic about how this might turn out. He is surely better than the likes of Park, Chamakh, etc. so there's that. Again, Wenger favoring Giroud, or persisting with Alexis up front, will not help his case. Either way, I hope Welbeck returns soon and stays fit after.

The outgoings are also a mixed bag. We loaned out Asano-kun since he didn't have a permit, but I wonder if Stuttgart is really the best destination. Chambers to Boro is a good deal. We let Campbell out on loan, and while the thinking might have been to integrate Gnabry, he ended up pushing for a move to Bremen for peanuts (with only a year left on his contract). Gnabry has barely played any football in the last 2 years, and with the emergence of Iwobi, I am ok with this sale. Then again, it baffles me that Oxlade Chamberlain and Yaya Sanogo are still on our books - would have been much better shipping them off.

The big move is Jack to Bournemouth. It is good for him, and I wish him the best. Much better than ending up with Pardew for example. Hope he can build his fitness and garner 30+ starts this season. We could definitely reintegrate him next summer into our squad if all goes well. Would be a shame if he didn't have a future at the Emirates.

Some other youth loan moves but meh, no impact on the short term.

For Barca:

In:
Denis Suarez
Umtiti
Digne
Gomes
Cillessen
Paco

Out:
Bravo
Bartra
Halilovic (with buyback)
Adriano
Dani Alves
Montoya
Song
Sandro

Loaned:
Tello (option to buy)
Douglas
Samper
Verm (option to buy)
Munir (option to buy and we have option to buyback)

Overall players bought  8/10:

we brought in a bunch of 22 year olds for depth, no transfer was bought with the intention of building up the first team with maybe the exception of Umtiti who'll overtake Mascherano soon enough.
Gomes is the only real odd transfer and overpaid player we brought in

i feel like the board addressed the problem we had last season which was a terrible bench and now we buffed that up to one if not the best bench right now... considering it was either bringing in these 6 players or spending all that money on pogba i'm happy we chose the six players.
also really appreciate the urgency the board showed.. for the past couple of seasons we waited till august to make most of our deals which ended us getting ripped off


Players we sold 4/10:

the people highlighted in red were given for free, which shows our terrible job in the market in terms of polishing a crap player like other clubs seem be very good at

we profited from bravo which was good, couldn't do much about bartra's fee because of his release clause and dani alves deserved to leave on free to choose after sticking an extra year with us.

should of sold verm he is still useless to us
munir, samper will get good minutes out on loan as starters

Players In

Joao Mario- 45m: B+ A very expensive signing in a position that needed the least attention this summer. Sure we got a potential world beater and he'll give us more options going forward, but we dont have a lot of 45ms  to go around and we needed that money somewhere else

Gabigol- 28m: B- Same concern as Mario, he might develope into one hell of a player (although he's a bigger gamble) but why the hell are we spending 28m on someone who wouldnt even start when we got Nagatomo and Ranocchia starting for us? wtf !

Candreva- 22m: B- Candreva is the type of player you need in a domistic competition. He's nothing special but he's a specialist, a type of player we've been lacking for a while and will contribute a lot on the offensive front. His age makes him a bit expensive, and the fact that he was a Mancini signing makes it a less than ideal deal

Ansaldi- 6m: A- One solid full back. Like Candreva he's the type of player that we need to make a push for the CL and he came at a very good price.

Banega- Free: A+ I still dont believe that we got this guy for free, and the fact that no other teams were after him is simply baffling. Like wtf? He would start in every Serie A team (even Juve who were looking for a player like him) and we fukin paid nothing for him. Deal of the season.

Players out
Juan Jesus- 8m: C- His departure means that Ranocchia might cost us CL qualification. In other circumstances that would be a good deal but he's the only decent back up we had for CB and LB position and we just let him go for 8m? *bleep* that


Overall: B- Had we signed Lischsteiner or any other decent full back yesterday i would have given this window a much better grade, but the fact that we spent on the wrong players and coudlnt sell Jovetic and other dead wood didnt help.

In:

Morata (buyback triggered)
Coentrao (loan complete)
Asensio (loan complete)
Mariano (promoted)

Out:

Arbeloa (contract expired)
Denis Cherychev
Jese
M Llorente (loan)
D Llorente (loan)
Medran (buyback)
Burgui (loan)
Mayoral (loan)

In 6/10

We addressed 2 important squad positions which we haven't addressed in years. Got Morata back after Juve kindly developed him for us. Mariano was promoted which means we have 3 options at the top now from the 1 we had befire Coentrao on the other hand is abit odd and probably done to shut RM fans up about getting a new LB or probably because we always get scammed with these mega money fullbacks. Who knows. Didn't address a very important area which is the backup spot behind Casemiro but if the idea is to bring back Llorente after he gains experience then I don't mind because he has the quality to start for us and we have the ability to call him back at anytime.

Out 8/10

Got rid of those that would not have played for us like Arbeloa and Denis but seöling Jese for only 25 when the likes of Sane go for 40 minimum is going to bite us imo. Loaned out a hoard of promising youngster with the view of them coming back to contribute. The tide is obviously turning under ZZ with more emphasis on homegrown players which is excellent because they never really disappoint and he's probably the bravest coach we have had in terns of utilising the full squad. James didn't leave which is good if he doesnt cause a fuss when he's not on the bench. All in all we have managed to find some continuity after all those torrid summers where we lose half our team and buy half a new one. A good summer in this department i believe

We have also focused our attentions on improving deals and extending contracts to those that deserve it to mirror their commitment on the pitch

ARRIVALS :

Higuaín - B+

Whilst I love this signing , it's certainly an overpaid deal for a player of his age. Still an absolute guarantee in front of goal and the best CF we've signed since David Trezeguet.

Pjanic - A+

I think for a player like him in today's market, €32M is an absolute bargain deal. One of the best midfielders in the league and proven quality. Can't go much wrong with this.

Benatia - A-

Another great transfer. Already has looked rock solid for us at the back. The only reason I gave it an A- is because of his injury riddled past.

Dani Alves - B+

While being 33 , I think he's still one of the best in his position and a big improvement offensively in the 3-5-2 system over Licht. He has started off so far as a mixed bag but I expect him to have an Evra-esque impact here.

Juan Cuadrado - A+

Once again a superb signing in the sense that we guarantee ourselves with a quality bench/rotation player who had a big impact for us in the 2nd half of the season. Extremely happy to have him back.

Marko Pjaca - A-

Exciting signing. Like Allegri says he does indeed have frightening potential. Will give it A- for now because he's still, potential.

DEPARTURES :

Pogba - A+

Sold for world record fee and he won't be missed as much as people think. Top player but still inconsistent. I'm glad this panned out the way it did.

Morata - B-

Dint know if I had to give a rating for this as it wasn't in our hands and we've upgraded on him anyway as far as the CF position goes but taking his clutch goals into consideration and seeing he could take on defenders with his pace, I think we have adequately compensated for him in attack. So in short not a big loss and our hands were tied when it came to this. I'm gonna miss him a lot though.

Zaza - A-

Excellent business selling a 4th choice striker for €28M.

Pereyra - B-

Decent deal but could've got more. Not a big loss in my view. Never a key player for us.

Isla - C+

Good riddance. Surprised we actually got money from his sale.

Padoin - D

We lost a locker room leader. An absolute champion : (

Overall rating - 8.5/10 ( A-)

Brilliant acquisitions all round. Brilliant selling summer too. But I just can't help but feel we dint address our midfield issues with a bit more planning considering injury issues. I think we missed out on one of the bargain deals of the summer i.E Krychowiak for under €30M. Even if we assume Pjanic is the Pogba replacement we should've been at least looking to add another CM considering the injury prone-ness of Khedira and obviously Marchisio's long term injury. Overall still an amazing mercato.

Barça: We spent 130 milion on players that will barely play and will never be starters for us.

0/10

Juve

For OM... meh. Lost Mandanda, Batshuayi, Mendy, Nkoudou, Romao and Barrada. Kept Lass which is good. Added Gomis, Hubocan, Njie, Fanni, Bedimo, Sakai, Iseka and Vainqueur. Going nowhere tbh.

For Madrid... did nothing.

For PSG... lost Ibra, Luiz, Stambouli, Van Der Wiel and Douchez. Added Ben Arfa, Krychowiak, Jese, Meunier, Areola and Lo Celso. Pretty darn good if you ask me.

4/10 for Liverpool.

Our window was basically getting Mané and Matip. The rest - Wijnaldum, Klavan, Karius, - weren't really needed, more like depth signings. We made about £10m profit. I just don't think we moved forward in quality.

Not that good if you ask me when you replace Zlatan Ibrahimovic with either Edinson Cavani or Jese Rodriguez

A.

We got rid of all the deadwood somehow, completely reworked the squad to the point that it's now balanced and deep.

Not to mention we made over 30m in profit, the only real negative was that we didn't really replace Sissoko but I don't think that will end up being much of an issue and should we get promoted we can replace him then.

Nobody of the required standard will want to join a championship club anyway, I'm a bit worried that the back up CBs we bought won't actually succeed in the PL but we'll cross that bridge when/if we come to it.

We managed to get 55m for Sissoko and Wijnaldum lmao

@S I would only change Isla's grade to A+
I can't believe that we got money for him, its just as unbelivable as the fact that he was still a Juve player.

At this moment I would rate our transfer window 7/10.

What was our objectives?

1. Get competition for Mig
2. Strengthen the CB
3. Strengthen the LB
4. Revamp the Midfield
5. Get a wide-attacking goal-scorer
6. Off-load all fringe & surplus players

How did we perform?

1. We have done absolutely fantastic in this category.
2. We have done fantastic in this category. Matip may take a bit of time to adapt to the physicality of EPL.
3.
4. Very worried about this category. I guess in Gini, Klopp is expecting a passer from the midfield. But my understanding is Gini has played (and flourished) in a more advanced and/or wider role. Also, Coutinho could have played such a role in a three-man midfield. Grujic is a very young and unproven talent who can't be considered to contribute substantially.
5. Early signs from Mane is great.
6. We have done very, very good in this category. Would have preferred few more outs (Ilori) and permanent deals for the loan-outs.

Juve fans' dillusions... never gets old. It's been going for 10+ years now

free_cat wrote:Barça: We spent 130 milion on players that will barely play and will never be starters for us.

0/10

Donuts wrote:For Barca:


Overall players bought  8/10:

dat Contrast! I personally think Barca did very well this window. Losing Alves was their only real loss. Rest are all gains.

sportsczy wrote:Juve fans' dillusions...  never gets old.  It's been going for 10+ years now

A trolling @sportsczy post... never gets old.

Am I deluded to be happy that we got any money from Isla

Or is @S deluded to be happy with our market?
I disagree on some things he commented but no doubt I'm really happy too. The best mercato in years. Top 3 in the last 15+ years after 2001 and 2011 from the look of it.

Glory wrote:

dat Contrast! I personally think Barca did very well this window. Losing Alves was their only real loss. Rest are all gains.

Same, I think they had one of the best markets among the big teams. Their starting 11 was great, now they have the depth to go with it.

INS

Pogba
The fact that he was our own player and we had to buy him back paying record money means its a poor deal however different one spin it. But because the player is someone like Pogba the loss aint that big. In a couple of years his value is only going to go up and the lad is born to play in the PL frankly. Also the fact that we needed a player like him so bad in our midfield also rakes up the points for this transfer. A solid 7/10

Bailly
Considering the kind of money our rivals are paying these days to buy CBs our this business looks inspiring with each passing day. Has looked a player, the lad so far. 8.5/10

Mkhitaryan
A decent deal. Quality player by all accounts. 7/10
Havent really gotten involved so far, so difficult to form a verdict as of now.

Ibrahimovic
Getting Ibra on free might just turn out out to be the one of deals of the summer. 9/10

So we addressed all our needs barring may be an out and out winger. Micky looks more of an inside forward or a no.10 than a winger.

OUTS

Basically nothing barring a bunch of loans. Main ones include.

Pereira to Granada 6/10
Borthwick Jackson to Wolves 7/10
Januzaj to Sunderland 8/10
Wilson to Derby County 6/10

The fact that we couldn't ship out our deadwood, the likes of Jones and Rojo and Young and send a phased out Schweini away mean that on sales front we had a very mediocre window.

In total on Arrivals an 8.5 ( in fact this is like one of our best ever windows in terms of ins when you consider the sheer quality that is brought in ).
In departures an underwhelming 6
In total a 7.5 or I guess somewhere in between a B+ and an A

rincon wrote:

Glory wrote:

dat Contrast! I personally think Barca did very well this window. Losing Alves was their only real loss. Rest are all gains.

Same, I think they had one of the best markets among the big teams. Their starting 11 was great, now they have the depth to go with it.

You always have to aim to improve your starting 11. Especially when your coach won't give any chance to bench players when it matters. Hence, it's stupid to just sign players that will rot at the bench for so much money.
We have an aging Iniesta who could have been clearly improved by signing Pogba or James Rodriguez. We have an aging Mascherano, who could have been improved by signing Mustafi.

Most of Juve's transfers have been good.

Except you sold Pogba and paid the same amount for Higuain.  That soured it for me.  If you had gotten Higuain for 20-30 mil less, then I would be more inclined to think well of the big transactions.  And please don't tell me you're ok with this because, if Napoli had approached Juve with a straight swap Higuain for Pogba, you would have laughed in their face.

The other issue is that Marchisio is coming back from an ACL injury mid season.  ACL injuries are not something you come back from and play well immediately.  Just look at Jese and Fekir struggle with it... and they're very young.  It takes a year AFTER you come back to get the knee feeling ok, if ever.  Juve replaced Pogba... with Pjanic?  Obvious downgrade but Pjanic is fine.  But there was no move made to cover for Marchisio.  That's a killer.

If a replacement for Marchisio, or at the very least cover, was brought in, then I would give your window a good grade.

free_cat wrote:

rincon wrote:

Glory wrote:

dat Contrast! I personally think Barca did very well this window. Losing Alves was their only real loss. Rest are all gains.

Same, I think they had one of the best markets among the big teams. Their starting 11 was great, now they have the depth to go with it.

You always have to aim to improve your starting 11. Especially when your coach won't give any chance to bench players when it matters. Hence, it's stupid to just sign players that will rot at the bench for so much money.
We have an aging Iniesta who could have been clearly improved by signing Pogba or James Rodriguez. We have an aging Mascherano, who could have been improved by signing Mustafi.

Gomes, Umtiti and probably Digne are starters or potential starters for you guys. Depth is only Paco and Cilessen. Umtiti is looking a top player. Perhaps the best CB who's moved teams this summer. Gomes is odd and you overpaid, I agree. But he surely got the technical nous to grow into the Barca system, otherwise dont think you would have paid heavy money for the lad. Digne I dont know. Probably you will get someone better next window. And you improved your bench considerably I felt. Went from a bunch of scrubs to quality players like Alcacer.

Dont know whether its the best window out there(it could be close), but its certainly not a 0.

free_cat doesn't think at all...
the problem was the bench for us, our starting 11 even with an older iniesta is still easily top 3 (could be argued the best team)
what failed us was the bench....
when we have fools like adriano, sandro/munir, mathieu/verm, rafinha as direct substitutes to our stacked first team it's a no brainier why we almost gave up a 12 point lead in the most congested time of the season.

don't even get me started with the benefit of having a bench trying to compete for minutes.. like jordi alba sweated over adriano.. or rakitic had anything to worry about with rafinha behind him

but no if it were up to him we'd spend all our money and destroy our wages for pogba

or no better yet lets blow the bank for james who real madrid wouldn't of sold to us for less than his release clause (£426m)
all to replace a still world class iniesta

F.

@Cas
more like F-