Clubs pour money into the summer transfer window aiming to upgrade every position, but on-field success does not always follow. The piece uses Liverpool as a recent, prominent example: after winning the Premier League in 2024-25, the club spent heavily the next summer on record-price signings, attacking stars, high-level fullbacks, defensive reinforcements and numerous prospects—yet its results declined.
The article says that despite the high-profile additions, Liverpool finished fifth the following season and only qualified for the Champions League because of a new rule that awarded the Premier League an extra slot. The club amassed 24 fewer points than it had the previous campaign and dismissed coach Arne Slot a year after he delivered the club’s second-ever Premier League title.
The Liverpool example is used to argue that being declared the “winner” of a transfer window does not guarantee improved performance on the pitch. The writer reviewed the last decade of summer transfer windows, noting that various media outlets, including ESPN, named distinct clubs as the winners of those windows—even when subsequent results did not match the billing.
The article lists several summers and the clubs widely praised for their business. For 2016, Manchester United was highlighted for breaking the transfer record for Paul Pogba and adding Eric Bailly, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and free agent Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Paris Saint-Germain is presented as the 2017 standout after big-money moves that included Neymar and Kylian Mbappé. Liverpool’s 2018 window is credited for signing Fabinho, Naby Keita, Alisson Becker and Xherdan Shaqiri. At ESPN, the outlet declared Arsenal the big winners of 2019 for signings such as Nicolas Pépé, Kieran Tierney, Dani Ceballos (loan) and David Luiz.
The account concludes that public acclaim for transfer windows often reflects perceived value on paper rather than a reliable path to winning matches, using recent high-profile examples and a decade-long review of celebrated windows to make the case.
