The 2026 summer window delivered its share of headline purchases, but not every major move inspired confidence. Alongside smart recruitment and eye-catching spending, there were also a number of deals that raised questions across the game.<\/p>\n
With so many players changing clubs, some questionable decisions were always likely. Here are eight signings that stand out for the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n
Tottenham Hotspur\u2019s capture of S\u00e1vio was among the most eye-catching. The $101.9 million fee surprised many, especially given the Brazilian\u2019s return of just two Premier League goals in two seasons at the Etihad. Spurs also added Omar Marmoush from Manchester City in quick succession, and the scale of the S\u00e1vio deal left plenty of people stunned once the talk of a sell-on clause was dismissed.<\/p>\n
Another Tottenham move came on deadline day and caused just as much confusion. The loan signing of Mykhailo Mudryk, alongside the addition of Chelsea center back Tosin Adarabioyo, puzzled supporters. Mudryk had not played a competitive match in nearly two years after a doping ban that was recently lifted, making the move a considerable gamble.<\/p>\n
Nottingham Forest also drew attention for the wrong reasons when they spent $61.2 million on Liam Delap. Chelsea had only signed him for $40.6 million, and after a difficult debut season that brought three goals in 49 appearances, the fee looked excessive despite his 12-goal Premier League campaign for Ipswich Town in 2024-25.<\/p>\n
Chelsea\u2019s own summer business included Emmanuel Emegha, signed from Strasbourg for $28.5 million. Expected to back up Jo\u00e3o Pedro, he now sits third in the pecking order after the arrival of Danny Welbeck, leaving him with a difficult route to regular football.<\/p>\n
Juventus paid $43.8 million for Randal Kolo Muani after his mixed loan spell at Tottenham Hotspur, where he scored five goals in 41 appearances. AC Milan then turned to Gon\u00e7alo Ramos for $80 million, despite his role as a rotation option behind Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 and a return of 13 goals in 50 matches.<\/p>\n
Gabriel Martinelli\u2019s $81.5 million move to Al Hilal was not a disaster for the clubs involved, but it was still a surprising step for a 25-year-old forward who could have rebuilt his standing at a Champions League club.<\/p>\n
For Trabzonspor, the free signing of Mohamed Salah was a major coup. The Liverpool winger arrived with no transfer fee attached and plenty of interest elsewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A costly summer produced several headline moves, but these eight signings stood out for all the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19184,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1330,1410,190,1362,175,298,187],"tags":[59,182],"class_list":["post-19185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ac-milan","category-al-hilal","category-chelsea","category-juventus","category-liverpool","category-nottingham-forest","category-tottenham-hotspur","tag-featured","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}