Arsenal, Ronaldo and winners & losers of summer transfer window
Carlo Garganese
- Updated: 1 Sept 2022 17:30 BST
- 4 min read
The 2022 summer transfer window closes on Thursday evening, bringing to an end one of the most dramatic and exhilarating markets in football history.
Premier League clubs smashed all transfer records, while three players in Europe moved for €100 million or more.
As always, certain clubs left everything until the last minute to get deals over the line, leading to a thrilling Deadline Day.
TRENDING
So, here are the winners and losers of the summer transfer window.
WINNER – Jose Mourinho
Believe it or not, Roma are now considered more than dark horses for the Scudetto after an incredible summer transfer market.
The Giallorossi now have arguably the best attacking option in Serie A after signing Paulo Dybala and Andrea Belotti on free transfers – to go with the already formidable Tammy Abraham, Niccolo Zaniolo and Lorenzo Pellegrini.
They also brought in Nemanja Matic for free, and Ginia Wijnaldum (although he has now suffered a bad injury) and Mady Camara on loan, only spending €7m on Zeki Celik.
They have a positive transfer balance of over €40m and are leading Serie A after four matchdays. Jose Mourinho is delighted.
WINNER – PSG
Could this be the year PSG finally win their much-desired Champions League? It is quite possible after a very impressive summer transfer window.
There is little doubt that PSG have greatly strengthened their weakpoint in midfield by signing the likes of Vitinha, Renato Sanches and Fabian Ruiz.
They also managed to offload a host of unwanted players such as Leandro Paredes, Angel di Maria, Thilo Kehrer, Alphonse Areola and Ander Herrera.
Most importantly, though, they somehow managed to keep Kylian Mbappe at the club for another two years after he had seemed destined to join Real Madrid on a Bosman.
WINNER – Arsenal
Arsenal have exploded. They are top of the Premier League after five matchdays with a 100 per cent record.
Much of the reason for that has been a brilliant transfer policy over the last year, with the club enjoying another impressive market this time around.
There is no doubt who the star signing has been, with Gabriel Jesus proving already to be a brilliant purchase after arriving from Man City.
Fellow arrivals Oleksandr Zinchenko and the returning William Saliba have also been impressive.
LOSER – Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo is stuck at Manchester United for the 2022-23 season against his will.
Ronaldo put in a transfer request at the start of July, as he wanted to join a club who are in the Champions League and competing for major honours.
But despite his agent Jorge Mendes offering him to numerous European clubs, no one was willing to put in a concrete move for Ronaldo.
He will now have to sit and watch others close on all of his beloved Champions League records this season.
LOSER – Chelsea
Despite breaking the Premier League record for money spent in a summer transfer window, the feeling among many fans and experts is that Chelsea are not that much stronger than they were last season.
Chelsea have surpassed the €300m mark, bringing in the likes of Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Marc Cucurella, Cesare Casadei, Wesley Fofana and, imminently, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
But Chelsea still have holes throughout their team and the feeling is that they will face a battle just to finish in the top four. A Champions League place – and a Premier League challenge – should be a given with that level of spending.
LOSER – Every league outside the Premier League
This was the summer where the Premier League confirmed that it is the de facto Super League.
The Premier League has smashed all spending records for a single window, breaking the previous record of €1.6 billion and going well over the €2 billion mark.
By the time the transfer window closes, the Premier League will likely have spent more than every other of the big five leagues in Spain, Italy, France and Germany combined.
Even little Nottingham Forest – promoted for the first time in 23 years – spent more than the Eredivisie and Portuguese league alone.
Major clubs like Juventus were beaten to signings by teams in the Premier League who will be fighting against relegation.
It reflected how the Premier League is simply too rich now for any other league to compete with – and it is only going to get worse in the years to come.
