Premier League Transfer Power Rankings

In a new continuous thread I'll be doing, and one certainly not stolen from Bleacher Report, I'll be doing a weekly rankings of each Premier League's transfer business until the end of the transfer window.

All transfer fees will be from the BBC or Daily Mirror.

26th July

1. Manchester City

Players in:
Fernandinho - £30 million
Jesus Navas - £14.9 million
Alavaro Negredo - £20 million
Stevan Jovetic - £22 million

Players out:
Wayne Bridge - Free
Kolo Toure - Free
Carlos Tevez - £12 million
Roque Santa Cruz - Free
Maicon - Free

While Manchester City have probably overspent on Negredo and Fernandinho, they have bought astutely, focusing on the areas that needed to be filled. While last year they signed poor players like Garcia and Rodwell, this year Manchester City have learnt from their mistakes and invested money into securing the title back. Navas solves their problem of a lack of width, while Fernandinho is a massive improvement on the holding midfielders currently at the club. Jovetic and Negredo are two good strikers, although Negredo is a disappointment considering the links to the likes of Cavani and Ibrahimovic. They have also got rid of several high earners, and trouble-maker Carlos Tevez. City have also done their business quietly and efficiently, not involving themselves in the ridiculous Rooney or Suarez sagas or even going in for Fabregas or Ronaldo to cause a stir, this is a more mature Manchester City, content that they have secured themselves as a top Premier League club. This is enough to secure them top spot.

2. Norwich City

Players in:
Javier Garrido - £1.28 million
Leroy Fer - £4-6 million
Ricky Van Wolfswinkel - £8.5 million
Nathan Redmond - £3.2 million
Martin Olsson - Free
Gary Hooper - £5 million
Carlo Nash - Free

Players out:
Grant Holt - £2 million
James Vaughan - Undisclosed (Probably about £1 million)

Norwich have signed astutely and early to build a squad that can improve on two already fantastic Premier League seasons. Garrido was a good loan signing last year, and an even better permanent one this year. Leroy Fer came very close to signing for Everton in January so as long as his injury problems don't show themselves that is a coup. Nathan Redmond is seen as a fantastic talent, and for a relatively small fee they've signed a player that could be a real talent next year. Martin Olsson is a decent signing, probably shouldn't have spent any time in the Championship. Gary Hooper and Van Wolfswinkel have created a very welcome problem for Chris Hughton as he has two top forwards at his club, neither are proven in the Premier League but they are both seen as very talented and will relish fighting for places and scoring goals and they are certainly an improvement on the two forwards who have left the club.

3. Swansea City

Players in:
Jordi Amat - £2.5 million
Wilfried Bony - £12 million
Jose Canas - Free
Jonathan De Guzman - Loan
Jonjo Shelvey - £5 million

Players out:
Mark Gower - Free
Kyle Bartley - Loan
Alan Tate - Loan

Swansea have significantly added to the squad to prepare for the toils of European football, they have spent quite a bit of money as well already pushing £20 million in signings. Bony is probably the pick of the signings having scored 31 goals in 30 games for Vitesse last year in Holland and being named Dutch player of the year. Despite this, the £12 million fee is a lot for a club like Swansea particularly considering the dodgy history of successful strikers from the Dutch league in the Premier League. Jonjo Shelvey is an excellent signing, picking up an England international and somebody who will relish being a key part of the first team. Securing Amat and De Guzman are two astute signings to bolster the squad.

4. Fulham

Players in:
Fernando Amorebieta - Free
Derek Boateng - Free
Sasha Riether - £1.3 million
Maarten Stekelenburg - £4.8 million

Players out:
Chris Baird - Free
Simon Davies - Free
Mahamouda Diarra - Free
Giorgos Karagounis - Free
Mladen Petric - Free
Mark Schwarzer - Free

Fulham have managed to secure some top quality players this summer without spending a lot of money, Amorebieta and Riether reinforce the defence and both are good players for Fulham, Boateng is also a pretty good free transfer. The real coup is getting Stekelenburg who not too many years ago was seen as one of the best keepers in Europe, it continues Fulham's history of signing top quality goalkeepers following Van Der Sar and Schwarzer. Questions remain about the size of Fulham's squad though, they had a pretty small one last year and have let 6 go on free transfers, which surely means the squad still needs adding to...so far, so good though.

5. West Ham

Players in:
Adrian - Free
Andy Carroll - £15 million
Razvan Rat - Free

Players out:
Carlton Cole - Free
Gary O'Neil - Free

West Ham have managed to secure Andy Carroll when it looked like he might slip out of their hands, and while some will sniff at the transfer fee, Carroll could fulfil his potential at West Ham as they play more to his style and if he can stay fit all season he'll surely continue the good work West Ham got glimpses off last year. Razvan Rat is a decent acquisition to fill a hole in the side. You'd have thought more players need to be brought in but bringing in your number one target usually means a good transfer window.

6. Liverpool

Players in:
Luis Alberto - £6.8 million
Iago Aspas - £7 million
Simon Mignolet - £9 million
Kolo Toure - Free

Players out:
Andy Carroll - £15 million
Jonjo Shelvey - £5 million
Peter Gulcasi - Free
Danny Wilson - Free
Jamie Carragher - Retired
Michael Ngoo - Loan
Suso - Loan
Jose Reina - Loan
Conor Coady - Loan

Liverpool have tried to act early to avoid getting ripped off and managed to add a lot more attacking options, the real issue from last year. Aspas is being touted by many with more La Liga experience than me as a very good signing on Liverpool's part as he had a successful season despite Celta Vigo's struggles. Luis Alberto is perhaps more of a risky signing, but he has the potential Liverpool hope to see fulfilled. They acted fast to secure Mignolet as a replacement for Reina who was apparently Barcelona bound before being quickly loaned off to Napoli when that didn't occur. Kolo Toure is a decent replacement for the outgoing Carragher to add some more experience and depth to the defence. Liverpool have tried to get rid of deadwood like Shelvey, Carroll and Wilson but work is still needed there with players like Spearing still on the clubs books and Downing, Skrtel's and Suarez's futures still not to be sorted out Liverpool have a long window ahead.

7. Chelsea

Players in:
Andre Schurlle - £18 million
Marco Van Ginkel - £8 million
Mark Schwarzer - Free

Players out:
Oriel Romeu - Loan
Thibaut Courtois - Loan
Marko Marin - Loan
Yossi Benayoun - Free
Paulo Ferreira - Free
Hilario - Free
Florent Malouda - Free
Ross Turnbull - Free

So far an unspectacular window from Chelsea, bringing in just three players but managing to get several high earners out of the door. Schurlle is a good player, normally would be seen as an excellent singing but with the dearth of attacking midfielders at the club, it will be interesting to see if he can break into the first team. Van Ginkel is a very good singing, perhaps the replacement for Lampard as he is fazed out of the side. Schwarzer is a solid back up keeper who can hopefully help some of the younger goalkeepers in what will probably be his final year in football.

8. Everton

Players in:
Aroune Kone - £6 million
Joel Robles - Undisclosed
Antolin Alcarez - Free
Gerard Deulofeu - Loan

Players out:
Thomas Hitzlsperger - Free
Jan Mucha - Free
Phil Neville - Retired

Roberto Martinez has gone for the familiar, signing three players he worked with at Wigan but spending very little doing so he has done quite well. More importantly Everton have managed to hold onto key players so far, and so look a slightly better outfit than last year. Kone did well at Wigan despite their struggles and will add another option in what was a limited attack at Everton last year, Alcarez adds depth in defence and perhaps will add an experienced head if Martinez wants to go three man defence and Robles will add some competition for Howard having ousted Al Habsi at Wigan. Deulofeu is a very good loan signing as he moves from sunny Barcelona to Everton and adds some pace to the wings.

9. Hull City

Players in:
George Boyd - Free
Curtis Davies - £2.25 million
Maynor Figueroa - Free
Allan McGregor - £1.8 million
Ahmed Elmohamady - £2 million
Danny Graham - Loan

Players out:
Jay Simpson - Free
Jack Hobbs - Loan

Of all the promoted sides Hull have done the best in the window, signing 6 players to reinforce the squad for the rigours of the Premier League. They're perhaps unlucky to be only 9th considering the players they have signed have actually all been good players, the main issue is that of all of them, only Figueroa has had a sustained period of success in the Premier League. Graham had one good and one poor season, the rest are very much unproven in the Premier League. McGregor may be the pick of the signings, a snip at just under £2 million he's a top keeper who has lost his way a little but could be the difference being relegation and staying up.

10. Sunderland

Players in:
Emanuele Giaccherini - £6.5 million
Jozy Altidore - £6 million
Mobido Diakite - Free
Vito Mannone - £2 million

Players out:
Titus Bramble - Free
Simon Mignolet - £9 million
Ahmed Elmohamady - £2 million#
Danny Graham

Sunderland have signed some good players in this window which might see them higher up the list if it wasn't for the lack of Premier League experience from the players. All are decent captures but their success in the Premier League remains to be seen, Giaccherini may be a great signing but Italians notoriously struggle with the pace of the Premier League, Altidore struggled at Hull last time he was in the PL while Diakite was allowed to leave Lazio and Mannone struggled to break into the Arsenal first team. Losing Mignolet was a blow, but they got a good fee for him.

11. Tottenham Hotspur

Players in:
Paulinho - £17 million
Nacer Chadli - £7 million

Players out:
David Bentley - Free
William Gallas - Free

So far it's been an okay transfer window for Tottenham, but if they can keep hold of Bale and stay with this most fans would be happy. Paulinho is a good signing if he an adjust to the Premier League as he odds another option to the midfield and will hopefully be a good pivot with Dembele/Sandro. Nacer Chadli adds another name to the growing Belgian contingent in the Premier League and adds a much needed winger to the squad with a worrying lack of back up to Lennon as far as natural wide players go, hence Holtby, Dempsey and Sigurdsson all filling in there last year.

12. Stoke City

Players in:
Marc Muniesa - Free
Erik Pieters - £3 million

Players out:
Dean Whitehead - Free
Rory Delap - Free
Michael Owen - Retired
Carlo Nash - Free
Matthew Upson - Free

Mark Hughes has so far got two good deals for Stoke as they look to shed the image they had under Tony Pulis. Muniesa, a Barcelona graduate, is a good start as he adds a totally different element to the defence. Whether he can become a success remains to be seen but it's a good start. Pieters is a very good left back who was linked with much bigger sides in the recent past and will fill a hole in the Stoke squad.

13. Aston Villa

Players in:
Leandro Bacuna - Undisclosed
Nicklas Helenius - £2 million
Jores Okore - £4 million
Antonio Luna - Undisclosed
Aleksandar Tonev - Undisclosed

Players out:
Eric Lichaj - Free
Jean Il Makoun - Free
Richard Dunne - Free
Brett Holman - Free
Stillyan Petrov - Retired

Aston Villa have secured 5 summer signings which is should constitute a good transfer window but considering the failures of the last year seeing Villa signing another five young, unproven talent is slightly worrying in a squad which has only lost more experience. Securing Christian Benteke for at least another year has been the best news of the transfer window.

14. Crystal Palace

Players in:
Stephen Dobbie - Free
Dwight Gayle - £4.5 million
Jerome Thomas - Free
Jose Campana - £1.2 million
Kevin Phillips - Free

Players out:
Jermaine Easter - Free
Alex Marrow - £300k

Crystal Palace have secured 5 players to boost their squad for the Premier League but their are serious question marks over the quality of their signings. Kevin Phillips is very old now and can't be relied onto play 90 minutes every week and players like Dobbie and Thomas are hardly proven at this level. Palace will surely hope to secure some more talent or they face an even harder struggle.

15. Southampton

Players in:
Dejan Lovren - £8.5 million
Viktor Wanayama - £12.5 million

Southampton have secured two quality players, but at a high cost and while the squad has obviously been improved the clubs around them have improved a lot more in general and Southampton might hope to add one or two more players before the transfer window closes.

16. West Bromwich Albion

Players in:
Nicholas Anelka - Free
Goran Popov - Loan

Players out:
Jerome Thomas - Free
Marc Antoine Fortune - Free
Zoltan Gera - Free
Gonzalo Jara Reyes - Free

West Brom have been quite quiet in the transfer market, Nicholas Anelka could prove to be the signing of the season but at 34 he surely can't be the marquee player West Brom will want to replace Lukaku who unfortunately for West Brom is staying at Chelsea this year. While Popov is a decent signing, West Brom look woefully short of quality up front, especially with Odemwingie likely to be sold.

17. Cardiff City

Players in:
Andreas Cornelius - £7.5 million

Cardiff appear to have put all their eggs into one Danish basket. The 6 foot 4 forward has had only one year of playing first team football under his belt and while that was a very successful year in the Danish Superliga Cardiff may not see this signing give them everything they need. They've missed out on Wanayama and right now Cardiff do not look strong enough to stay up, they need some more investment and more astute signings than spending £7.5 million on a completely unproven striker.

18. Arsenal

Players in:
Yaya Sanago - Free

Players out:
Andrey Arshavin - Free
Vito Mannone - £2 million
Denilson - Free
Sébastien Squillaci - Free
Andre Santos - Undisclosed
Johan Djourou - Loan
Francis Coquelin - Loan

Arsenal have had a lot of talk this summer, Higuain, Jovetic, Rooney, Suarez, Fabregas have all been linked with the club, with some bids have been made and yet they face entering August having made one signing, and a pathetic one at that. In some good news Arsenal have got rid of some deadwood at the club. If they can end the window with some big signings they will quickly rise up the charts, but right now they're lucky not to be bottom.

19. Newcastle United

Players in:
NOBODY

Players out:
Steve Harper - Free
Danny Simpson - Free
James Perch - £765k
Shane Ferguson - Loan

Newcastle have had a terrible transfer market so far, four outgoings with nobody being brought in. A new forward is a priority but there has been more talk of getting rid of one in Cisse than there has of bringing one in. Remy, Gomis and Bent may all arrive but so far Newcastle have been pathetic in the market and risk falling further behind their rivals as teams like Norwich and Swansea continue to sign well.

20. Manchester United

Players in:
Guillermo Varela - £1 million

Players out:
Paul Scholes - Retired

Despite signing one more player than Newcastle, Manchester United find themselves at the bottom of the window. A lot of promise for Manchester United going into this window, a new manager for the first time in nearly 30 years would surely mean backing in the market but so far they have failed to deliver. They have watched long term targets Thiago and Strootman sign for European rivals while Fabregas doesn't look to be budging and Bale and Ronaldo could prove to be too pricey. Even deals for Baines and Fellaini are looking less and less likely and Manchester United have failed to learn from City's lack of activity in the window last year. The biggest deal this summer for United could be losing the star man of the past Wayne Rooney to a main rival.

So do people agree with my rankings, or am I underrating or overrating any clubs?

Windows a long way from being over.

Not sure city have done that well - 90 million invested and only 1 real quality player (still very young) brought in.

Also united have never been interested strootman and thiago denied we ever made a bid for him. Can't disagree with then being bottom along with Newcastle.

They might not have made a bid for either, but I do think they probably were interested in both, although I think if they were more interested in Strootman they'd have got him.

I think money wise City haven't done great, but the players they have brought in are much better than any window they've had before. At least they're overspending on quality rather than the likes of Lescott or Milner. I think their strike force is once again the best in the league and Navas is just the kind of player they were missing last year, as was Fernandinho.

Hi Crimey,

This is a great read, awesome job.

I understand the points you made about the new Chelsea signings but i would like to know if you rate the new signings yourself?

Personally i rate the players very highly and i think they are great players who will do extremely well for us.

can't argue with our position, even if we were to get Fellaini I don't think that would move us up much, hardly a groundbreaking signing and wouldn't take us to the next step in terms of challenging in europe

Holymiky wrote:Hi Crimey,

This is a great read, awesome job.

I understand the points you made about the new Chelsea signings but i would like to know if you rate the new signings yourself?

Personally i rate the players very highly and i think they are great players who will do extremely well for us.

Can't really say much, I haven't watched them play at all, but both Van Ginkel and Schurlle are rated highly by those that have done. Van Ginkel is seen as a bargain considering his potential.

I think we are without doubt bottom.

interesting thread

by the way zaha is theoretically signed this window therefore deserves to be much higher up!

Not been impressed with the dealings of the 3 promoted sides, all 3 look pretty weak considering the likes of Norwich/Swansea/Southampton/Stoke/Fulham are really looking to push on in this window. Palace in particular look really weak.

Also you forgot to mention the signing of the almighty Carlo Nash for Norwich

On us I see us bringing in another attacking midfielder/striker, and a centre half. Maybe a loan signing as well. Still think we have one more big signing up our sleeves. Hooper/RVW both unproven, but have a good goalscoring records, and will both push themselves for the starting spot hopefully

mystiroakey wrote:by the way zaha is theoretically signed this window therefore deserves to be much higher up!

He wasn't though was he? He was signed in January and loaned back to Palace. I know that was just because of the Football League, but he was signed in January really.

For me its the same difference- man u have zaha fresh for this coming season.. the fact he was signed in a previous season doesn't really change the mechanics of it.. So for me I would include him and push united up .

same goes for palace but the reverse when it comes to zaha, phillips and doobie- we utilised all last year- we have signed two(there were still on loan and lost one!!)

Palace have a worse squad than we had to start with - its basically gayle for zaha.

we finished 5th in the champs and we are going into the PL with a worse squad. This is flipping insane!!

Should really incorporate players coming back from loan into this - chelsea's window looks a lot better when you consider that lukaku and de bruyne are back in the squad.

Man city at no.1 I can't really agree with - for me negredo and jovetic are downgrades on balotelli and tevez (although jovetic has a ton of potential), and fernandinho is very overpriced and sort of unproven. Navas is a quality signing, but again there's an element of risk due to the homesickness issue.

And like someone said, long way to go

By the way a very good thread Crimey- Its good to see it all in one place. But i think its interesting to actually note the difference in squad from year to year as well as the actual business done in the window!

At first I was going to include loan players coming back, but it made it all a bit messy, I also don't think that they can take credit for those players coming back.

I think Tevez just isn't the player of old and Jovetic should be much better than him playing in similar positions while Negredo offers a more natural forward and won't cause anywhere near as many of the issues as Balotelli did. I think as Fernandinho has dominated Champions League games, he is proven in a sense.

I don't think he can be included mysti as I am not judging the differing squads, I'm judging the transfer business, the Zaha deal was done in January with a completely different Manchester United backroom.

Now you see I quite like what Villa have done in this window so far. Continued their policy of signing youth, and hoping to push on. Lest we forget the 2nd half of last season, they were certainly pushing up the table very nicely, once Lambert had installed his own ethic, and really made his stamp on the side

Would say hull and Liverpool are overranked here. I still think Fulham have done the best business because of the money spent in relative comparison.

Sunderland and Southampton deserve more credit too.

5th August

1. Manchester City

Players in:
Fernandinho - £30 million
Jesus Navas - £14.9 million
Alavaro Negredo - £20 million
Stevan Jovetic - £22 million

Players out:
Wayne Bridge - Free
Kolo Toure - Free
Carlos Tevez - £12 million
Roque Santa Cruz - Free
Maicon - Free

Still top of my list, despite not making any more signings is Manchester City who I feel have improved in a lot of the areas that need improving and for me have done the most of the top sides to make improvements to win the title.

2. Norwich City

Players in:
Javier Garrido - £1.28 million
Leroy Fer - £4-6 million
Ricky Van Wolfswinkel - £8.5 million
Nathan Redmond - £3.2 million
Martin Olsson - Free
Gary Hooper - £5 million
Carlo Nash - Free

Players out:
Grant Holt - £2 million
James Vaughan - Undisclosed (Probably about £1 million)
Andrew Surman - Loan

Norwich again stay in the same position, despite no movement over the past week or so. They look like they've built a really nice balanced squad, although their defence could use a bit of reinforcement.

3. Swansea City

Players in:
Jordi Amat - £2.5 million
Wilfried Bony - £12 million
Jose Canas - Free
Jonathan De Guzman - Loan
Jonjo Shelvey - £5 million

Players out:
Mark Gower - Free
Kyle Bartley - Loan
Alan Tate - Loan
Kemy Agustien - Free

The only transfer from Swansea recently has been the sale of Agustien, so getting rid of dead wood is always a good thing and their signings are enough to keep them in the top three.

4. Fulham

Players in:
Fernando Amorebieta - Free
Derek Boateng - Free
Sasha Riether - £1.3 million
Maarten Stekelenburg - £4.8 million

Players out:
Chris Baird - Free
Simon Davies - Free
Mahamouda Diarra - Free
Mladen Petric - Free
Mark Schwarzer - Free

Fulham stay to make sure a top 4 remains the same two weeks running, the transfers they have made have significantly strengthened their squad and they've made some astute moves signing players that arguably should be out of their reach.

5. Liverpool Up 1

Players in:
Luis Alberto - £6.8 million
Iago Aspas - £7 million
Simon Mignolet - £9 million
Kolo Toure - Free

Players out:
Andy Carroll - £15 million
Jonjo Shelvey - £5 million
Peter Gulcasi - Free
Danny Wilson - Free
Jamie Carragher - Retired
Michael Ngoo - Loan
Suso - Loan
Jose Reina - Loan
Conor Coady - Loan

Despite not doing anything over the past week, Liverpool move up a place due to West Ham dropping. Liverpool have tried to move much quicker in the transfer market this year but still investment is needed. The attack looks much stronger than last year, albeit with a lot of unproven faces.

6. Everton Up 2

Players in:
Aroune Kone - £6 million
Joel Robles - Undisclosed
Antolin Alcarez - Free
Gerard Deulofeu - Loan

Players out:
Thomas Hitzlsperger - Free
Jan Mucha - Free
Phil Neville - Retired

Everton move up the rankings due to others falling down, they've signed some decent players while keeping hold of their best. If the transfer window ended now, Everton fans couldn't complain but they'll hope to bring in a couple more good players.

7. Chelsea

Players in:
Andre Schurlle - £18 million
Marco Van Ginkel - £8 million
Mark Schwarzer - Free

Players out:
Oriel Romeu - Loan
Thibaut Courtois - Loan
Marko Marin - Loan
Yossi Benayoun - Free
Paulo Ferreira - Free
Hilario - Free
Florent Malouda - Free
Ross Turnbull - Free

Chelsea stay in the same spot, sitting happily in seventh with their three decent signings.

8. West Ham Down 3

Players in:
Adrian - Free
Andy Carroll - £15 million
Razvan Rat - Free

Players out:
Carlton Cole - Free
Gary O'Neil - Free

West Ham fall three spaces after making no improvements despite only signing three players, while those signings are good, teams like Swansea, Norwich and Fulham are doing much better in the transfer window and leaving the Hammers behind. They will hope to seal a few more deals over the oncoming weeks.

9. Hull City

Players in:
George Boyd - Free
Curtis Davies - £2.25 million
Maynor Figueroa - Free
Allan McGregor - £1.8 million
Ahmed Elmohamady - £2 million
Danny Graham - Loan

Players out:
Jay Simpson - Free
Jack Hobbs - Loan
Tom Cairney - Loan
Corry Evans - £500k

Hull have not done much transfer business, and their squad is looking as healthy as before. They will surely hope to sign somebody of Premier League quality soon as still all their signings have done their best work elsewhere. Promising young talent like Evans and Cairney have moved to Blackburn which is a shame.

10. Sunderland

Players in:
Emanuele Giaccherini - £6.5 million
Jozy Altidore - £6 million
Mobido Diakite - Free
Vito Mannone - £2 million

Players out:
Titus Bramble - Free
Simon Mignolet - £9 million
Ahmed Elmohamady - £2 million
Danny Graham - Loan
Alfred N'Diaye - Loan

Sunderland stay in 10th place in the rankings having had quite a good window, they've been busy in the transfer window and will hope that will be enough to stop them falling into a relegation battle again.

11. Aston Villa Up 2

Players in:
Leandro Bacuna - Undisclosed
Nicklas Helenius - £2 million
Jores Okore - £4 million
Antonio Luna - Undisclosed
Aleksandar Tonev - Undisclosed

Players out:
Eric Lichaj - Free
Jean Il Makoun - Free
Richard Dunne - Free
Brett Holman - Free
Stillyan Petrov - Retired

Aston Villa move up two places due to others falling down and their squad is looking quite good but still lacks the experience that is perhaps needed to succeed in the top flight. Lambert is gambling quite a lot on unproven youngsters, but if it pays off Aston Villa could see themselves in a decent position come May.

12. West Bromwich Albion Up 4

Players in:
Nicholas Anelka - Free
Goran Popov - Loan
Diego Lugano - Free

Players out:
Jerome Thomas - Free
Marc Antoine Fortune - Free
Zoltan Gera - Free
Gonzalo Jara Reyes - Free

West Brom leap up the rankings after signing experienced defender Diego Lugano on a free, this adds another promising name to a transfer window that could end very well with West Brom if they can continue their business in such an intelligent way.

13. Stoke City Down 1

Players in:
Marc Muniesa - Free
Erik Pieters - £3 million

Players out:
Dean Whitehead - Free
Rory Delap - Free
Michael Owen - Retired
Carlo Nash - Free
Matthew Upson - Free

Stoke fall a place having failed to deliver on the early promise the transfer window showed for them. While they made two good signings, they've failed to capitalise and bring in a few more so Stoke's squad just doesn't look strong enough going into the new season and Hughes could see himself embroiled in other relegation battle and perhaps another sacking.

14. Crystal Palace

Players in:
Stephen Dobbie - £850k
Dwight Gayle - £4.5 million
Jerome Thomas - Free
Jose Campana - £1.2 million
Kevin Phillips - Free
Elliot Grandin - Free

Players out:
Jermaine Easter - Free
Alex Marrow - £300k
Andre Moritz - Free

Crystal Palace stay put in the rankings having added a lot of new faces to the squad but they're probably not the faces many Palace fans were hoping for. The squad which only managed to scrape them into the Premier League certainly doesn't look good enough to stay up especially with the signings made. At least they've made more signings than Cardiff. Grandin continues the trend of signing players that are just not good enough.

15. Tottenham Hotspur Down 4

Players in:
Paulinho - £17 million
Nacer Chadli - £7 million
Robert Soldado - £26 million

Players out:
David Bentley - Free
William Gallas - Free
Clint Dempsey - £6 million
Steven Caulker - £8 million

Tottenham have a significant fall in the transfer window because despite bringing in Soldado they have sold two squad members which leaves them without significant cover in two places. Dempsey was a decent player for Tottenham to have as he could cover many different positions and play well in each and was perhaps underutilised in his time at Spurs and while they've got a good fee for Caulker, it does leave them without a lot of centre backs especially with Dawson and Kaboul's injury issues and Vertonghen missing the start.

16. Southampton Down 1

Players in:
Dejan Lovren - £8.5 million
Viktor Wanayama - £12.5 million

Players out:
Frazer Richardson - Free
Steve De Ridder - Free

Southampton move down a place having failed to add any more faces to the team which may worry fans who might think they have used all their money on two signings, albeit good signings. Southampton only have two senior strikers on their books and that surely has to be a priority signing. They should be disappointed to see the likes of Hooper and Austin be snapped up by clubs around them.

17. Cardiff City

Players in:
Andreas Cornelius - £7.5 million
Steven Caulker - £8 million

Players out:
Ben Nugent - Loan

Steven Caulker is a good signing for Cardiff but it isn't enough to see them move up the rankings, despite breaking their transfer window record twice Cardiff's window has been worrying. They have signed barely anybody and while they had an excellent squad in the Championship that is no recipe for success in the top flight. If they can bring in some cheap but quality players to bolster their squad they'll quickly rise up the rankings.

18. Arsenal

Players in:
Yaya Sanago - Free

Players out:
Andrey Arshavin - Free
Vito Mannone - £2 million
Denilson - Free
Sébastien Squillaci - Free
Andre Santos - Undisclosed
Johan Djourou - Loan
Francis Coquelin - Loan

Arsenal go another week without making a signing and continue with just talk over big money signings. If Arsenal leave it too late they could either go without making the signings they need or overpaying for players they didn't really want. Wenger needs to get in gear and start getting busy in the window.

19. Newcastle United

Players in:
NOBODY

Players out:
Steve Harper - Free
Danny Simpson - Free
James Perch - £765k
Shane Ferguson - Loan
Mehdi Abeid - Loan

Newcastle still haven't brought anybody in, but with fees agreed for Gomis and apparently Remy also coming in on loan they might start moving up the rankings. Kinnear has failed to deliver on his big words and now Newcastle have gone two summers in a row with disappointing transfer windows. Fans will be desperate for somebody/anybody to come in.

20. Manchester United

Players in:
Guillermo Varela - £1 million

Players out:
Paul Scholes - Retired
Ryan Tunnicliffe - Loan

Another week and still no sign of Cesc Fabregas or even Fellaini. Manchester United are being unnervingly quiet in the window and watching Manchester City and Chelsea seal their targets early is making it only the more stupid that United aren't moving for more. It seems they're concentrating so hard on the Fabregas deal which is moving at snail's pace they've forgotten to make any more moves.

I have to agree with your palace comments.. Not good enough

But I think you are being harsh on Totenham!!

I think the players in fair outweigh the players out .

However When/If bale goes.. They deserve to go last !!

I just worry about what Tottenham are doing, their first team does look much stronger this year than last, but I worry about the strength of their squad. I'm also sceptical over the Soldado deal and wondering whether it's being signed with Bale money.

Also word on Palace, Dobbie cost them 850 Grand. What a rip off i know!!!

We just threw you some change mate. We felt sorry for our disadvantaged neighbours!

Standard transfer window for Chelsea. We've only made big splashes in 03 and 04. Also, Paolo Ferreira retired iirc.

When I saw Norwich 2nd I had to scroll up to see if Olly posted this.

I would of paid you, to take Dobbie of us 

You couldnt afford to pay us. Thats with we gave you a summer gift!

Its charity work dude!

How on earth can Spurs be that low with the quality signings they've made? Madness.

Crimey wrote:18. Arsenal

Players in:
Yaya Sanago - Free

Players out:
Andrey Arshavin - Free
Vito Mannone - £2 million
Denilson - Free
Sébastien Squillaci - Free
Andre Santos - Undisclosed
Johan Djourou - Loan
Francis Coquelin - Loan

Arsenal go another week without making a signing and continue with just talk over big money signings. If Arsenal leave it too late they could either go without making the signings they need or overpaying for players they didn't really want. Wenger needs to get in gear and start getting busy in the window.

What astounds me is that, if you add the impending sale of Gervinho and the loan of Chamakh, that's c.£400k PER WEEK of salary that Arsenal have shed.

So just go out there, pay the £55m for Suarez with £200k a week wages, and get Fellaini for £22m on £100k a week, you still have money left over!

spurs in 15th is hilarious

dont expect palace to pay all of Chamakhs wages dude.. I doubt we will and offcourse there is no saving because wasnt he on loan last year anyway!, But your point still stands..

There's the rumour that it's a free transfer too, which would definitely take some of the pain away.

With the new TV deal, and let's say, cautiously, £350k a week saved in wages, Arsenal really can afford to spend big. It's madness that they've missed out on the likes of Jovetic and Higuain when they're sitting on a pile of moolah like that.

Yes I agree.

Who would you go for..

Rooney 37m??

50m for sureaz?

If I'm Wenger, I do this:

Suarez = £55m
Rooney = £40m
Fellaini = £22m (if that figure is correct)
Williams = £10m
Zouma = £8m
Cesar = £4m

And try to ship out Diaby, Rosicky, Vermaelen and Sagna.

But this is Wenger we're talking about, he won't sign anyone

Williams .....!!!

I can't for the life of me understand why the Cesar deal hasn't been completed yet.

QPR don't want to keep him, nobody else is in for him, he'd be desperate to move, but yet nothing...

Unless Arsenal will just unveil like 4 signings on one day

If anyone even thinks about trying to make a big offer for williams or Bolaise I am going to hunt them down..

If either go to a big club they will only be benched at best!!

Let our young talent play!

By the way I take it you wernt talking about My lad williams??

The defender?

I think he means the Swansea captain Ashley Williams.....

Yeah got it. I have palace players on the brain. And I am pretty scared of losing any of our best players

I didn't know Palace had a player called Williams

Awesome little welsh lad mate. Rumours about city and cardiff going for him a couple of months back..

13th August

1. Manchester City

Players in:
Fernandinho - £30 million
Jesus Navas - £14.9 million
Alavaro Negredo - £20 million
Stevan Jovetic - £22 million

Players out:
Wayne Bridge - Free
Kolo Toure - Free
Carlos Tevez - £12 million
Roque Santa Cruz - Free
Maicon - Free

Manchester City still atop of the rankings, having completed their summer business early and picked up some top players while getting some high earners off of the wage bill.

2. Norwich City

Players in:
Javier Garrido - £1.28 million
Leroy Fer - £4-6 million
Ricky Van Wolfswinkel - £8.5 million
Nathan Redmond - £3.2 million
Martin Olsson - Free
Gary Hooper - £5 million
Carlo Nash - Free

Players out:
Grant Holt - £2 million
James Vaughan - Undisclosed (Probably about £1 million)
Andrew Surman - Loan

Norwich stay in second place for the third week running having brought in a lot of new, astute signings.

3. Swansea City

Players in:
Jordi Amat - £2.5 million
Wilfried Bony - £12 million
Jose Canas - Free
Jonathan De Guzman - Loan
Jonjo Shelvey - £5 million

Players out:
Mark Gower - Free
Kyle Bartley - Loan
Alan Tate - Loan
Kemy Agustien - Free

Swansea stays in third meaning for the third week running nobody can displace the top 3 of the rankings.

4. Tottenham Hotspur Up 11

Players in:
Paulinho - £17 million
Nacer Chadli - £7 million
Robert Soldado - £26 million

Players out:
David Bentley - Free
William Gallas - Free
Clint Dempsey - £6 million
Steven Caulker - £8 million

In a huge change of heart, I've pushed Tottenham Hotspur dramatically up the rankings to put them in fourth with their three signings. They may have spent lots of money but they've managed to improve in key areas, and although they have lost some players through selling them, the fees they have received, soften the blow. They have also gone another week without selling Bale as it looks less and less likely.

5. Fulham Down 1

Players in:
Fernando Amorebieta - Free
Derek Boateng - Free
Sasha Riether - £1.3 million
Maarten Stekelenburg - £4.8 million
Adel Taraabt - Loan

Players out:
Chris Baird - Free
Simon Davies - Free
Mahamouda Diarra - Free
Mladen Petric - Free
Mark Schwarzer - Free

Fulham move down a position despite bringing in Adel Taraabt on a loan deal. Fulham have done well in the transfer window, but having done a lot of deals early in the window there is still some work to do if Fulham want to start challenging the top half again. Taraabt is a risky signing, he's very inconsistent and questions remain whether he can cut it at Premier League level.

6. Liverpool Down 1

Players in:
Luis Alberto - £6.8 million
Iago Aspas - £7 million
Simon Mignolet - £9 million
Kolo Toure - Free

Players out:
Andy Carroll - £15 million
Jonjo Shelvey - £5 million
Peter Gulcasi - Free
Danny Wilson - Free
Jamie Carragher - Retired
Michael Ngoo - Loan
Suso - Loan
Jose Reina - Loan
Conor Coady - Loan
Jay Spearing - Undisclosed

Liverpool slip a place in the rankings having signed nobody in the past two weeks and spending far too much time and effort in the Suarez saga. What started as a promising window is looking less and less good as only four people have been brought in. There is currently more talk of people leaving in Downing, Suarez, Agger and Skrtel than people brought in and that's dangerous when the side clearly needs so much work.

7. Everton Down 1

Players in:
Aroune Kone - £6 million
Joel Robles - Undisclosed
Antolin Alcarez - Free
Gerard Deulofeu - Loan

Players out:
Thomas Hitzlsperger - Free
Jan Mucha - Free
Phil Neville - Retired

Everton go another week without adding anybody, and it seems unlikely they will considering the budget restrictions on Everton. Worryingly is that their two star players in Baines and Fellaini may leave late in the window as speculation rises about their futures.

8. Chelsea Down 1

Players in:
Andre Schurlle - £18 million
Marco Van Ginkel - £8 million
Mark Schwarzer - Free

Players out:
Oriel Romeu - Loan
Thibaut Courtois - Loan
Marko Marin - Loan
Yossi Benayoun - Free
Paulo Ferreira - Free
Hilario - Free
Florent Malouda - Free
Ross Turnbull - Free

Chelsea fall down a ranking as well as they go another week without adding to their team, their number one target Rooney staying still and as every week goes by the deal looks less likely. Speculation is growing about David Luiz' future as Barcelona have already had one bid rejected and plan a second.

9. West Ham Down 1

Players in:
Adrian - Free
Andy Carroll - £15 million
Razvan Rat - Free

Players out:
Carlton Cole - Free
Gary O'Neil - Free

West Ham fall again this week as they fail to add to their squad, sticking to just three names. If they can complete the Stewart Downing signing their summer will look much better. They have lost out on quite a few people this summer if gossip is to believed which is disappointing.

10. Hull City Down 1

Players in:
George Boyd - Free
Curtis Davies - £2.25 million
Maynor Figueroa - Free
Allan McGregor - £1.8 million
Ahmed Elmohamady - £2 million
Danny Graham - Loan

Players out:
Jay Simpson - Free
Jack Hobbs - Loan
Tom Cairney - Loan
Corry Evans - £500k

Hull fall down a ranking, their summer business has been okay but swathes of players without top flight experience may not be the right way to go for Hull. They still look like relegation candidates. They have done the best of the promoted sides though.

11. Sunderland Down 1

Players in:
Emanuele Giaccherini - £6.5 million
Jozy Altidore - £6 million
Mobido Diakite - Free
Vito Mannone - £2 million

Players out:
Titus Bramble - Free
Simon Mignolet - £9 million
Ahmed Elmohamady - £2 million
Danny Graham - Loan
Alfred N'Diaye - Loan

Sunderland fall down a ranking having not made a signing this week, while they have brought in a few names, they have lost their player of the year and their signings have very little Premier League experience between them.

12. West Bromwich Albion

Players in:
Nicholas Anelka - Free
Goran Popov - Loan
Diego Lugano - Free
Matej Vydra - Loan

Players out:
Jerome Thomas - Free
Marc Antoine Fortune - Free
Zoltan Gera - Free
Gonzalo Jara Reyes - Free

West Brom manage to consolidate their place bringing in Championship Player of the Year Vydra on loan to give a boost to their strike force which had been looking quite weak. Vydra was hot property this summer so they have done well to snap him up but half their signings being loan signings isn't a great sign.

13. Aston Villa Down 2

Players in:
Leandro Bacuna - Undisclosed
Nicklas Helenius - £2 million
Jores Okore - £4 million
Antonio Luna - Undisclosed
Aleksandar Tonev - Undisclosed

Players out:
Eric Lichaj - Free
Jean Il Makoun - Free
Richard Dunne - Free
Brett Holman - Free
Stillyan Petrov - Retired

Aston Villa slip down the rankings again having not made any more signings. Villa's squad looked weak and without experience last year, and these signings have not changed that. It's a risky window, although if it pays off in hindsight their ranking will seem harsh.

14. Cardiff City Up 3

Players in:
Andreas Cornelius - £7.5 million
Steven Caulker - £8 million
Gary Medel - £11 million
John Brayford - £1 million

Players out:
Ben Nugent - Loan
Heidar Helguson - Free

Although the fees being spent are high, Cardiff are finally getting busy in the transfer market and signing some players who can only be described as coups. Bringing in Medel has pushed them two places up the rankings as they start to look like they're adding to the Championship foundations with Premier League quality.

15. Crystal Palace Down 1

Players in:
Stephen Dobbie - £850k
Dwight Gayle - £4.5 million
Jerome Thomas - Free
Jose Campana - £1.2 million
Kevin Phillips - Free
Elliot Grandin - Free

Players out:
Jermaine Easter - Free
Alex Marrow - £300k
Andre Moritz - Free

Crystal Palace fall down one position having been very quiet this week, allowing Cardiff to leapfrog them with some decent signings.

16. Southampton

Players in:
Dejan Lovren - £8.5 million
Viktor Wanayama - £12.5 million

Players out:
Frazer Richardson - Free
Steve De Ridder - Free

Southampton stay in position despite not adding to their two signings. A new forward is a priority for Southampton and their quiet summer will worry those who consider 'second-season syndrome'.

17. Stoke City Down 4

Players in:
Marc Muniesa - Free
Erik Pieters - £3 million

Players out:
Dean Whitehead - Free
Rory Delap - Free
Michael Owen - Retired
Carlo Nash - Free
Matthew Upson - Free

Stoke's summer is looking worryingly quiet after starting promisingly and they are quickly slipping down the rankings having fallen 4 places since the first week of these rankings, falling 3 places these rankings because they have gone another week without adding to their ranks. This could perhaps suggest that Peter Coates is scared to back Hughes with money after his history of flops at Manchester City and QPR.

18. Newcastle United Up 1

Players in:
Loic Remy - Loan

Players out:
Steve Harper - Free
Danny Simpson - Free
James Perch - £765k
Shane Ferguson - Loan
Mehdi Abeid - Loan

The signing of Loic Remy on loan is enough to push Newcastle up one place and away from the bottom two. They will hope to add a few more faces while holding onto key players to make the summer less of a disaster.

19. Manchester United Up 1

Players in:
Guillermo Varela - £1 million

Players out:
Paul Scholes - Retired
Ryan Tunnicliffe - Loan

Manchester United have failed in the transfer window so far, they haven't got rid of high earners like Nani or Anderson who might not have a place in the squad and no top quality players have been brought in or look likely to be brought in as well as the possibility of losing one of their star players. They have moved up one more due to Arsenal's incompetency than anything they have done.


20. Arsenal Down 2

Players in:
Yaya Sanago - Free

Players out:
Andrey Arshavin - Free
Vito Mannone - £2 million
Denilson - Free
Sébastien Squillaci - Free
Andre Santos - Undisclosed
Johan Djourou - Loan
Francis Coquelin - Loan

Arsenal have slipped to the bottom of their rankings as they fail to bring in anybody new, never mind the star player they have talked about. With some high profile talk of Suarez staying from Liverpool's end it appears Arsenal may have lost out on their number one target or will have to spend over the top to bring him in. Luis Gustavo would be a start, but is an odd signing considering the areas that really need improving.

Downing to West Ham should see Liverpool AND West Ham move up imo.

Hull have signed tosh, Cardiff have signed much better players.

And I think Spurs were mad to sell Caulker and Dempsey, but there you go

Always a good read mate

I wrote this just before the Downing deal was completed, so that will have to count for next week.

I agree that a lot of Hull's signings haven't been amazing but I wouldn't say Cardiff's are massively better. None of Cardiff's signings are proven in the Premier League, while at least Hull have the likes of Figueroa and Graham, I think McGregor is a good signing as well. I think £7.5 million on Cornelius is a massive risk, Caulker hasn't ever impressed me a lot for Tottenham and Medel could do well but South Americans can struggle in the Premier League.

I thought that last week hence their 15th place, but then thought about it and the fees given are good, and losing Caulker isn't a huge loss, he never really impressed me when he played. He obviously has a lot of promise but they got £8 million for him.

Change of heart regarding Tottenham I see.