The 16 Biggest Summer 2025 Signings—Graded
The halfway stage of the 2025–26 season feels like a fair point at which to start properly judging players who moved clubs during the summer transfer window.
Premier League teams dominated the market, with Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United in particular, shelling out huge heaps of cash on new recruits.
Here, Sports Illustrated takes you through the 16 most expensive buys of the summer and grades their impact so far.
Yoane Wissa: E
Newcastle United—£55 million ($74.1 million) from Brentford
Injury has meant Newcastle are yet to see any value from £55 million signing Yoane Wissa, one half of the duo intended to replace Alexander Isak in black and white stripes.
The 29-year-old was injured when he arrived because of a knee problem suffered on international duty, didn’t make his debut for more than three months and is only now being cautiously bedded in.
Mohammed Kudus: B
Tottenham Hotspur—£55 million ($74.1 million) from West Ham United
Mohammed Kudus has immediately become a regular starter for Tottenham since moving across London in July, as one of the most expensive signings in the club’s history—so much so that Brennan Johnson is allowed to move on in January.
His output in the Champions League—a single goal in five appearances—is disappointing, but eight contributions in the Premier League is nothing to be sniffed at.
Martín Zubimendi: A
Arsenal—£55.8 million ($75.2 million) from Real Sociedad
One player who has slotted in and made Arsenal a better and more robust team is Martín Zubimendi, whose patience has been rewarded after delaying a decision on his future in 2024.
Adaptation to a brand new league has taken no time at all and the Spaniard has even added goals and assists, which he wasn’t signed to provide, at a more prolific rate than he did in La Liga. “It’s a position that is very, very difficult to make an impact [in],” Mikel Arteta recently gushed, “and in the manner that he's done it so early so credit to him.”
Mateo Retegui: C+
Al Qadsiah—£56 million ($75.4 million) from Atalanta
The biggest transfer of summer 2025 for a player leaving Europe was Mateo Retegui’s switch from Atalanta to Saudi Arabia’s Al Qadsiah.
He had been Serie A’s top scorer in 2024–25, which made it a surprise from a sporting perspective—the reported finances involved hinted at alternative benefits. The ambitious Pro League club only returned to the top flight in 2024 but finished fourth last season and are currently fifth, so it’s a step backwards for now.
Retegui hasn’t done badly—six goals in 10 league appearances—but isn’t setting the division alight in the way that Cristiano Ronaldo, João Félix (both 13 goals) and even ex-Premier League finisher Joshua King (10 goals) are.
João Pedro: B+
Chelsea—£60 million ($80.9 million) from Brighton & Hove Albion
João Pedro hasn’t really had a clearly defined role at Chelsea, sometimes leading the line as a No. 9 and other times operating deeper as a No. 10, but he’s been a regular starter ever since his July arrival. He got straight to work in the Club World Cup knockout phase and has registered 10 goals and assists for the Blues across all competitions so far this season.
When other new attacking signings like Liam Delap, Jamie Gittens and Alejandro Garnacho have lacked impact at Stamford Bridge, it puts Pedro’s contributions into perspective.
Matheus Cunha: B-
Manchester United—£62.5 million ($84.2 million) from Wolverhampton Wanderers
Manchester United needed proven Premier League quality in attacking areas this season, and 21 goals and assists in a Wolves shirt for Matheus Cunha in 2024–25 made him an obvious choice.
The Brazilian has been finding his place at Old Trafford, having to move between positions so far to cover injury absences and dealing with minor problems of his own. The potential to be a hit is clearly there and his output took a significant and consistent upturn in December alone.
Victor Osimhen: A-
Galatasaray—£63 million ($84.9 million) from Napoli
After Retegui, the only other player in this list whose transfer didn’t involve at least one Premier League club is Victor Osimhen.
The Nigerian striker hasn’t been quite as prolific in the Turkish Süper Lig this season, compared to his loan spell in 2024–25, but his record in the Champions League—six goals in four league phase appearances—is outstanding.
It accounts for three-quarters of Galatasary’s total output in the competition and is giving them a strong chance of reaching the knockout rounds for the first time in more than a decade.
Viktor Gyökeres: D
Arsenal—£63.5 million ($85.5 million) from Sporting CP
Whatever way you look at it, Arsenal committing a huge sum to put Viktor Gyökeres among their most expensive signings ever was a big gamble.
The Swede had scored 97 goals in two seasons for Sporting CP, but had never played in a top flight league prior to 2023 and had no experience of a ‘Top Five’ European league before joining the Gunners. At 27, he isn’t a young prospect and Arsenal bought for right now, having lacked a prolific striker for years.
So far, three non-penalty goals in the Premier League (five in 17 league appearances overall) is nowhere near good enough.
Luis Díaz: A+
Bayern Munich—£65.5 million ($88.2 million) from Liverpool
Bayern Munich didn’t get Luis Díaz on the cheap, but after being vindicated by their 2023 capture of Harry Kane, the Bavarian giants have seen the benefit of paying big money for proven stars.
The Colombian winger has done exactly what Bayern wanted, which is not what they got with the similar capture of Sadio Mané in 2022. It’s 20 goals and assists in 22 appearances across all competitions so far, including scoring both in a 2–1 win over Paris Saint-Germain, as Bayern sit top in the Bundesliga and second in the Champions League, seeking a first treble since 2020.
Eberechi Eze: B-
Arsenal—£67.5 million ($90.9 million) from Crystal Palace
Joining Arsenal was a homecoming of sorts for Eberechi Eze, having been released by the academy when he was 13 and left to make his way in the professional game the long way. But consistency has been a challenge since stepping up to a higher level, after five years with Crystal Palace.
A hat-trick in the north London derby is huge for any Arsenal player, never mind a boyhood fan, yet Eze hasn’t so far produced the goods in enough games to fully justify his price tag.
Nick Woltemade: A-
Newcastle United—£69.3 million ($93.3 million) from VfB Stuttgart
Nick Woltemade has had a very different kind of experience in his first few months as a Newcastle player than Wissa, with the disparity arguably making the German look even better and his teammate worse.
Woltemade appears to be made for the Premier League’s return towards physicality and his best career league goal tally—12 in the Bundesliga last season—will likely be beaten if he keeps up his current rate of scoring. The 23-year-old has seven so far.
Bryan Mbeumo: B+
Manchester United—£71 million ($95.6 million) from Brentford
With things finally coming together for Manchester United in an attacking sense, Bryan Mbeumo deserves plenty of credit.
It wasn’t a rapid start this season following his high-profile switch from Brentford. But one Premier League goal in his first six appearances has since become five in his last nine, which suggests the Cameroonian is quickly heading in the right direction.
United will hope his absence at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations isn’t too costly, nor halts his momentum.
Benjamin Sesko: C-
Manchester United—£73.6 million ($99.1 million) from RB Leipzig
On the face of it, two goals in 15 Premier League appearances isn’t a good return from Benjamin Šeško since joining Manchester United. Scratch beneath the surface and it’s two in only nine starts for a 22-year-old trying to settle into a new country and new league on the job.
Injury hasn’t helped the young Slovenian in that respect. But while there is plenty of work still to do and room for improvement, time is on his side once he gets a clean run of fitness.
Hugo Ekitiké: A
Liverpool—£79 million ($106.4 million) from Eintracht Frankfurt
Liverpool spent more money on two other forwards, but their best return from the summer transfer window—arguably in any position—has been Hugo Ekitiké.
The Frenchman, effectively replaced in the same window in which he was signed, has done what has been asked of him, starting the season on fire, biding his time upon being benched for Alexander Isak and then ending 2025 with a flurry of goals.
The only disappointment is that he hasn’t scored more than once in the Champions League.
Florian Wirtz: D-
Liverpool—£116 million ($156.2 million) from Bayer Leverkusen
Florian Wirtz has very much divided opinion since becoming British football’s most expensive player—a record that has since been broken.
Plenty have been keen to give him the benefit of the doubt as a young player in a new country, while others have demanded more regardless, because of his nine-figure transfer fee—by way of comparison, he’s had almost twice the minutes of the aforementioned Šeško.
There have been flashes of quality and Wirtz does now have a first Liverpool goal under his belt, but much, much more needs to come in 2026 and beyond.
Alexander Isak: E
Liverpool—£125 million ($168.4 million) from Newcastle United
It felt as though Liverpool signed Hugo Ekitiké in July because they believed Alexander Isak to be unavailable, before then wrapping up a new British record transfer for the Swede in September anyway.
Isak arrived lacking fitness, having spent the summer training alone in an effort to force a move. He was playing catchup straightaway but that doesn’t feel like enough of an excuse for a player already proven in the Premier League being so poor and scoring just three times in 16 appearances across all competitions.
Now, a broken leg will keep him sidelined until March.
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