Liverpool spent £400m and it's not even that crazy

Hello and welcome back to our Premier League transfer grades series. We’ve mixed up the order a bit today, since going purely alphabetical would have put too many heavy hitters in one article and we wanted to spread things out. Manchester United get pushed back so they can be tomorrow’s headline attraction.

Today we have:

• Leeds

• Liverpool

• Manchester City

• Newcastle

• Nottingham Forest

If you missed the earlier pieces, here’s Part 1 and Part 2.

Leeds — Finally, pure mid

Total incomings — £108m

• Anton Stach — £17.6m + £3m add-ons

• Noah Okafor — £18m

• Lucas Perri — £14.9m + £1.7m add-ons

• Jaka Bijol — £15m

• Sean Longstaff — £10m + £2m add-ons

• Gabriel Gudmundsson — £10m + £2m add-ons

• James Justin — £8m + £2m add-ons

• Sebastian Bornauw — £5m

• Dominic Calvert-Lewin — Free

• Lukas Nmecha — Free

Staving off relegation for promoted clubs has gotten harder and harder with each passing season, both in terms of the physicality and talent jump from the Championship to the Premier League. Leeds certainly upgraded the former, particularly with the signing of Stach and Bijol. In addition, Perri could be an upgrade in goal over Illan Meslier. The hope is that those players (along with others like Longstaff and Gudmundsson) helps them be competitive defending in their own third to keep enough matches tight over the course of a 38 game season.

The lack of attacking reinforcements is what’s dragging down the incoming grade. Okafor could end up being a solid addition, in part because he might be able to play some minutes as a 9. However, Leeds needed multiple signings to help in the final third and fully give themselves a shot at surviving relegation. — MM

Kim: B- | Ted: B- | Moe: B- | Neel: C+ | Hayden: D

Total outgoings — £10m

• Rasmus Kristensen — £5m + £1.6m add-ons

• Sam Greenwood — £3.4m

• 4 players released

• 6 players loaned

Not much of note for outgoings with Leeds. Getting something for Rasmus Kristensen, who Frankfurt signed on a permanent deal, is a positive given he wasn’t in their plans. A similar sentiment could be said about Sam Greenwood’s departure. Perhaps another sale could’ve helped with retooling the squad over the summer. Lots of loans, and a few free agent departures, including the end of Patrick Bamford’s tenure. Injuries disrupted his career, but for a period of time, he was a quality striker. — MM

Kim: C | Ted: C | Moe: C- Neel: C- | Hayden: D

I’d classify Leeds summer business as something of a missed opportunity. They certainly upped their defensive capacity, and maybe that ends up being enough to keep them promoted. Not signing a couple more attackers was a blemish on what otherwise was a fine window. — MM

Overall grade: C

Liverpool — No, that number is correct. Seriously.

Total incomings — £423m

• Alexander Isak — £125m + £5m add-ons

• Florian Wirtz — £100m + £16.5m add-ons

• Hugo Ekitike — £69m + £10m add-ons

• Milos Kerkez — £40m

• Jeremie Frimpong — £29.6m

• Giovanni Leoni — £26m

• Armin Pesci — £1.5m

• Freddie Woodman — Free

What happens when one of the richest teams in the world gets their shit together operationally and decides to reload for bear?

This, apparently.

There is a level of audacity in these transfers rarely seen. Liverpool have plucked the best of the best historically at top prices, but usually only one at a time, and they paired that behaviour with value buys on players for the future. Not this year. This year they went top-of-market again and again, rolling up a total inbound transfer bill of nearly half a billi.

Woof.

Are they good? Humility demands I admit that Liverpool have a lot more resources at hand to back up their transfer business, in terms of both money and expertise, than we do here at TTF.

Is that going to stop me from rendering judgment? The fuck it is!

Isak was xxxpensive. Like the type of weekend where you went to the strip club with your friends on Friday night, and that somehow turned into a yacht visit, and now your wife wants to know why she’s got an STD and the 401K is gone. It was a quality weekend with stories to tell, but the bill is going to make you and everyone around you cry.

Wirtz is not too far off that. Liverpool feel like they have bought the best young inside-channel attacking midfielder in world football (that was available, at least). Same for Ekitike, except his positional versatility at CF and out wide is what allowed them to add Isak at the end without feeling like only one of them would ever play. Because they cost too much for that to be the case.

Three players, £320m.

No one does that.

But wait, there’s more. With Trent buggering off to Real Madrid, and Robertson carrying around the extra load from a fork in his (full)back, LFC also needed to restock in wide defense. They found Jeremie Frimpong from Leverkusen for a fairly reasonable fee, and were presumably wooed by his pace, his extreme attacking intent, the possibility he could sub in for Salah at times, and his general charm in interviews. (Seriously, he’s fun!) I liked that one, but he’s so NOT Trent.

The buy I liked less was Milos Kerkez on the other side. Kerkez can run every hour of every day, but I’m not always sure he accomplishes what he sets out to do with all that running. However, I wasn’t super hot on Robertson when they bought him and I was utterly wrong, so maybe LFC have sekrit sauce on left backs that I haven’t seen before.

Finally, you get to Giovanni Leoni, an 18-year-old CB from Parma. Is he good? He’s 193cm tall, and played a decent number of matches in Serie A last season. So he’s both a specimen and probably not bad. Maybe he’s just there to keep make sure Chiesa isn’t too lonely.

Yooge window. Yooge past performance. Monumental expectations. — TK

Kim: A- | Ted: A- | Moe: A- | Neel: A- | Hayden: A

Total outgoings — £227m

• Luis Diaz — £58.5m + £7m add-ons

• Darwin Nuñez — £46.2m + £10.4m add-ons

• Jarell Quansah — £30m + £5m add-ons

• Ben Doak — £20m + £5m add-ons

• Caoimhin Kelleher — £12.5m + £5.5m add-ons

• Tyler Morton — £15m

• Trent Alexander-Arnold — £8.4m

• Nat Phillips — £3m

• 4 players loaned

LFC bought players for a lot of money, but they also sold very well in this window. Diaz, at that price and that age, indicates that Bayern are one of the last relatively dumb rich teams around. He’s a really good player, but you won’t see that premium paid much in the future. Darwin’s transfer made me sad, because I want to see him in Europe delivering the full Darwin Nunez Experience every week. Again, the price was good, though maybe less than when it was announced given the absolute desperate froth at the end of the window.

Quansah’s price felt slightly juiced (for Germany, at least), which makes me wonder if there was a bit extra money on both ends of the Wirtz deal as a favour. I liked him for Leverkusen, but Liverpool always seem to add buybacks into things, so if he’s great there’s probably little risk involved.

A little extra for Trent to play in the Club World Cup as Real Madrid crashed out was glorious business. Standing ovation on that one.

Doak and Kelleher are both talents, but again, the prices teams paid for them were very solid. This is a top tier professional organisation and they acted exactly like that. Fans can stand back and appreciate it, while the rest of the football needs to watch and learn. — TK

Kim: A | Ted: A | Moe: A | Neel: A | Hayden: A+

The Transfer Flow was built on the premise that existing media celebrates all transfers as good too often and does not criticize teams for spending a lot of money irresponsibly. So it feels a bit weird that we’re going to cheerlead for the team that went super crazy bananas in the market, but Liverpool have done well here.

While I generally cannot advise spending in excess of £400m in a single transfer window, I think Liverpool spent it on players that will all either help them win trophies in the future or retain their value. They got the best striker and the best attacking midfielder available on the market, period, and I don’t have a problem with the prices or talent level of any of their other signings. — KM

Overall grade: A

Manchester City — Could have done better

Total incomings — £179m

• Tijjani Reinders — £46.3m

• Rayan Ait-Nouri — £31m + £5.3m

• Rayan Cherki — £30.5m

• James Trafford — £27m

• Gianluigi Donnarumma — £26m

• Sverre Nypan — £12.5m

• Marcus Bettinelli — £400k

Manchester City only made one signing after our Premier League previews went out, so I pretty much stand by what I said there. Rayan Cherki is undoubtedly the best signing of the lot at a price of just over £30 million, as City swooped in at a time of crisis for Lyon. Fellow Rayan Aït-Nouri is a solid Premier League-proven left back, but I would question the decision to not look for a similar right back as well.

That is one of a few question marks I have. As we have extensively reiterated on the Transfer Flow, we do not like the fee for Tijjani Reijnders, particularly given his out-of-possession deficiencies for a team that is already weak in that respect. A combined £50m+ on two goalkeepers who are great shot-stoppers but not so good with the ball at their feet is another move I was not sold on, and I have only seen evidence to strengthen my position in the early weeks of the season. — NS

Kim: B- | Ted: C+ | Moe: B- | Neel: B- | Hayden: B-

Total outgoings — £88m

• James McAtee — £30m

• Yan Couto — £21.5m + £4.5m add-ons

• Maximo Perrone — £13m

• Ederson — £12m

• Kyle Walker — Free + £5m add-ons

• Ilkay Gundogan — Free

• Kevin De Bruyne — Free

• 3 players loaned

Manchester City have generally been quite good at moving on older players, and they have made some correct calls in that respect this summer too. Kevin De Bruyne was likely the toughest to part with, but I think it is fair to suggest that his drop-off and injury issues make his wages a bit too high to be justifiable. Moving on the greater chunk of Jack Grealish's massive wages is another move that should look good in the books.

The fees for Ederson and Manuel Akanji are probably not as high as one would like, but the circumstances around both of their departures should explain them. The other sales are good enough, but the best decision City made has to be keeping Savinho after he looked likely to move to Spurs at one point. That would have been a silly call. — NS

Kim: C+ | Ted: C+ | Moe: B | Neel: B | Hayden: B

On the whole, I think City have broadly moved in the right direction in this transfer window as far as bringing the average age of their squad down is concerned. They have also replaced some stars with very promising talents and certainly are not short of quality in the attacking department. However, their continued reliance on Rodri in defensive midfield, lack of a clear-cut convincing right back and new direction on the goalkeeping front are all things I do not like, so there was a fair bit of room for improvement in their business. — NS

Overall grade: B-

Newcastle — Forced to overpay

Total incomings — £269m

• Nick Woltemade — £73.5m + £4.3m add-ons

• Anthony Elanga — £52m + £3m add-ons

• Yoane Wissa — £50m + £5m add-ons

• Jacob Ramsey — £39m + £4m add-ons

• Malick Thiaw — £30m + £4.5m add-ons

• Antonito Cordero — Free

• Aaron Ramsdale — Loan, option to buy

Newcastle ended up spending a ton this summer, although questions can be asked on whether they did it smartly. As covered here, Woltemade’s pathway towards becoming a high-end starter is narrow and there’s massive downside risk given the fee paid. Wissa had the best season of his career in 24-25, but at 29, there’s a chance he suffers age-related decline in the not too distant future.

Elanga and Ramsey are decent to good players, but the prices paid at least partly reflect the Premier League premium for within-league transfers. Newcastle desperately needed younger reinforcements at center-back, and Thiaw’s ability to thread passes between the lines as a right-footed CB will be helpful. Ramsdale will provide competition in goal with Nick Pope for at least the short-term on a loan with an option to buy. — MM

Kim: B- | Ted: B- | Moe: C+ | Neel: B- | Hayden: B-

Total outgoings — £162m

• Alexander Isak — £125m + £5m

• Lloyd Kelly — £20m

• Sean Longstaff — £10m + £2m add-ons

• 3 players released

• 4 players loaned

Although Newcastle didn’t want to sell Isak, and things did get a bit ugly at points, the end result was them getting a British record fee from Liverpool. While he’s undoubtedly one of the best players in the league, that still remains a staggering amount of money. Kelly only lasted a few months with the club, but they were able to get a notable fee from Juventus. Longstaff was a local player who came through the academy, but his role with the first team was limited and Newcastle were able to book the fee as pure profit. — MM

Kim: B | Ted: B+ | Moe: B- | Neel: B- | Hayden: B-

The best thing that can be said about Newcastle’s business is they did get fine players at positions of need who can fit what Eddie Howe is looking for. If Woltemade, Elanga, and Thiaw end up developing close to their potential, and Wissa ages gracefully, the fees paid for them will look better retrospectively. As of now, I can’t help but feel they substantially overpaid in the market in some part due to selling their best player so late in the window. — MM

Overall grade: B-

Nottingham Forest — John Textor appreciates your donations

Total incomings — £202m

• Dan Ndoye — £33.6m + £4.4m add-ons

• Omari Hutchinson — £37.5m

• Dilane Bakwa — £30m + £5m add-ons

• James McAtee — £30m

• Arnaud Kalimuendo — £26m

• Igor Jesus — £10m

• Jair Cunha — £10m

• John Victor — £7.5m

• Cuiabano — £5.2m

• Angus Gunn — Free

• Douglas Luiz — £2.6m loan fee, option to buy

• Oleksandr Zinchenko — Loan

I was not quite sold on Nottingham Forest's transfer business when I last spoke about them on the podcast with Patrick, but they did do quite a lot of work late on in the window that pushed up their grade for me. More than the signings, though, the coaching change is what makes it all make sense because many of their arrivals did not look suited to Nuno Espírito Santo's style of play but should suit Ange Postecoglu better.

There are a LOT of players to go through so I'll be quick. I like Dan Ndoye, Dilane Bakwa and Omari Hutchinson, though the fee is a bit high for the ex-Chelsea winger. I don't mind Arnaud Kalimuendo as a rotation striker option, and James McAtee should do well in a more creative midfield role in Ange's system as well. Nicolò Savona and Oleksandr Zinchenko were important additions for squad depth, as well as a more possession-based style possibly. Douglas Luiz certainly is one who makes more sense for Ange than Nuno, though I would have liked to look at some other options too. Oh, and Forest signed four good football players from Botafogo, nothing else to see here. — NS

Kim: B- | Ted: C | Moe: B- | Neel: B+ | Hayden: A

Total outgoings — £116m

• Anthony Elanga — £52m + £3m add-on

• Danilo — £21.7m

• Ramon Sosa — £10.8m + £1.3m add-ons

• Andrew Omobamidele — £6.9m

• Matt Turner — £6.9m

• Carlos Miguel — £5.2m

• Lewis O’Brien — £5m

• Marko Stamenic — £2m

• Dale Taylor — £1m

• 5 players released

• 6 players loaned

On the back of a very successful campaign, Nottingham Forest should be happy to see just one major departure. £55m on Anthony Elanga is a bit of an overpay on Newcastle's part, and Forest comfortably secured an exciting replacement with a margin to spare. The likes of Elliot Anderson and Murillo staying certainly is a big positive, but they also managed to raise some money with other sales of squad players. Fun fact: the second-biggest sale was Danilo to Botafogo. That's all. — NS

Kim: A | Ted: B | Moe: B+ | Neel: A- | Hayden: A

Forest is our most divisive team so far. I think they’ve bought a lot of decent prime-age players, but overpaid a touch for them. I also think that spending £200m in one window is going to have some PSR consequences that limit their flexibility in the market next season. The Elanga sale at peak value was a good piece of business, though. — KM

Overall grade: B+

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