Premier League spending totalled £3.4bn in a record-breaking summer transfer window - but how well did your club actually buy and sell? Across the league, clubs paid around a third above Transfermarkt valuations for players in the scramble to strengthen their squads. So, to make fairer comparisons, we've adjusted those valuations for this summer's transfer inflation, and then measured which clubs bought below that benchmark and sold above it.
It was a summer of high-profile exits for Aston Villa but they rank as the best buyers of the window according to our adjusted figures. Our analysis shows Villa's signings had a collective value £60.0m higher than they paid. The biggest bargain was midfielder Johan Manzambi, who had an adjusted value of £74.8m at the time of his £47m move from Freiburg.
Leon Goretzka was brought in for free following the expiry of his contract at Bayern Munich but had an adjusted value of £13.8m, while Joao Gomes, Matteo Ruggeri and Zion Suzuki were also signed for fees much lower than their adjusted values. Arsenal's attempts to add a blockbuster attacker ended in frustration but they rank as our second-best buyers, with Piero Hincapie, signed from Bayer Leverkusen for £34.5m with an adjusted value of £57.5m, one of the best-value additions of the window. Christos Tzolis, Bruno Guimaraes and free transfer Illan Meslier also had adjusted values higher than the fees paid, giving Arsenal's signings a collective value £46.6m higher than their cost.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Chelsea's transfer policy has been criticised in recent years but the Blues come out as the third-best buyers of the window, with signings valued at £38.3m higher than their collective cost. A large chunk of that value came from Valentin Barco, who had an adjusted value of £46.0m at the time of his £34m move from Strasbourg to Stamford Bridge, and, surprisingly, from £117m signing Morgan Rogers, who had an adjusted value of £126.6m, despite the perception that they overpaid for him. At the other end of the scale, Newcastle rank as the worst buyers of the window in terms of finding value.
Our analysis shows they overpaid for Aladji Bamba, a £35.5m signing from Monaco, to the tune of £14.8m. Matias Fernandez Pardo is also rated as a hefty overpay based on his adjusted value. Liverpool come out as the second-worst buyers, largely because of the fees paid for Bradley Barcola and goalkeeper Lucca Brughmans, which came in at £19.4m and £25.4m above value respectively.
Spurs are next on the list. Curiously, they had both the best- and worst-value signings of the summer, according to our analysis. Marcos Senesi arrived on a free transfer from Bournemouth with an adjusted value of £28.8m, making him the joint-best-value signing alongside Leeds' Harry Wilson.
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