Raheem Sterling hit the jackpot with Arsenal loan, Liverpool and Barcelona struggle to get deals done: Winners and losers of the 2024 summer transfer window

Say what you will about Manchester City and how they've got to this point, but they've become masters of the transfer market. After winning a treble last year and a historic fourth-consecutive Premier League title in May, there was a risk that some of their senior stars might decide to move on, having won everything that's worth winning during their time at the Etihad.

However, City managed to convince Kevin De Bruyne and Ederson to spurn Saudi Arabian interest in their services, while at the same time taking £21m ($27.5m) off the Public Investment Fund (PIF) in exchange for outcast Joao Cancelo.

The English champions also got treble-winning captain Ilkay Gundogan back off Barcelona for nothing and signed Savinho from Troyes for the same money they sold Cancelo, thus perfectly illustrating the benefits of being part of a multi-club ownership group.

To top it all off, Atletico Madrid were willing to commit to an £81.5m ($107m) deal for Julian Alvarez. Pep Guardiola would have liked to have held onto such a valuable utility forward, but it was an offer simply too good to refuse from City's perspective - particularly when one considers that it means the club has made a massive profit this summer without weakening their squad. Remarkable.

This summer was meant to be different for Barcelona. President Joan Laporta insisted the club was very close to getting back on an even keel after years of instability caused by his predecessor Josep Maria Bartomeu, who resigned in 2020 with the club on the verge of bankruptcy.

However, even in spite of all of Laporta's lever-pulling, Barca still found themselves scrambling around in the final week of the transfer window, trying to cobble together enough cash to register their one significant signing of the summer, Dani Olmo.

Most shockingly of all, even after selling academy products and allowing serial winner Ilkay Gundogan to leave for nothing just to get last-season's top assist-maker off the wage bill, Barca were only able to register Olmo because of a conveniently-timed injury to centre-back Andres Christensen, as La Liga's financial rules allow clubs to exceed their salary cap limit if a player is ruled out for an extended period of time.

It is incredible to see Barca in such a perilous financial position, but they obviously only have themselves to blame because while Bartomeu created this mess, it's now become clear that Laporta & Co. aren't doing a particularly good job cleaning it up.

Might Paris Saint-Germain be better off without Kylian Mbappe? It may sound strange, but the French champions could benefit from the departure of their former poster boy, at least in the long run. Obviously losing him for nothing was devastating and replacing his goals is going to be a seriously tough task, but Mbappe was PSG's problem child. He'd embarrassed them on more than one occasion and Parc des Princes should be a far more stable environment without one of the most petulant characters in the game today.

His departure has also created space for other top talents to flourish at PSG, such as Bradley Barcola, who has made a very strong start to his second season in the French capital, and new signing Desire Doue, the latest potential superstar to come out of the Rennes talent factory.

Elsewhere, Willian Pacho is already looking like an excellent partner for Marquinhos in the centre of defence, while Portugal teenager Joao Neves has wasted little time showing why so many of us believe him to be a generational talent.

PSG probably could have done with signing a striker during the summer, especially as Goncalo Ramos is facing a spell on the sidelines, but the change of recruitment strategy we're seeing under sporting director Luis Campos and coach Luis Enrique could pay off handsomely. Mbappe may be gone, but it will be worth keeping an eye on the new project in Paris.

Talk about player power! Mbappe made both PSG and Real Madrid jump through hoops for him for the past two years before eventually leaving the former to join the latter very much on his own highly-lucrative terms.

Madrid, remember, were astounded when Mbappe decided against moving to Santiago Bernabeu in 2022. They thought the deal was done, but the France forward decided to stay at PSG, who had to deny claims that they'd made him their de facto sporting director in order to convince him to extend his stay at the Parc des Princes.

He was always going to end up at Madrid, though, and there were no hard feelings on show as Florentino Perez proudly presented Mbappe to an adoring 80,000 fans at the Bernabeu on July 16. Did they really need another forward? Not at all, but Perez doesn't give up on Galacticos. He simply has to sign them.

As for Mbappe, the transfer really does represent "a dream come true". The boy from Bondy that had Cristiano Ronaldo posters on his bedroom wall growing up, is Madrid's most celebrated signing since the Portuguese phenomenon.

The only problem now, of course, is that Mbappe has to prove that himself worth the wait - and the money...

Victor Osimhen is one of the best strikers in the world, so when Napoli agreed to let him leave this summer, it appeared inevitable that he would end up joining one of Europe's elite. And yet he's still stuck at the Maradona, where he's reportedly considered persona non grata by the Partenopei squad after angling for a transfer all summer long.

Napoli did their utmost to try to sell Osimhen. After initially insisting that they wouldn't accept anything less than his buyout clause (believed to be €120m), they ended up almost halving the asking price. Even then, there were no takers.

Why? Because Osimhen wasn't keen on moving to either Saudi Arabia or Chelsea because he wanted to play Champions League football - and, even more significantly in relation to a potential move to Stamford Bridge, also had no intention of lowering his colossal salary demands.

It still seems likely that he'll end up in the Middle East, given the Saudi window remains open for four more days and Napoli have already signed a replacement in Romelu Lukaku, but it doesn't really matter what happens now; this has been an utterly embarrassing summer for the Nigeria international.

There were reports at the start of August that Antonio Conte was considering quitting Napoli less than two months after taking over. It seemed improbable - but not impossible. The man has previous when it comes to resigning over transfer strategies, so Partenopei supporters were understandably a little nervous when the club's summer recruitment ground to a halt after the shrewd signing of Alessandro Buongiorno on July 13.

It was obvious to all and sundry that Napoli's inability to offload wantaway star striker Victor Osimhen was holding everything up, but Conte clearly found the delay incredibly frustrating, and a dreadful defeat at Verona on the opening weekend of the Serie A season did absolutely nothing to improve his mood, admitting that he "expected to find a better situation" at the club.

However, Conte was all smiles on deadline day as he was reunited with his beloved Belgian striker Lukaku at Napoli's training ground. It was the signing that the notoriously combustible coach had been awaiting all summer long, and when one considers that Scott McTominay, David Neres and Billy Gilmour have also been added, Conte is in the very rare position of having very little to complain about in terms of transfers.

One of the most pleasing aspects of the 2023-24 European season was the rise of the underdogs. Bayer Leverkusen won both the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal in Germany without losing a single game, football's great overachievers Atalanta conquered the Europa League, while Stuttgart, Girona, Brest and Bologna all qualified for the Champions League.

Depressingly, every one of those clubs bar Leverkusen suffered significant losses during the summer.

Stuttgart were stripped of Hiroki Ito, Waldemar Anton and Serhou Guirassy, Atalanta couldn't keep Teun Koopmeiners away from Juventus, Girona had to hand over Savinho to sister club Manchester City, Brest saw Lilian Brassier join Marseille on loan, while Bologna were absolutely gutted, losing their coach (Thiago Motta), their best defender (Riccardo Calafiori) and their star striker (Joshua Zirzkee) just weeks after finishing fifth in Serie A against all the odds.

Leverkusen are lucky, then, that they're backed by a major pharmaceutical company, which actually allowed them to strengthen over the summer by picking up the likes of Aleix Garcia (from Girona!) - but the real key to their painless window was Xabi Alonso's decision to stay at the BayArena despite the interest of Liverpool and Bayern Munich in the Spanish coach's services.

If Alonso had left Leverkusen, the whole project could have collapsed. As it is, Bayer have come out of the window with their double-winning squad and their hopes of making more history still intact.

Liverpool fans have long been dissatisfied with Fenway Sports Group (FSG) and their perceived parsimony in the transfer market, as they believe it prevented former manager Jurgen Klopp from winning even more trophies during his glorious reign So, it was not in the least bit surprising to see '#FSGOUT' trending on X as the summer transfer window drew to a close.

Liverpool have pulled off the steal of the summer by signing Euro 2020 winner Federico Chiesa from Juventus for just £10 million ($13m), while they've shown impressive foresight in snapping up Giorgi Mamardashvili - who will spend another season at Valencia before moving to Merseyside - on the back of the Georgian goalkeeper's heroics at Euro 2024.

However, the fans are frustrated that yet another window has passed by without Liverpool solving their long-term problem position. In fairness to under-fire sporting director Richard Hughes, he thought he had a deal for Martin Zubimendi wrapped up, only for the Spain international to have a dramatic change of heart to stay at Real Sociedad, but what really grated with the supporters was the lack of a Plan B.

When one considers that Liverpool are also arguably in need of a left-sided centre-back, and have started the new season apparently no closer to extending the contracts of key trio Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, it's easy to understand why there is so much anxiety and anger around Anfield right now.

Did Arsenal really need to sign Raheem Sterling? No, not at all. They've already got Leandro Trossard piling the pressure on Gabriel Martinelli for the the left-wing berth. Still, one could argue that he's a useful back-up who can also play on the right-hand side, where Arsenal have long been looking for cover for Bukayo Saka.

Regardless, Mikel Arteta clearly has a plan for a player that he knows very well from their time together at Manchester City, making this a remarkable turn of events for Sterling, who is definitely the real story here. Just a fortnight ago, he was told in no uncertain terms that he was surplus to requirements at one of the worst-run clubs in world football; now he's joined a model of stability in Arsenal.

Instead of rotting away at a Conference League team, he'll be getting game time in the Champions League. After completely losing his way - and his England place - during his time at Chelsea, Sterling has been given an incredible opportunity to kickstart his career at the age of 29 with a title-challenging team, and without having to leave his native London.

Arsenal may not have needed Sterling - but Sterling definitely needed Arsenal.

Enzo Maresca actually insisted with a straight face that the situation at Chelsea is "not the mess it looks like from the outside", but it's clear to anyone with half a brain that it's a total shambles. Well-run clubs do not have a 15-strong 'bomb squad' that still needs clearing going into the final few days of the transfer window.

Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali will point to the fact that Chelsea managed to get high-earners such as Sterling and Lukaku off their wage bill, and made great money on the likes of Ian Maatsen, Omari Hutchinson and Lewis Hall.

However, their stockpiling of wide forwards makes absolutely no sense at all, while the way in which they treated homegrown heroes Conor Gallagher and Trevoh Chalobah, just to secure some of that precious profit on academy products, was absolutely disgraceful.

This is not a serious club. It's a complete farce.

The one - but significant - issue with being the coach of a club that invests heavily during the summer transfer window is that it raises expectations, and Diego Simeone hasn't been best pleased with the reaction of some Atletico Madrid supporters and correspondents to the team's slow start to the new season. Indeed, Simeone's press conference ahead of Saturday's clash with Athletic Club lasted less than five minutes, with the visibly annoyed Argentine giving awkwardly terse responses to every question.

Still, Atletico's results haven't been that bad - one win and two draws from three games to date - and Simeone will unquestionably be satisfied with the work done by his employers over the past couple of months, particularly as they've managed to finally get rid of a player that he no longer rated on any level, Joao Felix.

Robin Le Normand is a fantastic signing for a backline that let Atleti down last season, while Conor Gallagher should soon settle nicely into an aggressive but technically strong midfield. Up front, Alexander Sorloth and Julian Alvarez have yet to catch fire, but Simeone will be confident that both strikers will quickly come good.

Question marks remain over Atleti's depth in defence, but while Simeone can try to argue against people having unrealistic expectations, there's simply no getting away from the fact that he's now in possession for a squad that is equipped to challenge city rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona for the Liga title.

Could Newcastle's summer have gone worse? Absolutely. But the point is that supporters expected to go a lot, lot better.

Given their PSR problems, the Magpies were at serious risk of losing at least one key player before the end of June, and Anthony Gordon very nearly joined Liverpool. In the end, they managed to hold onto not only Gordon but also Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak by selling youngsters Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh. However, the only notable new faces at St. James' Park this summer were those of Lewis Hall (£28m) - who was already there on loan - and Lloyd Kelly (free), with the Toon's attempts to sign England international Marc Guehi being repeatedly rebuffed by Crystal Palace.

Newcastle still have a strong starting XI and could challenge for a top-four finish if they avoid last season's injury issues - not having any European football will help in that regard - but manager Eddie Howe has admitted that his squad needed strengthening.

The fans are, thus, feeling a little short-changed right now. When their club was taken over by Saudi Arabia's PIF in 2021, they began dreaming of signing superstars and becoming one of the best teams in the world. But the harsh reality of the situation is that it's difficult for a club of Newcastle's size to deal with PSR without regular Champions League football and other lucrative revenue streams.

As Howe said, "I don't think the dream has died, necessarily, but I think it takes a lot longer [to realise]."

Juventus won the Coppa Italia and finished third in Serie A under Massimiliano Allegri; imagine what they could achieve with a forward-thinking coach like Thiago Motta!

The man who led lowly Bologna into the Champions League has been given incredible backing in the transfer market by the Bianconeri, who have significantly strengthened their weakest part of their squad by signing midfielders Douglas Luiz, Khephren Thuram and Teun Koopmeiners - even if losing Adrien Rabiot for nothing was a serious blow.

Juve were also forced to let Federico Chiesa leave for a knockdown fee because of his expiring contract, but the arrivals of Nicolas Gonzalez and Francisco Conceicao should ensure that Dusan Vlahovic has plenty of service from out wide.

Unsurprisingly, Juve have made a strong start to life under Motta, raising hopes that sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli, who assembled Napoli's Scudetto-winning squad on a small budget, has put together another title-winning team in Turin.