SUMMER TRANSFER WINDOW 2022/23: RATINGS AND ROUND-UP
TRANSFER WINDOW ROUND-UP
AND RATINGS
RATING THE TRANSFER
ACTIVITY OF EUROPE’S BIGGEST CLUBS
-Mitansh Kagalwala
ARSENAL
A busy summer for the Gunners, with the main objective being
to clean-up the squad of players surplus to requirements, and to strengthen the
squad in other areas. A striker was the main priority, and Arsenal secured the
services of Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City, who has been in explosive form
since arriving at North London. Versatile left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko also
arrived from the blue side of Manchester, to provide competition to Kieran
Tierney, as well as back-up for midfield. Arsenal’s other major signing was the
arrival of Fabio Vieira from Porto, providing more creativity in Arsenal’s
midfield.
Transfer Window Rating: B+
Key Ins: Gabriel Jesus (£47 million, from Manchester City),
Oleksandr Zinchenko (£32 million, from Manchester City), Fabio Vieira (£32
million, from FC Porto), Matt Turner (£5.73 million, from New England),
Marquinhos (£3.15 million, from Sao Paulo)
Key
Outs: Omari Hutchinson (Chelsea - Undisclosed), Alexandre
Lacazette (Lyon - Free transfer), Konstantinos Mavropanos (VFB Stuttgart -
£2.88million), Matteo Guendouzi (Marseille - Undisclosed), Nuno Tavares
(Marseille - Season-long loan), Folarin Balogun (Reims - Season-long loan), Bernd
Leno (Fulham - £8million), Lucas Torreira (Galatasaray - £5.5million), Pablo
Mari (Monza - Season-long loan with obligation to buy), Nicolas Pepe (OGC Nice
- Season-long loan), Hector Bellerin (Barcelona - Free transfer), Ainsley
Maitland-Niles (Southampton - Season-long loan)
BAYERN MUNICH
The biggest headlines surrounding Bayern this season were
regarding the sale of Robert Lewandowski, who left for FC Barcelona in a high-profile
move. Bayern filled the gap left by the Polish striker with the addition of
Sadio Mane from Liverpool, who arrived in Bavaria following a couple of world
class seasons. Matthijs De Ligt finally won his way free from Juventus,
arriving at Bayern as their second most expensive signing ever. Ajax duo Ryan
Gravenberch and Noussair Mazraoui were also added to the squad to bolster the
midfield and defence respectively. Young striker Mathys Tel arrived from Rennes
in a high-profile move, the teenager rounding off Bayern’s transfer window.
Transfer Window Rating: B
Key Ins: Matthijs De Ligt (£60 million, from Bayern Munich),
Sadio Mane (£29 million, from Liverpool), Mathys Tel (£18 million, from Stade
Rennais), Ryan Gravenberch (£16.6 million, from Ajax), Noussair Mazraoui (free
transfer, from Ajax)
Key Outs: Robert Lewandowski (£40.50 million, to FC Barcelona),
Tanguy Nianzou (£14.40 million, to Sevilla), Chris Richards (£10.80 million, to
Crystal Palace), Marc Roca (£10.80 million, to Leeds), Joshua Zirkzee (£7.65
million, to Bologna), Omar Richards (£7.65 million, to Nottingham Forest,
Niklas Sule (free transfer, to Dortmund), Corentin Tolisso (free transfer, to
Olympique Lyon),
CHELSEA
An annoying transfer window for the West London side, with their
transfer targets moving to FC Barcelona instead so often it became a meme, and
having to replace nearly their entire backline. New owner Matt Boehly has
sprung up big time though, with several high-profile transfers to boost their
backline in the form of Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella and Kalidou Koulibaly.
The arrival of Raheem Sterling, from Manchester City, should add some much
needed spark to Chelsea’s attack. The addition to Pierre Emerick Aubameyang has
finally added a reliable goalscorer to Chelsea’s frontline, and it will be
interesting to see whether the Gabonese can hit the ground running.
TRANSFER WINDOW RATING: B
Key Ins: Wesley Fofana (£72 million, from Leicester City), Marc Cucurella (£59 million, from Brighton and Hove Albion), Raheem Sterling (£50.5 million, from Manchester City), Kalidou Koulibaly (£34 million, from Napoli), Carney Chukwuemeka (£16.2 million, from Aston Villa), Pierre Emerick Aubameyang (£10.8 million, from FC Barcelona), Denis Zakaria (loan, from Juventus)
Key Outs: Timo Werner (£18 million, to RB Leipzig), Emerson (13.8 million, to West Ham), Billy Gilmour (£9.36 million, to Brighton), Romelu Lukaku (loan, to Inter), Michy Batshuayi (£3.15 million, to Fenerbahce), Malang Sarr (loan, to Monaco), Kenedy (450,000 to Real Valladolid), Antonio Rudiger (free transfer, to Real Madrid), Andreas Christensen (free transfer, to FC Barcelona), Marcos Alonso (free transfer, to FC Barcelona)
FC BARCELONA
A statement transfer window from the Catalan giants, filling gaps, shifting deadwood, and increasing the overall quality of the squad greatly. The arrival of Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha has put an amazing spark in Barca’s attack, Franck Kessie on a free to add some physicality and dynamism to the midfield was a great piece of business, while Jules Kounde’s arrival from Sevilla has bolstered the defence hugely. Hector Bellerin and Marcos Alonso have also been signed to plug some holes at the full back positions, while selling Pierre Emerick Aubameyang for a profit of £10 million six months after signing him for free was an amazing piece of transfer business.
TRANSFER WINDOW RATING: A
Key Ins: Raphinha (£52 million, from Leeds), Jules Kounde
(£45 million, from Sevilla), Robert Lewandowski (£40.5 million, from Bayern
Munich), Franck Kessie (free transfer, from AC Milan), Andreas Christensen
(free transfer, from Chelsea), Hector Bellerin (free transfer, from Arsenal),
Marcos Alonso (free transfer, from Chelsea)
Key Outs: Philippe Coutinho (£18 million, to Aston Villa),
Pierre Emerick Aubameyang (£10.8 million, to Chelsea), Francisco Trincao (loan,
to Sporting), Dani Alves (free transfer, to UNAM Pumas), Nico Gonzalez (loan,
to Valencia), Sergino Dest (loan, to AC Milan), Clement Lenglet (loan, to
Tottenham), Samuel Umtiti (loan, to Lecce)
JUVENTUS
A key transfer window for the Old Lady, who had several gaps
in the side to plug in. They addressed the most urgent of them, signing Paul
Pogba, Filip Kostic and Angel Di Maria to insert a bit of creativity into the
side, while bringing in Arkadiusz Milik, Leandro Paredes, and Bremer to shore
up the attack, midfield and defence. On the other end, Juventus did ship out a
lot of deadwood, however, they also lost Matthijs De Ligt to Bayern, albeit making
a slim profit on the defender.
TRANSFER WINDOW RATING: B+
Key Ins: Bremer (£37 million, from Torino), Filip
Kostic (£11 million, from Eintracht Frankfurt), Andrea Cambiaso (£7.65 million,
from Genoa), Arkadiusz Milik (loan, from Marseille), Leandro Paredes (loan,
from PSG), Paul Pogba (free transfer, from Manchester United), Angel Di Maria
(free transfer, from PSG)
Key Outs: Matthijs De Ligt (£60.30 million, to Bayern), Merih
Demiral (£18 million, to Atalanta), Arthur Melo (loan, to Liverpool), Denis
Zakaria (loan, to Chelsea), Paulo Dybala (free transfer, to Roma), Giorgio
Chiellini (free transfer, to LAFC), Federico Bernardeschi (free transfer, to
Toronto FC), Douglas Costa, (free transfer, to LA Galaxy), Aaron Ramsey (free
transfer, to OGC Nice)
LIVERPOOL
The marquee signing of Darwin Nunez headlined Liverpool’s
transfer window, however the most significant activity might end up being the
departure of Sadio Mane, as Liverpool have looked lost without the Senegalese.
Fabio Carvalho also arrived from Fulham, an injection of young talent, and a
signing for the future. Liverpool, however, failed to truly reinforce their
midfield, which was looking thin, before finally scrambling on deadline day,
and securing the services of Arthur Melo, on loan from Juventus. Considering
Liverpool’s form, perhaps the January window will bring much more significant
activity?
Key Ins: Darwin Nunez (£67.5 million, from Benfica), Fabio
Carvalho (£5.31 million, from Fulham), Arthur Melo (loan, from Juventus)
Key Outs: Sadio Mane (£29 million, to Bayern), Neco Williams (£18
million, to Nottingham Forest), Takumi Minamino (£13.5 million, to Monaco),
Divock Origi (free transfer, to AC Milan)
MANCHESTER UNITED
A key window for the Red Devils, as they try to spur on
their rebuild. Key signings for the present and the future have been made, with
Ajax duo Antony and Lisandro Martinez and left-back Tyrell Malacia have
arrived, immediately increasing the quality of the squad. Casemiro and
Christian Eriksen’s arrival improves the midfield by orders of magnitude, while
Martin Dubravka should provide some competition to David De Gea in goal. United
also succeeded in shifting out deadwood, and with the squad really starting to
motor, fans will be the most hopeful they have been in a while. The only
damper, perhaps, was the Cristiano Ronaldo sage, and the lack of a striker.
TRANSFER WINDOW RATING: A-
Key Ins: Antony (£85.5 million, from Ajax), Casemiro (£64
million, from Real Madrid), Lisandro Martinez (£52 million, from Ajax), Tyrell
Malacia (£13.5 million, from Feyenoord), Christian Eriksen (free transfer, from
Brentford), Martin Dubravka (loan, from Newcastle)
Key Outs: Andreas Pereira (£8.5 million, to Fulham), Paul Pogba
(free transfer, to Juventus), Jesse Lingard (free transfer, to Nottingham Forest),
Edinson Cavani (free transfer, to Valencia), Nemanja Matic (free transfer, to
AS Roma)
MANCHESTER CITY
Finally, finally, Manchester City signed a striker. Not just any
striker, but Erling Haaland, one of the most exciting players of the next
generation. The Norwegian arrived after City activated his release clause, and
promptly scored 10 goals in 6 games. Kalvin Phillips also arrived in a big money
move to replace the departing Fernandinho, while Manuel Akanji and Sergio Gomez
offer squad depth in defence. The window also saw the departures of Raheem
Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko for great sums, moves which should
be good for the players’ careers, as well as in balancing the books.
TRANSFER WINDOW RATING: B-
Key Ins: Erling Haaland (£54 million, from Dortmund), Kalvin
Phillips (£44 million, from Leeds), Manuel Akanji (£15.75 million, from
Dortmund), Sergio Gomez (£11.7 million, from Anderlecht), Stefan Ortega (free
transfer, from Armenia Bielefeld)
Key Outs: Raheem Sterling (£50.5 million, to Chelsea), Gabriel
Jesus (£47 million, to Arsenal), Oleksandr Zinchenko (£31.5 million, to Arsenal),
Pedro Porro (£7.65 million, to Sporting), Fernandinho (free transfer, to
Athletico-PR)
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN
A relatively quiet window for the French giants, with the key
objective being to improve the midfield. Vitinha, Fabian Ruiz and Carlos Soler
all arrived to that aim, while the deal for Renato Sanches looks like an
absolute steal. Nordi Mukiele has also been brought to the capital in order to
shore up the defence. The club will be unhappy to lose young star Xavi Simons, while
they also bid goodbye to club legend Angel Di Maria, who already returns to
face the Parisians in their opening Champions League match. The biggest news,
however, came early on in the window, when PSG convinced star Kylian Mbappe to
stay in Paris, albeit at the cost of a few hundred million euros.
TRANSFER WINDOW RATING: C+
Key Ins: Vitinha (£37.3 million, from FC Porto), Fabian Ruiz (£21
million, from Napoli), Carlos Soler (£16.2 million, from Valencia), Renato
Sanches (£13.5 million, from Lille), Nordi Mukiele (£11 million, from RB Leipzig)
Key Outs: Arnaud Kalimuendo (£18 million, to Stade Rennais),
Thilo Kehrer (£11 million, to West Ham), Alphonse Areola (£8.3 million, to West
Ham), Idrissa Gueye (£3.6 million, to Everton), Angel Di Maria (free transfer,
to Juventus), Rafinha (free transfer, to Al-Arabi), Xavi Simons (free transfer,
to PSV)
REAL MADRID
Real Madrid’s summer was dominated by the Kylian Mbappe saga, and
his decision to renew with PSG left Madrid without a third world class attacker.
The window ended as another one where Madrid failed to secure a heir for Karim
Benzema, and also one where Los Blancos waved adieu to several club legends, with
Marcelo, Casemiro, Gareth Bale and Isco all departing. Aurelien Tchouameni was
brought in for a huge sum to replace Casemiro. Madrid’s attack, however, still
looks dangerously dependent on Benzema and Vinicius Junior, though
reinforcements will presumably be brought in soon.
TRANSFER WINDOW RATING: C-
Key Ins: Aurelien Tchouameni (£72 million, from Monaco), Antonio
Rudiger (free transfer, from Chelsea)
Key Outs: Casemiro (£64 million, to Manchester United), Luka
Jovic (free transfer, to Fiorentina), Isco (free transfer, to Sevilla), Marcelo
(free transfer, Olympiacos), Gareth Bale (free transfer, LAFC)
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