So Who Won the Transfer Window Then?
By Tom Gott
The summer transfer window is now shut, and Premier League sides now must make do with what they've got until the January window rolls around.
Some teams have spent the last few months perfecting their squads in an attempt to reach new heights, but some have stayed concerningly quiet and allowed those around them to strengthen with very little competition.
Let's have a look at who won the extended summer of 2020.
20. Burnley
Incomings: Dale Stephens (£1m), Will Norris (undisclosed), Anthony Gomez Mancini (loan).
Outgoings: Jeff Hendrick (free), Joe Hart (free), Aaron Lennon (free), Aiden O'Neill (free), Ben Gibson (loan).
It has been a thoroughly underwhelming summer for Burnley, whose blockbuster addition was a £1m move for Stephens, who was a regular part of a Brighton side who narrowly avoided relegation last season.
Losing Hendrick on a free will have hurt, and the fact that he walked away for free makes it even worse.
19. West Ham United
Incomings: Tomáš Souček (£18m), Vladimír Coufal (£5.4m).
Outgoings: Grady Diangana (£18m), Albian Ajeti (£4.5m), Jordan Hugill (undisclosed), Jack Wilshere (free).
To spend so much of the summer threatening to splash out on a new player only to end up with an emergency right-back (Souček was just a loan-turned-permanent) is more than a little underwhelming.
There was also the mini-scandal of selling Diangana, which left both fans and club captain Mark Noble fuming at the direction of the club. That sounds like a bad summer.
18. Fulham
Incomings: Anthony Knockaert (£10m), Harrison Reed (£8m), Kenny Tete (£2.9m), Antonee Robinson (£2m), Tosin Adarabioyo (£1.5m) Joachim Andersen (loan), Alphonse Areola (loan), Ademola Lookman (loan), Mario Lemina (loan), Ola Aina (loan), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (loan).
Outgoings: Alfie Mawson (loan), Steven Sessegnon (loan).
As a newly promoted side, Fulham knew they needed Premier League experience to boost their chances of survival, and they haven't really done that.
Spending so much on Knockaert and Reed feels a little misguided, although loans for Loftus-Cheek, Lookman, Areola and even Lemina look like they could be smart pieces of business.
17. West Bromwich Albion
Incomings: Grady Diangana (£18m), Matheus Pereira (£9m), Cedric Kipré (£1m), Callum Robinson (swap deal), Branislav Ivanović (free), Conor Gallagher (loan), Filip Krovinović (loan).
Outgoings: Oliver Burke (swap deal).
West Brom haven't really improved. Diangana, Pereira and Krovinović were already there from last season, with just Robinson, Ivanović, Gallagher and Kipré the only new arrivals.
That's not enough to make West Brom better, and that's why this team have struggled thus far. More quality was needed.
16. Brighton & Hove Albion
Incomings: Jakub Moder (£6m), Andi Zeqiri (£3.6m), Michal Karbownik (£3m), Jan Paul van Hecke (£1.8m), Joël Veltman (£900,000), Adam Lallana (free).
Outgoings: Anthony Knockaert (£10m), Aaron Mooy (£7.5m), Dale Stephens (£1m), David Button (£1m), Martín Montoya (free).
Selling Knockaert and reinvesting that money in the first team was smart, but you have to question the level of talent Brighton have brought in.
No disrespect to the new faces at the AMEX, but Brighton only narrowly avoided relegation last season and needed some big signings to ensure they didn't fall into that trap this year, and they haven't really done that.
15. Manchester United
Incomings: Donny van de Beek (£35m), Alex Telles (£15.4m), Facundo Pellistri (£9m), Edinson Cavani (free), Amad Diallo (£37m, to join in January).
Outgoings: Chris Smalling (£13.6m), Alexis Sánchez (free), Andreas Pereira (loan), Diogo Dalot (loan), Tahith Chong (loan).
United have ended up with egg on their face this summer, having near-enough promised to land Jadon Sancho and ended up empty handed.
A state of panic saw them turn to Cavani and Telles who, admittedly, are solid signings, and splashing out so much on Diallo on deadline day looks like a huge risk.
14. Southampton
Incomings: Ibrahima Diallo (£11m), Kyle Walker-Peters (£12m), Mohammed Salisu (£10.9m), Theo Walcott (loan).
Outgoings: Pierre-Emile Højbjerg (£15m), Harrison Reed (£8m), Mario Lemina (loan), Wesley Hoedt (loan).
Losing Højbjerg hurt Southampton, but the decision not to replace him for so long seemed a little odd. Were they looking for the right answer or was the move for Diallo a bit of a panic?
Ralph Hasenhüttl has gone young with these signings, and while they all have the potential to impress, Southampton look weaker now than before.
13. Sheffield United
Incomings: Rhian Brewster (£23.5m), Aaron Ramsdale (£18.5m), Jayden Bogle (£3.5m), Max Lowe (£3.5m), Oliver Burke (Callum Robinson + undisclosed fee), Etham Ampadu (loan).
Outgoings: Callum Robinson (swap deal).
Are Sheffield United better now than they were last season? At the minute, you'd have to say no.
Losing Dean Henderson back to Manchester United was a huge blow, but when the Blades needed to step up and make sure they got better, they spent big money on young players like Ramsdale and Brewster. There's a lot of risk.
12. Crystal Palace
Incomings: Ebere Eze (£19.5m), Nathan Ferguson (free), Michy Batshuayi (loan).
Outgoings: Alexander Sørloth (£20m).
Getting so much money for Sørloth, a player who was thought to be worthless just 12 months ago, was a huge boost for Palace, who sensibly reinvested that in Eze. Bringing in Batshuayi on loan could finally be the answer to Palace's goalscoring problems.
You could argue that there was nothing more important than keeping Wilfried Zaha at the club, but even though Palace did manage that, there's an air of frustration around not making more first-team additions.
11. Wolverhampton Wanderers
Incomings: Fábio Silva (£37m), Nélson Semedo (£37m), Ki-Jana Hoever (£10m), Marçal (£1.8m), Rayan Aït-Nouri (loan), Vitinha (loan).
Outgoings: Diogo Jota (£41m), Hélder Costa (£16m), Matt Doherty (£15m), Rúben Vinagre (loan), Morgan Gibbs-White (loan).
The jury's still out on Wolves. The only word to describe their summer business is weird.
Spending so much on Silva, a player mostly known for his potential on Football Manager, was strange enough, but selling Doherty only to replace him with a player twice as expensive made even less sense.
10. Leeds United
Incomings: Rodrigo (£26m), Diego Llorente (£23m), Hélder Costa (£16m), Raphinha (£15m), Robin Koch (£13m), Illan Meslier (£5m), Joe Gelhardt (£1m), Jack Harrison (loan).
Outgoings: Laurens De Bock (loan).
Blessed with a sizeable transfer budget, Leeds haven't hesitated to throw that money around this summer on a whole host of different players, and most of their deals look to be smart.
Rodrigo is a high-risk, high-reward signing, and the same can be said of Llorente and Raphinha. Making Meslier's loan permanent was a no-brainer, but there'll be some frustration at the lack of departures.
9. Manchester City
Incomings: Rúben Dias (£65m), Nathan Aké (£41m), Ferran Torres (£21m), Pablo Moreno (£9m), Yan Couto £5m), Issa Kaboré (£4m).
Outgoings: Leroy Sané (£44.7m), Nicolás Otamendi (£13.6m), Tosin Adarabioyo (£1.5m).
City have continued their trend of spending literally every penny in the world on defenders, but there's no denying that Pep Guardiola needed to find some reinforcements.
Dias and Aké look like smart investments, although doubts over their cost will remain for a while. Replacing Sané with Torres was impressive.
8. Leicester City
Incomings: Wesley Fofana (£36.5m), Timothy Castagne (£21.5m), Cengiz Ünder (loan).
Outgoings: Ben Chilwell (£45m), Fousseni Diabaté (£2m), Adrien Silva (free).
By selling Chilwell for £45m, Leicester set themselves up for a busy summer.
Fofana is an exciting talent who could well justify his high price tag in the near future, but their top signing is clearly Castagne, who has begun the year in electric form. Leicester are better now than they were last season, and that's the sign of a job well done.
7. Liverpool
Incomings: Diogo Jota (£41m), Thiago Alcántara (£20m), Kostas Tsimikas (£11.75m).
Outgoings: Rhian Brewster (£23.5m), Dejan Lovren (£10.9m), Ki-Jana Hoever (£10m).
Apart from the luxury signing of Thiago, Liverpool have plugged some holes in their squad. They now have a reserve left-back and a reserve attacker, and that's great.
Being able to sell Brewster, Lovren and Hoever for so much money is a huge accomplishment, but the only disappointment will be that Jürgen Klopp's first team has barely been improved. On the other hand, they won the league by 18 points last season. Improvement comes in small increments at that level.
6. Newcastle United
Incomings: Callum Wilson (£20m), Jamal Lewis (£15m), Ryan Fraser (free), Jeff Hendrick (free).
Outgoings: Yoshinori Muto (loan), Florian Lejeune (loan).
In a summer which was supposed to yield bids for Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappé after the Saudi-backed takeover, coming away with Wilson, Lewis, Fraser and Hendrick could be viewed as a bit of a disappointment.
They might not be glamorous signings, but for the first time in recent memory in Newcastle, they're smart. The team is better and there was no doubting that was going to happen.
5. Arsenal
Incomings: Thomas Partey (£45m), Gabriel Magalhães (£23m), Pablo Marí (£14m), Alex Rúnarsson (£1.8m), Cédric Soares (free), Willian (free), Dani Ceballos (loan).
Outgoings: Emiliano Martínez (£17m), Henrikh Mkhitaryan (free), Lucas Torreira (loan), Mattéo Guendouzi (loan).
It looked set to be a frustrating summer for Arsenal, but the decision to trigger Thomas Partey's release clause on deadline day ensured all the turmoil was worth it.
Gabriel, Willian and Dani Ceballos have made Arsenal stronger in a number of problem positions, while selling Martínez for so much money was a masterstroke.
4. Aston Villa
Incomings: Ollie Watkins (£28m), Bertrand Traoré (£17m), Emiliano Martínez (£17m), Matty Cash (£16m), Ross Barkley (loan).
Outgoings: Mbwana Samatta (loan), Jota (free).
It's been an incredibly expensive summer for Villa, but on the surface, it looks as if they've got everything right.
Martínez could be an inspired signing at the back, while Watkins and Traoré could form a top partnership in attack. Bringing in Barkley, who comes with proven pedigree in the Premier League, was brilliant.
3. Everton
Incomings: Allan (£25m), Ben Godfrey (£25m), James Rodríguez (£20m [or £0]), Abdoulaye Doucouré (£20m), Niels Nkounkou (£240,000), Robin Olsen (loan).
Outgoings: Morgan Schneiderlin (£2m), Moise Kean (loan), Theo Walcott (loan).
Despite the lack of outgoings, the calibre of Everton's signings makes them one of the real winners this summer.
Rodríguez already looks to be a signing-of-the-season contender, with Allan and Doucouré helping him form a dominant midfield. Godfrey may struggle for minutes initially, but he's one of the most exciting English centre-backs around.
2. Chelsea
Incomings: Kai Havertz (£72m), Timo Werner (£47.5m), Ben Chilwell (£45m), Hakim Ziyech (£37m), Édouard Mendy (£22m), Thiago Silva (free), Malang Sarr (free).
Outgoings: Álvaro Morata (£58m), Mario Pašalić (£13.5m), Nathan (£3m), Willian (free), Pedro (free), Ross Barkley (loan), Michy Batshuayi (loan), Tiemoué Bakayoko (loan), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (loan), Ethan Ampadu (loan).
There's no denying that Chelsea are one of the biggest winners of the transfer window. Their shopping spree, which brought in some of Europe's finest talent, looks like it could make the Blues one of the country's best teams in the near future.
Fans will be a little disappointed to see so many fringe players - Antonio Rüdiger, Marcos Alonso and Emerson are three of many - still at the club once the deadline ended, but the calibre of the incomings cannot be overshadowed.
1. Tottenham Hotspur
Incomings: Sergio Reguilón (£28m), Giovani Lo Celso (£27.2m), Matt Doherty (£15m), Pierre-Emile Højbjerg (£15m), Joe Hart (free), Gareth Bale (loan), Carlos Vinícius (loan).
Outgoings: Kyle Walker-Peters (£12m), Ryan Sessegnon (loan), Juan Foyth (loan).
Spurs haven't spent the most money this summer, but the value they've got from that money has been second to none.
Defensively, Spurs are better. In midfield, Spurs are better. In attack, Spurs are a lot better. José Mourinho has built the team he wants, and when he does that, it can be very scary for the rest of the league.