Winners & losers of the 2026 summer transfer window: Arsenal and Barcelona bolster their already majestic midfields - but Liverpool still look short while Julian Alvarez fails to exit Atletico Madrid

The Saudi Pro League "changed the transfer market", as Pep Guardiola put it back in the summer of 2023. "Just a few months ago, when Cristiano Ronaldo was the only one to go, nobody could have imagined the amount of top, top players who would go there," the then-Manchester City boss said. "But I think in the near future it's going to happen more and more."

However, when Mohamed Salah spurned a move to Saudi Arabia in favour of a transfer to Turkiye this summer, the suspicion was that 'The Ronaldo Effect' was wearing off - particularly as the Kingdom had noticeably scaled back its investment in various sports over the past 18 months.

The last few weeks, though, have seriously challenged that perception, with Francisco Trincao, Tijjani Reijnders, Crysencio Summerville, Ollie Watkins and Gabriel Martinelli all joining Saudi sides for sizable fees. Obviously, not one of those players boasts anything like the same pulling power as Ronaldo or Salah in terms of potential investors or viewing figures - but, unlike those two fading stars, the new arrivals are all either still in or approaching their prime years.

So, while Ronaldo's claim that the Pro League can become one of the top five leagues in the world still feels a long way off, there's clearly still more than enough money on offer to convince Premier League players in their mid-20s to move to the Middle East rather than mainland Europe - which arguably proves Pep's point.

Salah moved quickly to reaffirm his commitment to Trabzonspor after his new team's embarrassing Europa League elimination by Ferencvaros. "I am part of this project heart and soul, and last night will not change that," the Egyptian declared amid the bitter fallout from an absolutely atrocious 4-0 second-leg loss in Hungary that prompted Fatih Tekke to offer his resignation (it was subsequently rejected by the board).

However, the mere fact that Salah felt obliged to dismiss speculation that he was already regretting his surprise transfer to Trabzonspor spoke volumes. The winger may have been blown away by the reception he received after joining the Turkish team on a free transfer, but no matter what way Salah tries to dress it up, Papara Park is just not where he expected to be after leaving Liverpool at the end of last season. A Super Lig switch wouldn’t have been a consideration when he signed a new contract at Anfield while inspiring the Reds to a record-equalling 20th English championship with one of the finest individual seasons in Premier League history.

One cannot help but wonder, then, if Salah regrets some of the decisions he's made over the past 12 months. He may well feel that he was forced out of Liverpool by Arne Slot and others - but nobody made him effectively price himself out of a move to a strong European side with his gargantuan wage demands.

So, while Salah’s continued commitment to the cause is admirable (“The phrase ‘I came here to win’ is not just a slogan for me”) and he deserves credit for turning down even more millions to move to the Middle East, he simply cannot be happy that he’s going to be playing Conference League football this season - or that he really only has himself to blame for that sad fact.

The summer wasn't without its disappointments from Arsenal's perspective: The Gunners tried and failed to sign Vinicius Junior, Morgan Rogers and Julian Alvarez, meaning Mikel Arteta is still lacking a little stardust in attack. However, the Spaniard cannot really have any complaints about the work done by Andrea Berta over the past few months.

The arrival of Ezri Konsa from Aston Villa means that the manager now has a top-drawer replacement for the injured William Saliba, former Newcastle captain Bruno Guimaraes has unsurprisingly settled quickly into his new surroundings at the Emirates, while Christos Tzolis is already looking like a contender for signing of the season.

When one considers that Arsenal also banked a club-record £56 million fee for the maddeningly inconsistent Martinelli, one cannot view this as anything other than a hugely successful window for the reigning Premier League champions. The strongest squad in England last season just got stronger, making a second consecutive title something of a formality.

On Sunday, Michael Carrick rather surprisingly declared himself "pleased" with Manchester United's summer business. Sure, the Red Devils have achieved their primary objective of increasing their options in midfield by bringing in Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and, perhaps most importantly of all, Carlos Baleba, but they've done absolutely nothing to address their glaring deficiencies in defence.

A team with title aspirations simply cannot be starting Luke Shaw at left-back and, as Gary Neville said on Sky Sports, "United have got some individually decent defenders, but there isn't a back four there, and when it starts to get put under pressure and it starts to pick up a couple of injuries during the season, it will let you down."

It already is, in fact, with United having conceded four times in their opening two Premier League games - and to newly-promoted opponents. It, thus, feels like Carrick is kidding himself when he says that United have "potentially a better team" than last season, given he's stuck with the same brittle backline that was breached 54 times across the entire 2025-26 campaign.

Let's be as brutally honest, as Jose Mourinho often is: The Portuguese coach has been living off past glories for a long time now. He's not won a league title since his second stint at Chelsea and the way in which he went from Spurs to Roma to Fenerbahce to Benfica perfectly illustrated his regression as a coach.

However, diminishing returns didn't get in the way of Mourinho landing one of the top jobs in football - again. Florentino Perez has a soft spot for 'The Special One' dating back to his first spell as Real Madrid coach between 2010 and 2013 and, after repeatedly flirting with the idea of bringing Mourinho back to the Bernabeu, the Blancos president finally went and did it this summer.

Better still for Mourinho, Perez has backed him to the hilt in the transfer market by bringing in the likes of Marc Cucurella, Denzel Dumfries, Bernardo Silva, Ibrahima Konate and, most significantly of all, the much-coveted Yan Diomande.

Of course, if history has taught us nothing else, it's that Mourinho will always find someone else to blame if things go pear-shaped, but given the strength of the squad at his disposal now, there really can't be any excuses if he fails to win at least major honour this season.

Richard Hughes is responsible for the four most expensive signings in Liverpool's histor, and yet the fans feel short-changed by a sporting director now poised to take up a new role in Saudi Arabia.

The Reds won the league in Hughes' first season after arriving from Bournemouth - but that was with just one new arrival (Federico Chiesa) who barely contributed anything to their success. On the back of that surprise triumph, Hughes oversaw the biggest spending spree Anfield has ever seen, only for Liverpool to produce one of the worst title defences in Premier League history (thanks in no small part to the failure to get a deal for Marc Guehi over the line).

This summer, then, was meant to be all about making amends. Having hired Andoni Iraola to succeed Slot as coach, Hughes was expected to set the former Bournemouth boss up for success by providing him with everything he needed to implement his intensive style of play at Anfield as quickly as possible.

Iraola, though, is entitled to feel just as let down by Hughes as all of the supporters after a recruitment campaign characterised by a confusing combination of bizarre moves and even stranger inaction. Yes, Victor Munoz looks like a potential bargain buy and Bradley Barcola has also belatedly arrived to help fill the void left by Salah, but despite a public plea from Iraola for more signings back in July, Liverpool are still short on numbers in every department. Worse still, the midfield is still lacking a specialist No.6, while Iraola doesn't have a single full-back fit for purpose.

By the end of the window, it felt like whatever plan Hughes had when he hired Iraola had been discarded, and he was simply making it up as he went along, as he brought in the mentally and physically fragile Ronald Araujo out of nowhere to strengthen the centre of defence, while at the same time trying - and failing - to sell Cody Gakpo because he couldn't secure an adequate replacement.

The sense of desperation around Anfield on deadline day was palpable, so it's fair to say that Hughes will not be missed. On the contrary, many supporters would like to know why he was allowed to oversee this summer's transfer window given it's been obvious since before it opened that he was on his way to Al-Hilal...

Something truly remarkable happened this summer: Barcelona managed to register all of their new players before the start of their La Liga campaign! Whereas lever-pulling president Joan Laporta and the rest of the Blaugrana board usually spend the final few weeks of the window trying frantically to come up with new and innovative ways to balance the books, there was an eerie but welcome sense of calm around Camp Nou this time around.

As GOAL outlined in this in-depth explainer ahead of the game against Elche on August 23, Barca's long-running financial problems are effectively over, which is why Anthony Gordon, Karim Adeyemi, Joao Cancelo and Rodri were all eligible to play at the Martinez Valero.

Conditional credit must, therefore, go to Laporta. He took a colossal amount of criticism for mortgaging the club's future to remain competitive in the here and now - and a lot of that criticism was wholly justified - but his gamble has paid off. For now, at least...

However, sporting director Deco is deserving of particular praise for managing to alleviate the pressure on Barca's budget by removing well-paid players from the wage bill (Robert Lewandowski, Araujo etc.), persuading Paris Saint-Germain to buy Ferran Torres for €50m and generating pure profit by cashing in on unwanted La Masia products (Jofre Torrents, Tommy Marques and Hector Fort).

Bottom line: Unless something catastrophic happens (which obviously can't be ruled out at Camp Nou!), Barca will be completely free from any financial constraints during next summer's transfer window - for the first time since before the pandemic.

Julian Alvarez was asked about his future at the World Cup. He quite correctly pointed out that it was "not the time to talk about it" - before proceeding to talk about it. "I try to be an honest person," he explained. "I spoke with the people at [Atletico Madrid] that I needed to speak with and the best thing for everyone is a transfer. I want to fulfil my dream."

That dream was, of course, a move to Atletico's La Liga rivals Barcelona, who were only too keen to make Alvarez's dream come true. Barca were not willing, though, to meet Atleti's astronomical asking price and opted to instead continue courting the Argentine in a very public fashion to pile pressure on the Rojiblancos.

Unsurprisingly, this rather common - and usually effective - tactic did not go over well at the Metropolitano, where they still haven't forgotten the way in which Antoine Griezmann ended up at Camp Nou all the way back in 2019.

The presumption was that the Alvarez affair would end in exactly the same way - because that's just usually how these things work. If a high-profile player wants out, he usually gets his way eventually (See Alexander Isak's transfer from Newcastle to Liverpool for more!).

But Atleti refused to give in to player power. They pushed back and, for them, holding onto their star forward became a point of principle. "This situation isn't about money," the capital club said, "it's about dignity."

Alvarez tried to stand his ground, too. He refused to even entertain the idea of joining Arsenal instead, as he had his heart set on a move to Barcelona. In the end, though, he was forced to return to training at Atletico after missing last weekend's game against Sevilla through 'illness'.

What happens next is anyone's guess. Football fans are a fickle bunch, but it's going to take an awful lot of time - and goals - for Alvarez to get the Metropolitano crowd back onside judging by the hostile reception he received after his one and only appearance of the season so far, against Villarreal.

As for Atleti, they've lost out on a colossal amount of cash. But they have kept their dignity. And Alvarez, too, surprisingly enough.

Just five days after securing Champions League qualification via a fourth-placed finish in the Premier League, Aston Villa routed Freiburg in the Europa League final to claim the club's first major trophy for 30 years. Istanbul wasn't the start of something special, though; as it transpired, it was effectively the end of an era, as underlined by the remarkable fact that six of the players that started that emotional 3-0 win in Turkiye have since been sold.

And while the departures of veteran duo Lucas Digne and Emiliano Martinez hardly came as a surprise, Villa fans were devastated to see Rogers, Konsa, Tielemans and Watkins move on too.

The club's beloved manager, Unai Emery, has tried to quell the fans' frustration (which is primarily aimed at the Premier League's controversial cost-control rules) by explaining that each sale was agreed for "the good of the club", while it should be noted that Villa have reinvested a lot of the money raised in the Spaniard's squad and brought in some seriously exciting young players in the process.

However, back-to-back defeats at the start of the new Premier League season have hardly helped lift spirits around Villa Park, where Emery is essentially starting from scratch after seeing a trophy-winning team dismantled for financial reasons over the summer.

If Mourinho was lucky to secure a return to Real Madrid, his compatriot Ruben Amorim was blessed by the footballing gods to be given a pretty rapid shot at redemption by AC Milan. Amorim may have marked himself out as a coach of real potential during his time at Sporting CP, but his CV pales in comparison to that of Mourinho, and the 41-year-old was also coming off the back of a disastrous spell in charge of Manchester United, which was belatedly brought to a premature end in January.

Consequently, not even Milan had Amorim at the top of their managerial wish list as they set about searching for a successor to Massimiliano Allegri, the painfully pragmatic coach who was sacked after overseeing a calamitous late-season collapse that cost the club qualification for the Champions League.

Indeed, after speaking with the likes of Mauricio Pochettino and Oliver Glasner, the Rossoneri wanted Iraola to take over at San Siro until the Basque received a better offer from Liverpool. As a result, Milan turned to Amorim, who has since seen his new employers spend more money in the market than any other Serie A side, including a stunning €74m on Goncalo Ramos.

Of course, the scale of the financial support has significantly ramped up the pressure on Amorim and, in spite a 100 percent start to the season, we'll only get a clear idea of the Rossoneri's real strength after this weekend's meeting with Juventus. Nonetheless, Milan have unquestionably presented the Portuguese with sufficient tools to rebuild his reputation as one of the game's top young tacticians.

We knew in the lead-up to the World Cup that Marcus Rashford and Anthony Gordon were battling for the left-wing berth in Thomas Tuchel's England team. What we did not know until very late in the day, though, was that they were also effectively competing for a spot in this season's Barcelona squad.

Rashford enjoyed a productive loan stay at Camp Nou last term, scoring 14 goals, and creating a further 15, in 49 appearances for the Blaugrana - but it wasn’t enough to convince the club's sporting director, Deco, to meet the relatively low buy-out clause in the winger's Manchester United contract.

The Portuguese felt that Gordon was a better option for the left-hand side of Hansi Flick's forward line and maybe he was right, with the former Newcastle attacker having made a positive start to life in La Liga with three assists in three games.

It says a lot about Rashford's character that he's helped his rival settle into his new surroundings in Catalunya. "He gave me advice about the city and possible places to live," Gordon revealed after completing an €80m summer switch from St. James’ Park. "He's a very kind and thoughtful guy."

But that only makes one feel worse for Rashford, who has, to his enormous credit, worked his way back into Michael Carrick's plans at Old Trafford, after seeing his hopes of completing his "dream move" to Barca effectively dashed by an England team-mate.

Just like last summer, there are some concerns over Bayern Munich's strength in depth, with plenty of supporters of the opinion that they could do with higher-quality cover for Harry Kane and Luis Diaz. However, one can understand why Max Eberl says that the Bavarians are happy with their lot going into the 2026-27 season.

Effectively wrapping up a deal with PSV for Ismael Saibari before the Moroccan's World Cup exploits was an incredibly shrewd move, and the versatile forward should prove a very useful addition to Vincent Kompany's squad. Nathanial Brown also impressed at the World Cup (one of the few Germany players to do so) and has unsurprisingly made an encouraging start to his Bayern career after joining from Eintracht Frankfurt.

There's no denying, though, that the best thing Eberl & Co. did this summer was hold onto Michael Olise. The France international was strongly linked with a move to Real Madrid and when that happens, there's usually only one outcome: the player ends up at the Bernabeu. However, Olise is still at the Allianz Arena, meaning Bayern should once again go incredibly close to winning a first Champions League title since their treble triumph in 2020.

Tottenham quite clearly needed to spend a lot of money on reinforcements after consecutive 17th-placed finishes in the Premier League. However, after years of perceived parsimony, ENIC hasn’t so much splashed the cash this summer as set it on fire.

One could maybe, at a stretch, understand why Spurs thought £92m was an acceptable price for Sando Tonali, who has been one of the better midfielders in the Premier League over the past few seasons, but it is absolutely impossible to get one's head around giving a relegated club £85m for Mateus Fernandes or paying Manchester City £75m for Savio.

What's really crazy, though, is that for all of the money spent, Spurs are still struggling, having been played off the pitch by both Brentford and Newcastle in their opening two Premier League fixtures, and that's because they remain short on world-class quality in almost every area of the field - but particularly up front.

Roberto De Zerbi, thus, finds himself in a very difficult position. Just like Slot at Liverpool last season, he's started the season with a clearly unbalanced squad and yet he can hardly complain about a lack of financial support because of the summer spending spree. Unlike Slot, though, De Zerbi doesn't have any credit in the bank in the form of a Premier League title, meaning he's already under an enormous amount of pressure.

Sometimes, more money really does mean more problems - especially if you spend it poorly.

As a childhood Blue who became a legend with the Reds, Jamie Carragher is hardly an impartial observer when it comes to Everton. However, when the former Liverpool defender reiterated his claim earlier this week that the Toffees are "one of the worst run clubs in Premier League history", he had a point - one that was arguably proven by this summer's shambolic recruitment strategy.

Everton’s inability/refusal to sign a right-back became a running joke on Merseyside before the underwhelming arrival of Ainsley Maitland-Niles for £4.2m, but nobody was laughing when the club tried to sell homegrown starlet Harrison Armstrong to Nottingham Forest - a move that was only called off due to a bitter fan backlash. However, what really summed up the sad state Everton now find themselves in was deadline day.

After selling Beto to Fiorentina, the Toffees lined up three potential replacements for the Portuguese striker without managing to sign one, with Folarin Balogun pulling out of an on-again, off-again £40m deal at the last minute. The net result is that Everton - who also lost Iliman Ndiaye to Manchester City for a relatively low £65m fee based on current market rates - have left manager David Moyes to work with just one centre-forward, Thierno Barry, until at least January.

It's a ludicrous situation and yet utterly unsurprising. There had been hope when the Friedkin Group took over from the the despised former owner Farhad Moshiri in 2024 that Everton might slowly re-emerge as a major force in English football, but it's since given way to a familiar feeling of despair within the fan base. As Carragher said on Monday, “It just always feels like Everton are not going anywhere.” This latest transfer window showed why.

It's been made painfully clear to buyers this summer that this is now a seller's market. There's such a dearth of truly world-class talent at the highest level that even relatively unproven teenage talents such as Diomande and Ayyoub Bouaddi are commanding crazy prices. It's no wonder, then, that wealthy clubs with a propensity for stockpiling players are profiting most from a transfer market driven demented by desperation.

PSG, for example, spent more than €150m on new players but brought in nearly twice that figure (€280m) by cashing in on four forwards deemed surplus to requirements: Barcola, Ramos, Randal Kolo Muani and Lee Kang-in.

Chelsea owners Clearlake obviously paid a price for investing almost exclusively in youngsters up until this summer, with an inexperienced group failing to qualify for Europe last season, and they have difficulties every year clearing out their bomb squad. However, the west Londoners made even more money through player exits than PSG with further demonstrations of their remarkable ability to convince other Premier League teams to pay over the odds for their dead wood.

Aston Villa alone have taken Nicolas Jackson and Alejandro Garnacho off their hands for a potential £100m, while Manchester United for some reason felt compelled to hand over £48m for Santos. Chelsea's best bit of business, though, saw Liam Delap leave for Nottingham Forest for a barely believable £45m - just one year and one league goal after arriving from Ipswich for £30m.

However, when it comes to offloading players for inflated fees, Manchester City were the summer's shrewdest salesmen. Losing Rodri to Barcelona may have been a big blow from a sporting perspective, but £65m still represented a fine fee for a 30-year-old not long off an ACL injury. Of course, that was nothing compared to receiving £52m from Al-Qadsiah for midfield flop Tijjani Reijnders or making an £18m profit on James Trafford, who featured in just four Premier League games last season.

It was a double-deal with Tottenham that truly took the breath away, though. As well as agreeing an initial loan move with Spurs for Omar Marmoush with an obligation to buy that should see City recoup the approximate £60m fee they paid Eintracht Frankfurt for the Egyptian, City somehow got their Premier League rivals to meet their astounding £85m valuation of Savio - a price so ridiculous it left many wondering if this was a different Brazilian to the one called Savinho that had struggled so badly at the Etihad.

Savio/Savinho could, of course, yet go on to prove a good signing for Spurs, but that doesn’t change the fact - and it is a fact even if a player’s worth is subjective - that there was no logical explanation for the winger’s price tag almost trebling after two goals in two Premier League seasons. In that sense, this really did feel like the window in which the market went completely mad.