December sees us hit the halfway mark in the Premier League, so what better time to look back at some of the biggest summer arrivals.
So, let’s see who has made the largest impact and who has failed to live up to expectations.
Here are my 5 best hits from the summer window:
DECLAN RICE (West Ham to Arsenal £105 million)
Costing over £100m – the fact nobody is talking about his fee just months after the move is testament to how well Rice has settled into life at the Emirates. An absolute Rolls Royce, he looks like he has been at the heart of Arsenal’s midfield for six years rather than six months. One of the biggest signings of the summer and certainly already showing he is one of the best.
MOUSSA DIABY (Bayer Leverkusen to Aston Villa £51 million)
Aston Villa pulled the trigger on the Bayer Leverkusen winger when others such as Newcastle United thought twice, but no doubt that they are regretting that decision now. Diaby has been an outstanding performer who has played a key role in helping them become one of the top-four challenges. An impressive seven goal contributions in his first 13 games shows how well he has settled into the team.
JOAO PEDRO (Watford to Brighton £30 million)
Some eyebrows were raised when Brighton broke their transfer record to land the Brazilian. This has seemingly been proven wrong to those that doubted this decision, as in his opening few months with the Seagulls he has shown that he is very much at home in the Premier League. In total, Pedro has scored ten goals in his 20 games thus far this season, which is more than a fair share of the spoils.
DOMINIK SZOBOSZLAI (RB Leipzig to Liverpool £60 million)
The Hungarian has been simply brilliant since arriving at Liverpool this summer. Out of the new additions to Liverpool’s midfield overhaul in the summer, he has undoubtedly been the pick of the bunch. Szoboszlai is already a key figure in Jurgen Klopp’s side and he will be crucial to their hopes of winning the title.
MICKY VAN DE VEN (Wolfsburg to Tottenham £43 million)
Spurs did some very good business in the summer and some would point to James Maddison as one of the key signings. He certainly has been outstanding, however Van De Ven has been truly brilliant. The Dutch defender has slotted in seamlessly to the Spurs backline alongside Romero. Losing him to injury has emphasised just how good of an addition he has been.
And the 5 misses from the summer window:
MOISES CAICEDO (Brighton to Chelsea £115 million)
This is a tough one, I like Caicedo and I think he has potential for the future. As we stand, some six months after his move, sorry – but the deal is just not good business. He has not settled in as quickly as Chelsea would have hoped and especially considering it is a British record. He consistently gets compared to Rice, as these deals came in the same window. It does not help that these additions were very similar in terms of price, and I believe that even Caicedo would admit that he is currently lightyears off the England man.
KAI HAVERTZ (Chelsea to Arsenal £65 million)
There were not that many Arsenal fans who believed Kai Havertz was value for money – he is not a bad player, but when you pay £65 million you expect a game changer, someone special but Arsenal have not got that with Havertz…but did anyone think they would?
MASON MOUNT (Chelsea to Manchester United £55 million)
I don’t think Mason Mount is a bad player, I like him – but from the moment he was linked to United, I did not see the fit. He has since arrived and has anyone really noticed? He has not fitted in, he looks off the pace and doesn’t look right within the team. Looks like a huge miss at this moment in time for United.
RASMUS HOJLUND (Atalanta to Manchester United £72 million)
Like with Mount, I also don’t think Hojlund is a bad player – he has shown that with his goals in the Champions League. However, he always looked expensive at £72 million. But the simple facts are, we are in December and the Dane is yet to break his Premier League duck, which is simply not good enough.
ANDRE ONANA (Inter Milan to Manchester United £47.5 million)
As you can tell by now, I really did not think much of United’s summer business, it was really, really poor. Onana was a huge part of that. Again not his fault, but to go from club legend David De Gea, who won the Premier League Golden Glove, to Onana is just a huge, huge drop off – it really is and he has just contributed to what is a huge mess at Old Trafford. Don’t get me wrong, I think Onana will be fine long-term, but for now it is definitely a miss!
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