West Ham, Brighton and Manchester City are in the Champions League places but another Premier League team won the summer transfer window.
Southampton
“For us it was a good thing we could do this season some things that we normally could only do after selling a few players,” said Ralph Hasenhuttl before a Premier League ball was kicked this campaign.
Their outlay of £48.8m at the time, coupled with the lack of any substantial sale, had generated the single biggest summer transfer window net spend in Southampton history. Fraser Forster and Shane Long remained their biggest outgoings by the deadline’s passing but Ainsley Maitland-Niles on loan and Samuel Edozie, Juan Larios and Duje Caleta-Car for a combined £26m added a final coat of gloss.
Saints arguably ended last season with two players who would be coveted by fellow top-flight clubs. James Ward-Prowse was kept from prying hands and interest was latent in Kyle Walker-Peters.
Beyond that, Hasenhuttl’s biggest assets were loanee Armando Broja and the injured Tino Livramento. Years of transfer stagnation and that run of one win in 12 to end last campaign had left the manager on the brink with a squad that looked bare and bereft.
Five games into their season, it is already easy to see that outlook has flipped. Southampton could already triple or quadruple their investments in Armel Bella-Kotchap and Romeo Lavia if they so wished. Gavin Bazunu has shown immediate promise at literally half Willy Caballero’s age. Sekou Mara and Joe Aribo have both shown flashes of excellence.
While many clubs are content with making one or two additions to the squad within the 18-25 bracket, betting on potential when it comes to those with precious little top-flight experience, Southampton have entirely galvanised themselves by ensuring almost every signing fits into that mould. It has been a brilliant, brave and refreshing summer, a labour from which those barely ripe fruits are already being savoured.
West Ham
For all the frustration, fury and finger pointing, West Ham persisted and ultimately delivered.
David Moyes teased “one of the biggest turnarounds I’m having to make here”. The Scot’s previous 10 permanent signings for the Hammers across six transfer windows and two managerial spells cost £135.6m; this summer’s spend reached a minimum of £160.9m on eight first-team players in every position.
Those who remember being burned by Nikola Vlasic will proceed with cautious optimism. Sebastien…
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