This summer, Premier League clubs overhauled their squads in an attempt to improve on their efforts in the previous campaign.
Twelve months ago, the impact of the coronavirus was hitting home as clubs were forced to tighten their belts, raise funds, and to make sure that they didn't go overboard when it came to their finances.
This year, nobody is entirely out of the woods yet, but with the vaccine program kicking in, another wave of the virus appearing to calm down, and loosening of restrictions to allow fans into grounds, this summer saw more ambition in the market.
There have been a few huge deals. The first came in the form of Jadon Sancho, who finally completed a year-long plan to join Manchester United from Borussia Dortmund, and Liverpool have already struck to sign Ibrahima Konate from RB Leipzig. Meanwhile, Manchester City has added Jack Grealish and almost brought Cristiano Ronaldo back to England before United stepped in. However, perhaps the most significant signing is Romelu Lukaku, now a fully-formed world-class striker.
Below, we give our take on the most significant moves of the window, along with a rating of how well we think the transfer will turn out for player and club.
- ***** (5/5): A stroke of genius; almost certain to improve the team and raise the player's profile
- **** (4/5): An element of risk involved, but still very likely to be a great piece of business
- *** (3/5): A move that makes a lot of sense in some ways but time will tell if it was ultimately the right move
- ** (2/5): Maybe these ones will surprise us, like Mahrez and N'Kante arriving in England. For now, however, pretty mild reactions
- * (1/5): Just another everyday roster change, nothing to really get excited about here
Jack Grealish (Man City from Aston Villa, £100 million) ****
Grealish is perhaps the man who prevented City from getting their hands on Lionel Messi, but that shouldn't matter for the long run. The 25-year-old playmaker looks set to be converted to a number eight under Pep Guardiola, and if he has the talent to pull it off it will be a masterstroke.
Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea from Inter Milan, £106m)****
The former Chelsea striker is now the current Chelsea striker, and with his move, the 28-year-old Belgian international has arrived as perhaps the best of the under-30 strikers in the world.
With perhaps a year or two before his peak, Lukaku now has a winner's medal with Inter Milan in Serie A, and the experience and tactical awareness to use his existing talents to their full effect. He has turned Chelsea into title contenders.
Jadon Sancho (Man United from Borussia Dortmund, £73m) ****
Sancho has had to wait a year for this move, as has Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Strengthening the right-hand side gives United an attacking balance they have lacked for a few seasons now.
Raphael Varane (Man Utd from Real Madrid) ****
A decade ago, Alex Ferguson targeted an 18-year-old French central defender who had emerged at Lens. In the end, Ferguson had to settle for Phil Jones and Chris Smalling, which was - at best - a mixed bag.
Instead, Varane became one of the most decorated central defenders of all time alongside Sergio Ramos at Real Madrid. They both left this year as Real cut their cloth according to the impact of the coronavirus, and Varane finally turned up at Old Trafford.
Phil Jones is still there, but they probably won't play together much, if at all, with Varane looking like a brilliant partner for Harry Maguire.
Ben White (Arsenal from Brighton, £52.65m) ***
Arsenal has had an absolutely dreadful start to the season, and in part, that is because their defense has been dreadfully organized and naive. White has had a thorough examination while at Brighton and will be used to those ahead of him letting him down.
The problem for Arsenal is that their problems are also in attack, so whether White really makes a difference is another matter.
Ibrahima Konate (Liverpool from RB Leipzig, £36m) ***
Last season, Liverpool's most significant weakness was caused by serious injuries to Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, and Joel Matip. If all three stay fit this campaign, there's no problem, but it would take a brave manager to rely upon that happening. Nevertheless, Konate gives them depth and a serious prospect for the future.
Martin Odegaard (Arsenal from Real Madrid, £31.15m)***
Martin Odegaard was happy at Arsenal but unsurprisingly wanted one more crack at Real Madrid, the most glamorous club in the world. However, he could not persuade Carlo Ancelotti to give him a regular chance, and so when Mikel Arteta returns, he preferred The Emirates to any other option. No more loans. This is the next stage of Odegaard trying to make a name for himself and fulfill his potential from five years ago.
Emiliano Buendia (Aston Villa from Norwich, £30m) ***
Villa was perhaps anticipating that Grealish would be on his way, and they did not hang around. Instead, they picked up Buendia, who did well the year before with Norwich. He will provide plenty of creativity that Grealish would otherwise have provided.
Danny Ings (Aston Villa from Southampton, £30m) ***
Ings, too, could provide the goals that Grealish would have offered. He has continued to do well in a mediocre Southampton team, so that Villa will represent a step up. Ings is not a complicated player to use, nor does he appear to be anything other than a hardworking striker. If he doesn't provide a decent return, it will be a surprise.
Patso Daka (Leicester from RB Salzburg, £23m) **
When Salzburg lost Erling Haaland to Borussia Dortmund, they needed goals. Up stepped Patso Daka, who has 27 and then 34 club goals in the last two seasons. Aged just 22, if he can continue to improve while seeing the standards jump from Austria to England, Leicester may have their long-term replacement for Jamie Vardy.
Albert Sambi Lokonga (Arsenal from Anderlecht, £17.2m) ***
Arsenal lost Dani Ceballos in the summer when he returned to Real Madrid. Mohamed Elneny, Thomas Partey, and others remain at the club, as does Granit Xhaka. But they could do with bringing the age down in the middle of the pitch, and Lokonga is both younger than most of his peers at the Emirates, with plenty of potential.
Bryan Gil (Tottenham from Sevilla, £21.6m + Erik Lamela) **
Erik Lamela had his time at Spurs, and due to both inconsistency and injuries, he could not translate his talent into a real claim to a first-place team. Sending him to Sevilla in part-exchange for Bryan Gil will give Nuno Espirito Santo a new option on the flanks.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United from Juventus, £13.5m)****
At one point, a return looked on the cards, but to Real Madrid, not United. And then to England, not to United. But ultimately, nobody else could find the cash and appeal to an apparently emotional side in the Portuguese striker. Of course, he will continue to score goals, but this is the first chance to see how much his approach to the game still works at the highest level after facing the less than brilliant teams in Italy.
Kristoffer Ajer (Brentford from Celtic, £13.5m) **
Celtic could not stand in the way of giving Ajer his chance in the Premier League, and he gives Brentford's statistical analysis the chance to be tested.
Junior Firpo (Leeds from Barcelona, £13m) **
As has been demonstrated with Lionel Messi, Barcelona are an absolute economic disaster. Junior Firpo was always unlikely to become a regular first-teamer at the Camp Nou, but Leeds have got a potential bargain — if he hits the ground running.
Jack Harrison (Leeds from Man City, £11m) **
And Leeds could also benefit from the Premier League champions' hectic admin, as big recruitment at the Etihad leads to young prospects needing to head elsewhere for game time. Harrison is already familiar with his new employers via a loan spell, which admittedly renders this move even more low-key.
Rui Patricio (Roma from Wolves, £10m) ***
Patricio has been a reliable goalkeeper for a decade, and it is perhaps an anomaly that he ended up at Wolves. But, unfortunately, they appear to be less able to invest in their team, for now, so a move to Roma and Jose Mourinho followed.
Nuno Tavares (Arsenal from Benfica, £6.8m) **
In a friendly against Rangers, Tavares showed plenty of attacking verve. Maybe Mikel Arteta believes there is a way to play either the Portuguese youngster or Kieran Tierney further forward on the left to get them both on the pitch.
Olivier Giroud (Milan from Chelsea, £1.7m) ****
Giroud signed a new deal with Chelsea only a few months ago, but the veteran French striker moved to Milan to extend his career, with no end in sight for the clever target man.
Georginio Wijnaldum (PSG from Liverpool, free) ****
Liverpool — and most of us — expected to see Wijnaldum switching Liverpool for Barcelona, but not for the last time this summer. PSG has gotten the better of their Spanish rivals in the free transfer market once again.
Sergio Aguero to (Barcelona from Manchester City, free) ***
Aguero moved to Barcelona to play with international teammate Lionel Messi. But then, Messi went to PSG, and now there is a chance Barcelona can't even afford to register the 32-year-old forward. Still, if the whole thing doesn't fall apart, the move is nonetheless fairly big news.
Saul Niguez (to Chelsea from Atletico Madrid, loan) ****
Despite winning La Liga, Atletico still needed to move some players on, and while they brought back Antoine Griezmann from Barcelona, they also had to send Saul Niguez on his way. The best Spanish midfielder in recent times not to have played for Barcelona, he could be the player to turn Chelsea into successful defenders of their Champions League title.