The 2022 summer transfer window has finally come to an end with some blockbuster moves made across Europe.
The window saw big transfers like; Antony to Manchester United, Erling Haaland to Manchester City, Raheem Sterling to Chelsea, Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich, Darwin Nunez to Liverpool, Gabriel Jesus to Arsenal, Aurélien Tchouaméni to Real Madrid, Lisandro Martinez to Manchester United and Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona.
At the beginning of the transfer window, FootballOrbit had earlier predicted some of the possible transfers that may happen.
English Premier League clubs were the biggest spenders in the transfer window, spending a record £2billion (€2.3bn/$2.3bn) on signings. Nine EPL clubs spent more than £100million, with Nottingham Forest astonishingly signing 21 players.
Premier League clubs spent more than teams from La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga combined — with Chelsea spending more in a single window than any other club in the league’s history.
In this post, we look at the winners and losers from the just concluded 2022 summer transfer window.
Winners: PSG
PSG were among the teams that flopped last season as they embarrassingly got defeated in UEFA Champions League round of 16 by eventual champions, Real Madrid.
It could have gotten worse at the end of the season when Kylian Mbappe almost joined Real Madrid on a free transfer but PSG acted bravely and did everything to eventually convince the French forward to stay.
Furthermore, the club made some vital additions to their midfield (their weakest area) by signing Vitinha, Renato Sanches and Fabian Ruiz.
They also managed to offload a host of unwanted players such as Leandro Paredes, Angel di Maria, Thilo Kehrer, Alphonse Areola and Ander Herrera.
Loser: Cristiano Ronaldo
After a disappointing 2021/22 season which saw Manchester United miss out on Champions League football, Cristiano Ronaldo tried to force a move away from the club to avoid missing out on Europe’s premier club football competition — and playing in the Europa league.
CR7 was offered to various top clubs competing in the Champions league but shockingly, none wanted him.
At the end of the transfer window, Ronaldo still finds himself remaining at Old Trafford with Europa League football awaiting…………
Winners: Barcelona
Barcelona came into the transfer window battling financial crisis, but amazingly found means to sign the best players to strengthen their squad.
The Blaugranas signed the likes of Raphinha, Jules Kounde, Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen, Hector Bellerin and superstar striker, Robert Lewandowski.
Losers: Serie A
Two years ago, the Serie A seemed to be the hottest destination league in the world while boasting of the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez, Christian Eriksen and so many others.
Fast forward to 2022, and things have quickly changed as the best players in Italy now move elsewhere for greener pastures.
Ronaldo, Lukaku and Gianluigi Donnaruma were the notable departures last summer.
This summer saw Serie A lose some of its best players, despite the return of Lukaku.
It lost the likes of: Matthijs De Ligt, Franck Kessie, Ivan Perisic, Fabian Ruiz, Aaron Ramsey, Lorenzo Insigne, Cristian Romero, Dries Mertens, Alexis Sanchez, Kalidou Koulibaly, Giorgio Chiellini, Fernando Bernadeschi, Gianluca Scamacca, Aaron Hickey, Mikkel Damsgaard, Nahuel Molina, Remo Freuler and Cesare Casadei.
This would weaken the league — which witnessed an exciting title race last season — and further reduce the chances of Serie A teams in European competitions.
Winners: Arsenal
Arsenal were simply brilliant in the market; signing Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City, while adding promising youngsters like Marquinhos, Fabio Vieira and the impressive William Saliba — who spent two excellent seasons out on loan.
The Gunners also did well by offloading unwanted players like Alexandre Lacazette, Nicolas Pepe, Bern Leno, Nuno Tavarez, Lucas Torreira, Pablo Mari, Hector Bellerin and Matteo Guendouzi.
Arsenal have made a flying start to the new season and are currently on top of the Premier League table.
Losers: Leicester City
Leicester City have significantly improved under Brendan Rodgers, winning the FA Cup in 2021 and twice unluckily missing out on Champions League qualification.
With other rivals improving their squad during the transfer window, the Foxes lost captain Kasper Schmeichel to Nice, defensive prodigy Wesley Fofana to Chelsea and also saw Ademola Lookman depart the club.
Rodgers would be disappointed as Leicester only made two signings in the summer window. Signing back-up goalkeeper Alex Smithies and Wout Faes — a cut-price replacement for Wesley Fofana.
Unsurprisingly, Leicester have made a terrible start to the new season, languishing at the bottom of the Premier League table after earning just a single point from 5 matches.
Winners: Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich reluctantly sold Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona after the Polish striker forced a transfer.
The Bavarians quickly moved on and further strengthened their squad with the likes of Sadio Mane, Matthijs De Ligt, Ryan Gravenberch and Mathys Tel.
Losers: Bournemouth
Bournemouth were one of the 3 newly promoted Premier League teams — returning to the top flight after a 2-year absence.
The Cherries lost 9 of the promotion winning squad and really needed to boost their ranks in the transfer market to stand a chance of avoiding instant relegation back to the 2nd division — a fate that has plagued newly promoted EPL teams in recent seasons.
But Bournemouth did not give themselves a good chance of survival as they spent just £24m.
Only Leicester spent less this summer, and after a disastrous start to the season — including a 9-0 defeat to Liverpool last time out — Bournemouth have sacked manager Scott Parker after he expressed his dissatisfaction with the club’s transfer businesses.
Winners: Manchester City
Erling Haaland is one of the most in-demand players in the world coming into the 2022 transfer window and signing him for just £54m is a masterstroke from Manchester City.
Furthermore, apart from Haaland, Pep Guardiola’s side also recruited England international Kalvin Phillips from Leeds United and highly-rated defender Manuel Akanji from Borussia Dortmund among others.
City are one of just three Premier League clubs to boast a positive net spend this summer after selling Oleksandr Zinchenko, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus for huge amounts.
Winner: Jose Mourinho
Believe it or not, Jose Mourinho’s gradual revival of AS Roma has made the Giallorossi dark horses for the Scudetto this season after an incredible summer transfer market.
Roma now have arguably the best attack in Serie A after signing Paulo Dybala and Andrea Belotti on free transfers — to go with the already formidable Tammy Abraham, Niccolo Zaniolo and Lorenzo Pellegrini.
They also brought in Nemanja Matic for free, and Gigi Wijnaldum (although he has now suffered a bad injury) and Mady Camara on loan.
The only money they spent on transfer was €7m for defender, Zeki Celik.
Mourinho’s side are currently leading Serie A after four matchdays.
Losers: Chelsea
One of the impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on football was that Roman Abramovich was forced to sell Chelsea at the end of last season.
The Blues saw a new owner arrive in the form of Todd Boehly.
Some of the members Chelsea’s executives departed the club and centre-backs, Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen, also left on free transfers.
That was the beginning of the Blues’ trouble in the market as they failed to get most of the their top targets — with some choosing Barcelona over Chelsea.
Strikers, Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku, also left thereafter.
Chelsea signed Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Marc Cucurella, Wesley Fofana, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Denis Zakaria, but there is a feeling among the fans that the team is not strong enough to challenge for top honours.
Winners: Nothingham Forest
Nothingham Forest return to the EPL after a 23-year absence.
But most (precisely 21) of the players that helped them secure promotion have departed the club. Five returned to their parent clubs after loan spells while 16 left permanently or on loan.
But Forest were not to be deterred though, and to give themselves a good chance of surviving in the top flight; they amazingly signed 21 players to strengthen their squad.
The Reds signed the likes of Jesse Lingard, Emmanuel Dennis, Dean Henderson, Renan Lodi and Taiwo Awoniyi.
Winners: Brighton
Brighton had a fantastic window by making huge profits on the likes of
Yves Bissouma (Tottenham — £25m), Marc Cucurella (Chelsea — £62m) and
Neal Maupay (Everton — £15m).
The Seagulls replaced them with cheaper options by signing the likes of Levi Colwill (loan), Luca Barrington, Pervis Estupinan, Billy Gilmour, Julio Enciso, Simon Adingra and Benicio Baker-Boaitey.
Moreso, Brighton have made an excellent start to the new season.
