More than \u00a33 billion ($4 billion) and 155 incoming transfers set high expectations across the Premier League this summer. Several recruits have settled quickly, but others have produced worrying initial returns that have left managers and supporters asking questions.<\/p>\n
Everton\u2019s Thierno Barry arrived from Villarreal after a season that yielded 11 goals and four assists. The 22-year-old joined for \u00a327 million ($36 million) with time to adapt, but he remains behind Beto, has made two Premier League starts, nine appearances in total and is still searching for his first goal or assist for the club. On two occasions he was substituted early: at half time at Anfield and after about an hour at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.<\/p>\n
West Ham\u2019s \u00a320 million ($26.7 million) signing Mads Hermansen began the campaign as Graham Potter\u2019s first-choice goalkeeper but has endured a difficult start. The 25-year-old conceded 11 times in four appearances, sustained several high-profile errors and has dropped behind Alphonse Areola with Nuno Esp\u00edrito Santo opting against an early recall.<\/p>\n
Anthony Elanga moved to Newcastle for \u00a355 million ($73.4 million) after scoring 18 goals for Nottingham Forest in 2024\u201325. The 23-year-old has made 10 appearances for the Magpies without a goal or assist and has oscillated between starting and the bench while competing with Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes and Jacob Murphy.<\/p>\n
Jean-Clair Todibo\u2019s permanent move to West Ham cost \u00a332.8 million ($43.8 million) after an obligation to buy. He has fallen out of favour following disciplinary issues under Potter and is unlikely to figure under Esp\u00edrito Santo.<\/p>\n
James Trafford returned to Manchester City for \u00a331 million ($41.3 million) but is now behind Gianluigi Donnarumma and has been restricted to the bench following a difficult display against Tottenham Hotspur.<\/p>\n
Alexander Isak joined Liverpool for a Premier League record \u00a3125 million ($166.9 million) but missed pre-season after a strike. Arne Slot has eased him in, using him alongside Hugo Ekitik\u00e9, with the record signing yet to reach expected levels.<\/p>\n
Newcastle paid \u00a355 million ($73.4 million) for Yoane Wissa from Brentford, but a knee injury means he is yet to play for his new club and has only two competitive appearances since the end of last season.<\/p>\n
Chelsea\u2019s \u00a351.5 million ($68.7 million) addition Jamie Gittens has made seven appearances and three starts without making a major impact. At Liverpool, Milos Kerkez arrived for \u00a340 million ($53.4 million) to succeed Andy Robertson but has made a sluggish start, was bullied on his debut by Antoine Semenyo and was hooked in the first half against Burnley as he edged toward a red card.<\/p>\n
It remains early and circumstances differ across clubs, but the opening weeks have provided enough evidence to raise concerns about several high-cost recruits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Early evidence suggests several costly summer signings have struggled to justify their transfer fees<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3739,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[739,728,795,190,687,175,1056,194,298,438],"tags":[195,220,506],"class_list":["post-3740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bournemouth","category-brentford","category-burnley","category-chelsea","category-everton","category-liverpool","category-man-city","category-newcastle-united","category-nottingham-forest","category-west-ham-united","tag-alexander-isak","tag-andy-robertson","tag-anthony-gordon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3740","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=3740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}