The biggest clubs and players across Europe hit the headlines during another chaotic summer transfer window, but only some emerged better off by the time the deadline rolled around on Tuesday evening.
Premier League clubs took center stage Deadline dayand complete an amazing amount of inbound and outbound moves to boost teams at the last second. Records were broken, dreams were shattered, and money was spent with reckless abandon.
In Spain, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have all been fairly quiet having already made big moves – and rejected even bigger moves – earlier in the summer.
Now that the dust has settled, there are clear successes and failures from the summer of 2026 transformation window.
Winners
Enzo Fernandez
100 million pounds sterling. twice. pic.twitter.com/MuPDAM6pAo
— Sports Illustrated Club (@SI_FootballClub) September 1, 2026
Enzo Fernandes has played the long game this summer and it has paid off. After being publicly rejected by Real Madrid, the Argentine turned his attention to… Manchester CityAs he hoped to reunite with former Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca.
The move looked dead when City did not make a bid by Chelsea’s arbitrary deadline of 14 August. But things quickly unraveled on deadline day to the tune of $169m (£125m), leaving Fernandes… First player For a transfer fee in excess of £100m.
only Transfer alone It makes Fernandes one of the biggest winners of the window, but Chelsea are pursuing a deal even after their own contract for intended replacement Lamine Kamara fell through, making it even more special.
Fernandes must now leave Chelsea, a team not competing in any European competition this season, to represent Manchester City, the favorites to challenge Arsenal for the English crown. And to top it all off, he’s back with Mariska.
real madrid
real madrid It was fairly quiet on deadline day, but that’s because they made all of their big moves before the start of the 2026-27 season. The club entered the summer with a list of difficult situations and addressed each one of them.
Do Los Blancos need depth at right-back? They signed Denzel Dumfries. Jose Mourinho doesn’t have a left-back he can trust? He brought in World Cup winner Mark Cucurella. There is a hole in the right wing? Here comes Yann Diomandi. Real Madrid weak in the heart of defence? Ibrahima Konate moves to a free transfer.
Signing Rodri would have made this an amazing summer window for the 15-time European champions, but they had to settle for just Bernardo Silva. So far, the new crop of players has helped Mourinho’s return get off to the perfect start; Real Madrid achieved three victories in three matches, scoring 10 goals and conceding only two goals.
The club also locked down Vinicius Junior for an additional six years this summer, while also… Breaking its own revenue record of player sales this summer.
Anthony Gordon
Anthony Gordon is gone Newcastle United Purgatory for Barcelona, the Spanish League title holder. The striker was looking forward to another season in which he is among the best ever in the Premier League, with little hope of winning any silverware representing a devastated Newcastle side.
Now, Gordon can play alongside some of the best players in the world. Lamine Yamal, Rodri, Pedri and Rafinha are his new teammates, and Hansi Flick is his new manager.
The UEFA Champions League is on its calendar, and it has an incredibly high chance of lifting at least one trophy Barcelona. After all, the Catalans have won the Spanish League title and the Spanish Super Cup twice in a row, as well as the Copa del Rey 204-25 in the past two seasons.
Additionally, with Raphinha playing as the team’s number 9, Gordon gets free control on the left wing – and he already has three assists in as many matches.
Chelsea
Chelsea Losing to Kamara The eleventh hour of deadline day cast a dark pall over the summer transfer window. But by all other measures, the Blues are away from a complete overhaul of the squad on the right flank.
They won the transfer race for Morgan Rogers, and finally addressed their goalkeeping woes by signing Emiliano Martinez and bringing in a solid centre-back in Maxence Lacroix. They also welcomed Serie A Defender of the Year, Marco Ballestra, from Atalanta.
Just as impressive ChelseaEntrances are where their exits are. The club earned $169m (£125m) from the Fernandes transfer alone and made $157.3m (£116.8m) just from the exits of Cucurella and Nicholas Jackson.
In total, the West London outfit Farewell to 26 players Either through permanent transfers or loan deals. The likes of Alejandro Garnacho, Michailo Modric and Liam Delap were finally sent on their way to give Xabi Alonso a new-look team he could build, without having to worry about a slew of players who would never be able to find success at Stamford Bridge.
Losers
Julian Alvarez
A little over two months ago, Julian Alvarez took action General appeal He leaves Atletico Madrid during the 2026 World Cup. The transfer saga for the ages quickly began, with Los Rojiblancos refusing to allow the Argentine winger to join rivals Barcelona through a series of viral social media posts.
Atletico Madrid CEO Miguel Angel Gil Marin has fanned the flames with interview after interview, blocking any move to the Spanish champions while also going toe-to-toe with Barcelona president Joan Laporta.
Arsenal even tried to step in and offer Alvarez an escape route out of the Spanish capital, but the 26-year-old has been very clear in his desires: Barcelona or nothing.
In the end he got nothing. Now, he is stuck at Atletico Madrid after tearing up ties with Diego Simeone, the club hierarchy and the fans.
Liverpool
Before the summer transfer window opens, Liverpool They knew they would lose Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson, and Konate quickly followed them out of Merseyside. Work must be done to replace the club’s three pillars and address growing concerns on both sides.
What did Liverpool do? They signed two left wingers in Bradley Barkola and Victor Muñoz, leaving a huge gap as Salah controlled the right wing.
The Reds have also finally signed 21-year-old centre-back Jérémy Jacquet, whom they acquired during the January transfer window. Another defensive reinforcement for Liverpool came in the form of the inconsistent and injury-prone Ronald Araújo.
Even after they failed to win the opening two matches of the 2026-27 season, where The full-back’s problems were on full displayThe 20-time England champions only opted to sign Genk goalkeeper Luca Brugmans on the deadline day… and the teenager is… He doesn’t even come to Anfield Until next summer.
There is no doubt that Barcola is a great player, but he cannot solve the deep-rooted problems plaguing Andoni Iraola’s side.
Joshua Zirkzee
For a brief moment on deadline day, Joshua Zirkzee thought he had finally been given a ticket out of Old Trafford. The striker was briefly linked with Everton Central on Tuesday Folarin Balogun’s messy transfer sagaHowever, Manchester United are said to have halted the move.
The Red Devils would never have agreed to a last-minute move for Zirkzee when they had no alternative. They would have been left with only Benjamin Shsko as the only natural striker.
For Zirkzee, who was said to have rejected Fiorentina’s interest, it must have been a cruel joke for an interesting offer to be suddenly rejected so quickly by Fiorentina. united. The No.9 is on the sidelines at Old Trafford and is lucky to score any minutes in the red shirt, let alone regular minutes.
After all, Shsko still has fitness issues and Michael Carrick has not even offered Zirkzee a minute in the club’s first two Premier League matches.
Instead of a fresh start on Merseyside, Zirkzee remains stuck on the bench at United.
Tottenham Hotspur
for a while, Tottenham Hotspur They were looking like winners in the summer transfer window. The club splashed out some amazing money to welcome Sandro Tonali and Matheus Fernandes into Roberto De Zerbi’s midfield.
Tottenham have also signed Jan-Paul van Hecke, as well as free agents Andy Robertson and Marcos Sensi. Let’s not forget to welcome Savio and Omar Marmoush from Manchester City, the latter on loan until next summer, bringing the club’s total spending to $413.8 million.
However, they lost their opening two matches of the Premier League season by a score of 5-0. Tottenham’s response? Let’s Modric’s signaturewho has not played a competitive match in more than 20 months since suffering a doping ban.
Spending all the money in the world can’t make a group of random players – regardless of their skill – play as a cohesive unit. There’s plenty of time for De Zerbe to figure things out, but as of now, Tottenham’s transfer window is starting to look a lot like last summer’s for Liverpool.
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