Arsenal left themselves short, Ipswich were naive, and Newcastle United were simply shambolic. It is time to look back on the transfer dealings of all 20 Premier League clubs in 2024.
We praised their best decisions and here are their biggest mistakes…
Arsenal – being left with inadequate Martin Odegaard cover
The decision to sell Emile Smith Rowe was correct, and Arsenal were uncharacteristically successful in negotiations with Fulham. Fabio Vieira’s loan return to FC Porto was somewhat less sensible, though there was plenty of logic behind the decision.
Vieira has been massively underwhelming since Arsenal paid £34million for his services in July 2022. In his final season at Porto, he had 14 assists and six goals in the Portuguese top flight; while taking into account a lack of starts this season, his form has been nowhere near that level in his first few months back.
The Gunners will hope the loan switch can reignite the Portuguese playmaker’s career but they might have been left regretting the decision to send him back to his former club – and not because it hasn’t improved his form.
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard suffered an ankle injury while on international duty with Norway in September and missed 11 club matches, leaving Mikel Arteta in quite a predicament. Vieira’s form in the Premier League has not been good enough but he was the like-for-like replacement Arteta needed in Odegaard’s absence. The drop-off could have been just as significant, but we would have been spared a failed Leandro Trossard experiment.
In another life, Arteta might have just trusted Ethan Nwaneri.
Aston Villa – not signing a right-back
Ask every Aston Villa fan about their weak link and 99% will say Matty Cash. The Villans invested with purpose in the summer transfer window but Unai Emery was unable to improve at right-back, trusting Cash to kick on after an inconsistent 2023/24 campaign.
Instead of upgrading on the former Nottingham Forest defender, Villa signed another left-back, indulged in some questionable business with Juventus, re-signed three former players (selling one of them) and made the solid acquisition of Amadou Onana. It was deemed a positive summer but they definitely could have done more and a new right-back would have gone a long way.
So far this season, Emery has used Kosta Nedeljkovic and Ezri Konsa as Cash’s replacement when injured, which is not ideal. Konsa is much more useful as a centre-back and Nedeljkovic is unproven. Who should they have signed? Lord knows, we are only here to criticise in glorious hindsight.
Bournemouth – thinking Julian Araujo was an Adam Smith upgrade
Continuing our right-back fascination, we move on to one that was signed by a Premier League club in the summer transfer window. Signing players from Barcelona feels glamorous but it rarely works out for mid-table sides. See: Bojan Krkic, Philippe Coutinho, Ansu Fati and Emerson Royal.
Araujo was good enough at LA Galaxy for Barcelona to sign him in January 2023 but he never played for the Catalan club and was loaned out to Las Palmas six months after joining. The Mexican did not excel but Los Amarillos were horrible in the second half of last season, losing eight on the bounce between March and May, winning a league match for the last time on February 10 against Valencia.
Bournemouth were taking a risk trusting Araujo to thrive in England but at least he was only £8.5m and they were actually addressing the right-back position, unlike our claret and blue friends.
It turns out a 33-year-old Adam Smith is better and that Araujo is nothing more than the Mexican Max Aarons. It’s time to try again in January, lads.
Brentford – entering their Eddie Howe at Bournemouth era
Some clubs are not supposed to spend £25m+ on players and Brentford are one of them. They thrive with their limited resources but had plenty of money to spend in the summer with David Raya’s exit and Ivan Toney’s planned sale in mind. The Bees did well to get decent fees for both players in the final year of their contract but the reinvestment was disappointing.
Signing Liverpool duo Sepp van den Berg and Fabio Carvalho reeks of an attack of the old Eddie Howes at Bournemouth, spending around £50m on the unwanted pair. Another £20m went on Jayden Meghoma and Gustavo Nunes. The latter is yet to play in 2024/25 and the former’s only minutes have come in the Carabao Cup. Both are young but Brentford have spent a load of money with nothing to show for it.
Brighton – not signing a centre-back
The Seagulls made an array of signings in the summer, the vast majority of which were very smart, but we are a little surprised they did not improve with the addition of a new central defender.
Lewis Dunk is 33 now and has missed several Premier League matches through injury, while Igor has been distinctly average since joining last summer. Jan Paul van Hecke is looking good and can only get better but he needs a new long-term partner at the back and Brighton need to put a plan in place. They didn’t seem to consider it in the summer but must improve in that position in 2025.
Chelsea – signing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
Proper bizarre transfer, this. Chelsea didn’t need him and that has become abundantly clear after a mere four months. Dewsbury-Hall has 44 minutes from four substitute appearances in the Premier League this term and doesn’t even have a regular place in Enzo Maresca’s match-day squad.
It’s a real shame because Dewsbury-Hall is a decent player. He is only 26 and should have accepted a move capable of taking him to the next level for his prime years. That is not going to happen at Stamford Bridge. He is behind two £100m-plus midfielders in the pecking order, as well as the brilliant and much younger Romeo Lavia.
Crystal Palace – selling Joachim Andersen instead of Marc Guehi
It is probably widely accepted that Palace screwed the pooch not taking Newcastle United’s £65m bid for Marc Guehi. They got giddy after his Euro 2024 exploits and were even more reluctant to part ways with their star defender after the sale of Joachim Andersen to his former club Fulham.
Palace are far from thriving after their defensive shake-up and might find themselves in an unexpected relegation battle. This alarming regression could see Guehi make more of an effort to leave, which would likely result in a transfer worth less than Newcastle’s summer bid.
The Eagles got a very handy £30m for Andersen but it left them little to no choice when Newcastle came calling for Guehi and it would have made more sense to sell Guehi for £35m more.
Everton – trusting two right-backs with a combined age of 75
Ashley Young and Seamus Coleman, if you didn’t know.
Everton must have a helluva lot of faith in Nathan Patterson (yes, he still exists) coming good to snub signing a new right-back in the summer. Our obsession continues.
Young has actually been quite impressive – in a terrible team – this season and deserves the utmost respect for his level of durability, adaptability and versatility but Coleman only has one league appearance this term, putting Everton in a worrying position.
Fulham – going heart over head with Ryan Sessegnon
It is difficult to criticise some of these clubs, but we had to find something and the signing of a former youth player on a free is the one for Fulham, which emphasises how well the Cottagers are doing.
We hoped it would work out for Sessegnon at Fulham after he failed to live up to his high potential at Tottenham but it has quickly proved to be a heart-ruling-head call. The 24-year-old’s first Premier League minutes this season came against his former club on Sunday and more playing time will likely come on the left flank due to Antonee Robinson’s outrageous consistency.
Ipswich – trusting Kalvin Phillips to run it back
After a disastrous loan spell at West Ham, plenty of us expected a year at newly promoted Ipswich Town to be the perfect catalyst for a Kalvin Phillips revival. Not quite, it turns out.
Phillips was outstanding for Leeds in the Premier League and earned a move to Man City, which turned out to be the worst thing for his career. Incidentally, his lack of minutes did not deter England manager Gareth Southgate from calling him up but after going to West Ham to play ahead of Euro 2024; he lost his place thanks to his abysmal performances.
Ipswich took a chance on Phillips but it felt like a great bit of business for them – a coup, almost. The trust put in him to get back to his best has been in vain but there is a long way to go and it’s difficult to let go of the idea that the Phillips of old can rise from the dead.
Leicester – relying on a 37-year-old Jamie Vardy
The Foxes have left themselves disastrously short in the striker position and as a result, need a 37-year-old Jamie Vardy to run it back. Jordan Ayew and Odsonne Edouard just scream relegation and while Leicester have a couple of handy wingers in Stephy Mavididi and Abdul Fatawu, who is out for the season, there is nowhere enough in attack and the team has lost a lot of creativity from Dewsbury-Hall’s silly move to Chelsea.
Patson Daka at least returned from an ankle injury against Chelsea but he has not shown anything to give the King Power faithful confidence he can score enough goals to help them avoid the dreaded drop back down to the Championship.
Vardy is definitely Leicester’s talisman, which is a bit ridiculous. Five goals so far this season is very respectable for the Foxes legend but there are not enough Red Bulls to get Vardy playing 90 minutes every week and firing 15 or more goals in the league this season.
There is some sympathy for Leicester, though. We are not ignorant enough to think it’s easy for a newly-promoted team to go out and sign a goalscoring machine. These clubs usually need a masterstroke in the transfer market or a wonderkid in their youth academy to survive. Raphinha kept Leeds up but Leicester do not have a Raphinha, nor do they have a prime Kalvin Phillips holding things down in the middle; just Tottenham rejects Harry Winks and Oliver Skipp.
Liverpool – letting Van Dijk, Salah and Trent enter the last weeks of 2024 without new contracts
How does a serious club get themselves in this situation? Liverpool’s three best players are out of contract at the end of the season and reports of negotiations taking place are rare. Virgil van Dijk would surely be the easiest of the three to negotiate but the Reds couldn’t find the time in a transitional summer to sit down with him, Mohamed Salah or Trent Alexander-Arnold.
This is technically not a transfer decision but there are transfer implications. As rules have it, all three will be able to negotiate a pre-contract with foreign clubs from January 1. It is truly remarkable that Liverpool are here. Salah has voiced his concerns, Trent says previous extensions were not public and another potential one won’t be either, and Van Dijk is going with the flow.
Real Madrid’s interest in Trent is genuine and that should scare Liverpool. Sure, he came through the youth academy and that might mean he wants to be a one-club man and loves the club too much to even consider leaving, but it’s Real Madrid. Trent has achieved everything at Anfield and he could leave on the best note possible with the Reds thriving in literally every competition under Arne Slot.
Liverpool are savvy in the transfer market but they are presenting the opportunity for clubs around Europe to make some very clever transfers here. If all three leave for nothing…wow.
Manchester City – not replacing Julian Alvarez
City have been awfully conservative this year. Their only summer signing who cost money was the questionable and extremely underpriced addition of Savinho from sister club Troyes after a scintillating season on loan at sister club Girona. Aye, it still reeks.
The champions made over £97m profit in the summer transfer window and are 11th in the five-year Premier League net spend table, which might come as a surprise given the roots of their 21st century success. Julian Alvarez’s £64m move to Atletico Madrid made up the bulk of City’s transfer income and left a hole in Pep Guardiola’s squad in the process.
That hole was not filled by Guardiola, who has become extra-reliant on Erling Haaland and lost a player who featured 54 times across all competitions in 23/24.
City clearly had plenty of money to spend and decided to keep their powder dry, making the decision to sell Alvarez even worse. It is genuinely anyone’s guess why they didn’t replace him and now they are suffering.
Manchester United – signing Joshua Zirkzee
The narrative that nobody – not even their manager – knows where a player can play is quite lazy and one that definitely annoys players. Kai Havertz is an example of a footballer bored of all the questions. He is a centre-forward but would play in goal if Mikel Arteta asked him to – which we wouldn’t put past the Spaniard.
But Zirkzee’s best position appears to be on the bench. He has shown a lack of almost everything required to be the focal point of Manchester United and Ruben Amorim has quite the mission getting the best out of the young Dutchman. We’re not fooled by a double against Everton.
It is so far, so bad for Zirkzee, whose debut winner against Fulham feels like an eternity ago. It was the perfect start and an indication that he would hit the ground running like Rasmus Hojlund failed to do, but he has somehow been even worse than his Danish teammate.
United negotiated a fee higher than Zirkzee’s £34m release clause for ‘more favourable’ payment terms. A summer transfer window that looked very positive in September now looks a bit iffy.
Newcastle – their shambolic summer
How long have you got? From the Marc Guehi saga to essentially selling Elliot Anderson for £15m by agreeing to pay £20m for a third-choice goalkeeper in Odysseas Vlachodimos after selling the young attacker to Nottingham Forest for £35m, it was a shambolic summer transfer window for Newcastle.
The right-wing debacle is worse than both. They could not force Miguel Almiron out of the club despite having concrete offers. The Paraguayan did not want to leave but this is a ruthless industry and players begrudgingly move clubs all the time. Failing to shift Almiron while being locked in negotiations with Crystal Palace for Guehi meant the Magpies could not improve in two key positions.
Harvey Barnes, Anthony Gordon, Jacob Murphy and Almiron have all played on the right flank this season and not having an undisputed starter in that position has really hurt Eddie Howe.
The centre-back situation is messy too. A suspension to Fabian Schar from matchday one should have been the kick up the backside the Newcastle hierarchy needed but the Guehi deal never got over the line. And Newcastle never seemed to have a Plan B.
Having failed to qualify for Europe, Newcastle could have put themselves in a strong position to replicate their fourth-place finish in 2022/23 but their transfer business in the summer makes finishing in the Champions League places much more difficult. At least they kept hold of Gordon, Alexander Isak and Bruno Guimaraes.
Nottingham Forest – bizarre summer transfers
It is hard to fault a team that is exceeding expectations as much as Nottingham Forest but we need something. Their obsession with signing goalkeepers piqued our interest. Carlos Miguel was brought in to compete with Matz Sels but has only featured in their Carabao Cup defeat to Newcastle. Every team needs a back-up, to be fair, and with Odysseas and Matt Turner off, they had little choice.
While there is logic behind the purchase there is also a great deal of intrigue. Plenty of people expected Miguel to start over Sels but the Belgian has been Nuno Espirito Santo’s undisputed No. 1 and the Brazilian is the eighth goalkeeper Forest have bought since returning to the top flight in 2022.
Forest fans will no doubt be vehement in defending their summer signings but quite a few of them are confusing. Marko Stamenic and David Carmo were both signed to be loaned out to Olympiacos, Ramon Sosa, Eric da Silva Moreira and Morato have barely played, while Jota Silva has played 12 times in the Premier League but only has one start. Including Miguel, that is £43m.
There were some fine additions such as James Ward-Prowse and Nikola Milenkovic, but so many left us scratching our heads, and for quite a bit of money.
Southampton – not signing enough Premier League talent
It is easier said than done for a club to come up via the play-offs and sign a plethora of Premier League-proven players not closing in on retirement but Southampton went for the sentimental Adam Lallana return, added Championship-level winger Ryan Fraser and ex-Burnley left-back Charlie Taylor on free transfers. They hardly fill you with confidence but at least they cost nothing.
In terms of summer signings, Southampton signed a brilliant goalkeeper in Aaron Ramsdale and correctly made the signing of Taylor Harwood-Bellis permanent. Other than that, it was a summer full of unconvincing additions that have struggled to prove their worth in the opening months of the campaign.
Staying in the Premier League was always going to be a very difficult task for Southampton and their summer business did them no favours. Relying on Adam Armstrong for goals in the top flight and taking on the Ben Brereton Diaz curse were two bold decisions. Cameron Archer has come in and shown some promise, but it’s not enough promise for survival.
Tottenham – leaving Big Ange short at the back
No team has scored more Premier League goals than Tottenham this season, which is actually quite surprising considering Dominic Solanke has not been scoring consistently and they are currently mid-table. That makes you think that attacking-wise, Spurs are fine. While Solanke is settling in very nicely, we aren’t so convinced. They probably should have signed another forward. They definitely should have signed at least one more defender.
Young pup Archie Gray has been flung here, there and everywhere in his early months at the club, which shows his impressive versatility, yet is no doubt hindering his progression. Relying on him in both full-back positions so early on shows how poor Spurs’ decision-making was in the summer transfer window. They have left Destiny Udogie without the necessary cover, don’t have another centre-back like Micky van de Ven and simply do not have the depth.
Ange Postecoglou has been left disastrously short at the back and relying on Van de Ven and his dodgy hamstrings was silly. Cristian Romero has had his injury problems this season too, not to mention the constant fear that he will receive a silly suspension for snapping an opposition striker in half.
The Londoners spent a fair whack on Radu Dragusin in January and he has been called upon in the early stages of 24/25, much to Spurs’ detriment. He has been abysmal but it is easy to forget he is only 22. Rough paper round, that. His form has made the decision not to sign a defender look even worse.
West Ham – signing the most ‘two goals in 30 appearances for West Ham’ striker in history
West Ham have a depressing relationship with strikers. They just do not do well there and will be benched for Michail Antonio after two months. Like clockwork, the Hammers spent big on German international Niclas Fullkrug, who scored 12 Bundesliga goals for Borussia Dortmund last season.
Some West Ham strikers have been destined to fail, others have simply failed to live up to expectations, and while Fullkrug was rated at Dortmund, this was a transfer that never looked like working out but was so, so West Ham. It’s like Gianluca Scamacca all over again. Fullkrug will absolutely score twice this season before returning to Germany, probably for Stuttgart or Wolfsburg.
Wolves – woeful defensive recruitment
Gary O’Neil’s side only have seven Premier League wins in 2024 and are 18th after 13 games this season. They have been very poor after a positive start post-Julen Lopetegui but instead of kicking on, Wolves have regressed.
They have become heavily reliant on Matheus Cunha, who is literally trying everything to get Wolves back to form. Unfortunately, he can’t assist himself, nor consistently create something out of nothing. He does possess that ability but doing it every week is something wecan only expect from generational players.
While creativity, goals and not replacing Pedro Neto are all issues for Wolves, we think their defensive depth is alarmingly poor and not replacing Max Kilman was downright stupid.
