Liverpool are in the process of what many believe to be the transfer window of all transfer windows in the Premier League era to bolster a title-winning squad. But how does it rank among other excellent summer offerings?
A whimsical, some would say pointless, question that absolutely cannot be answered now before those new Liverpool players have kicked a ball for Liverpool, but that’s not stopped the Premier League website from setting a poll for biased fans of major clubs to torpedo and render almost entirely uninteresting, nor us from reordering said list of windows into the unimpeachable top 11 (why 11? don’t know).
We’ve included the percentages from the poll, which has predictably seen the 2025/2026 windows of two clubs voted for more than the other eight options combined…
11) Arsenal: 2025/2026 (14%)
Notable signings: Viktor Gyokeresh, Martin Zubendish, Noni Madueke, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Christian Norgaard
We wonder whether any of what we assume was a huge majority of Arsenal fans voting for this to rank as the second-greatest Premier League transfer window of all-time also signed the #NOTOMADUEKE petition a few weeks agoor were #KROENKEOUT before signing the striker reported to be their second choice in favour of a guy who looks like he might join actual Manchester United.
READ MORE: Gyokeres being terrible for Arsenal while Sesko shines for Man Utd is the dream scenario
10) Leicester: 2015/2016 (4%)
Notable signings: Shinji Okazaki, N'Golo Kante, Gokhan Inler, Robert Huth, Christian Fuchs
Funny this, because without Kante this window wouldn’t be in the top 50, and yet it’s absolutely deserving of a place here because they did sign him, for under £8m.
Okazaki, Huth and Fuchs all deserve their flowers for the key parts they played in the wonderful title win, but without meaning to be too harsh on those individuals, these being the signings made to push them from 14th to 1st does lend weight to the claim that Kante has had the greatest impact of any Premier League signing ever.
9) Chelsea: 2014/2015 (2%)
Notable signings: Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas, Filipe Luis, Loic Remy, Didier Drogba
Both Costa and Fabregas were wonderful as Chelsea scampered to the title upon Jose Mourinho’s return, with Fabregas’ feeding of the menacing striker a particular avenue of success for a side with few weaknesses; graced by the return of a club legend in Drogba.
8) Wolves: 2018/19 (3%)
Notable signings: Raul Jimenez, Rui Patricio, Adama Traore, Joao Moutinho, Diogo Jota, Willy Boly, Max Kilman, Leander Dendoncker
The Portuguese revolution began the year before, with super-agent Jorge Mendes’ mitts all over the the signing of Ruben Neves and appointment of Nuno Espírito Santo, who took Wolves to the Championship title having finished 15th the season before.
And in an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ but supercharge it sort of way, Mendes set about turning Molineux into the The Algarve of the West Midlands after promotion, somehow (by paying them lots of money) persuading Champions League-level footballers to join and push them to a quite extraordinary seventh-placed Premier League finish after six years away.
7) Liverpool: 2018/2019 (3%)
Notable Signings: Alisson, Naby Keita, Fabinho, Xherdan Shaqiri
We wonder if there’s been enough water under the bridge for Liverpool fans to accept that £53m Keita was not a misunderstood genius as the vast majority of them insisted was the case despite the swathes of evidence suggesting he was in fact a massive waste of money, but we guess not.
We reckon that has a lot to do with Michael Edwards getting nearly every other transfer right at this stage to set Liverpool up for success then and now, making it very difficult to accept any sort of failure on his part.
Alisson was deemed by many to be the missing cog which led Liverpool to their long-awaited title a year later, but the signing of Fabinho was also a stroke of genius.
6) Manchester City: 2015/2016 (4%)
Notable signings: Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, Nicolas Otamendi, Fabian Delph
We might just have plumped for City’s 2017/2018 over this one, when Kyle Walker, Bernardo Silva, Ederson and Aymeric Laporte all arrived, but this was the summer when many a fan baulked at them paying a club-record £54m for a Chelsea flop who went on to become the greatest midfielder the Premier League has ever seenas well as a mercurial Liverpool winger who then claimed 131 goals and 86 assists in 339 appearances.
5) Southampton: 2014/2015 (2%)
Notable signings: Sadio Mane, Shane Long, Dusan Tadic, Fraser Forster, Graziano Pelle, Toby Alderweireld, Ryan Bertrand
This might just have come out on top had Virgil van Dijk been signed this summer rather than a year later, but there’s still a brilliant mix of talent and risk here, most of which paid off handsomely, not to mention one of the ultimate ‘streets won’t forget’ footballers in Pelle.
He got 16 goals in his debut season as the Saints finished seventh under Ronald Koeman, then sixth in 2015/2016 to qualify for the Europa League. All of Mane, Alderweireld and Tadic became Champions League stalwarts after leaving St Mary’s, while Bertrand and Forster made 240 and 162 Saints appearances respectively.
4) Manchester United: 2007/2008 (7%)
Notable signings: Anderson, Nani, Owen Hargreaves, Carlos Tevez, Tomasz Kuszczak
They joined the champions to create what many consider to be the greatest Manchester United squad – possibly the greatest squad of any team – in the Premier League era, with absurd quality and depth in almost all areas.
Kuszczak, Anderson and Nani were on the bench with Ryan Giggs, Mikael Silvestre, John O’Shea and Darren Fletcher as John Terry’s slip in Moscow handed them their second Champions League trophy, to go with the Premier League title they also pipped Chelsea to that season.
3) Manchester City: 2010/2011 (4%)
Notable meaning: Yaya Toure, Mario Balotelli, David Silva, Aleksandar Kolarov, Jerome Boateng, James Milner
The signings which secured the first trophy of the Abu Dhabi era when Yaya Toure scored the only goal of the FA Cup final victory over Stoke City in 2011, before all of them – with the exception of Boateng – played a major role in their first and most dramatic Premier League title win a year later. You may just remember the trophy-clinching goal.
READ MORE: Liverpool 2025 SIXTH in top 10 biggest transfer window spends ever
2) Liverpool: 2025/2026 (39%)
Notable Signings: Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez, Hugo Ekitike, Giorgi Mamardashvili
Again, we’re well aware how fatuous this is given they’re yet to play for Liverpool, but assuming they sign Marc Guehi or another top centre-back, we’re pretty confident this has indeed been an excellent transfer window for them; they would each have to perform quite significantly below expectations for it to not at least be a very good one.
Arne Slot, Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards have come up with the ingenious plan of identifying the spots in need of strengthening and signing their top targets in each of those positions – it will never catch on. And if Liverpool can break Newcastle and PIF’s resolve to sign Alexander Isak we fully expect them to run away with the league which they look destined to win again in any case.
READ: Wirtz, Cunha, Xhaka: Top 10 Premier League signings of the 2025 summer transfer window
1) Chelsea: 2004/2005 (13%)
Signer Srogba, Charcrod Carvalhora, Ferreira, Robben Vehicle, Robben'
They spent more money the summer before but their first opportunity to use the Roman Abramovich money was all a bit scattergun; they got their transfer eye in once their first big signing, arguably their most important signing ever – Jose Mourinho – got his feet under the table.
Carvalho and Ferreira were part of the most miserly back four in Premier League history, helping Cech to concede just 15 goals – a record unlikely to ever be beaten – with the goalkeeper consistently one of the best, if not the best, around for the next decade. Robben was close to unplayable in his all-too brief time at Stamford Bridge. And then there’s Drugba.
164 goals in 381 appearances may not put him in the top, top echelons of strikers, but his extraordinary record of nine goals in 10 cup finals more than makes up for that, with his 88th-minute header and winning penalty in the 2021 Champions League final his pièce de résistance.
