Winners and losers of the 2026 summer transfer window

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FT Desk

The dust has barely settled.

Europe's top five leagues all closed their doors on the same night, 1 September, and if deadline day taught us anything this year, it's that three months of planning still isn't enough for most clubs. What made this window different was the shop window that came before it: a World Cup on North American soil, with the final played on 19 July, meaning transfer business essentially ran alongside a tournament that reshaped several reputations and price tags in real time. Here's who came out on top, and who is left with work to do.

Manchester City rebuild the middle of the pitch

No club moved with more intent than Manchester City. Enzo Fernandez arrived from Chelsea for a reported £125 million, a fee that equals the British transfer record, and was followed by Iliman Ndiaye from Everton in a deal worth up to £65 million. City also brought in Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest and the Morocco international Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille, giving Enzo Maresca an almost entirely new central midfield to work with. Anderson's performances for England over the summer will only have strengthened the club's conviction that they were paying for the version of a player who has already proven himself on the biggest stage.

Liverpool plan for life after Salah

Liverpool's business had one obvious storyline running through it: preparing for a future without Mohamed Salah. Bradley Barcola's arrival from Paris Saint-Germain, in a deal reportedly worth up to £123 million and confirmed just ahead of football transfer deadline day, was the clearest signal of that shift. Barcola brings Champions League pedigree and the kind of directness Liverpool have been short of out wide, and Anfield will be watching closely to see how quickly he adapts to a squad still finding its identity under its current manager.

Newcastle's rebuild goes deeper than expected

Under new head coach Matthias Jaissle, Newcastle have not done things by halves. Matias Fernandez-Pardo's £51 million move from Lille was confirmed as the club's eighth signing of the summer, a number that says as much about the scale of the rebuild as any individual deal does. It's the kind of turnover that either sets a club up for a genuine step forward or creates a squad that needs a season simply to gel. Newcastle fans will find out which fairly quickly.

Tottenham have one of the busiest windows in the country

While the headlines chased Manchester City and Liverpool, Tottenham were arguably just as active. Sandro Tonali arrived from Newcastle United, Mateus Fernandes joined from West Ham, and a double deal brought both Savio and Omar Marmoush in from Manchester City, the latter on an initial loan. It's a squad that now has genuine strength in depth in midfield and attack, and the pressure shifts firmly onto the coaching staff to turn that depth into results.

The World Cup effect

Every major tournament becomes a shop window, but a World Cup on this scale takes that to another level. A strong few weeks in North America could turn years of scouting work into a done deal, introduce a player to a completely new audience, or simply add several million pounds to his valuation overnight. Folarin Balogun's performances for the United States drew deadline-day interest from Everton after their move for Joshua Zirkzee fell through, while Nicolas Jackson's tournament with Senegal preceded his move from Chelsea to Aston Villa. Fernandez's run to the final with Argentina did his valuation no harm either. None of these deals happened purely because of the World Cup, but it's hard to imagine several of them moving as quickly, or for as much, without it.

Who's left to regret it

Not every club will look back on this window fondly. Several sides who identified priority targets early in the summer found themselves scrambling in the final 48 hours, either because a move collapsed at the last minute or because a asking price never came down far enough. That kind of late panic rarely produces the calmest business, and a handful of deadline-day arrivals across the division will need time, and patience from supporters, before anyone can fairly judge whether they were worth the wait.

What happens next

The window is shut, but its consequences are only just beginning. Some of this summer's biggest fees will be picked apart long before Christmas if the players in question don't hit the ground running, while a couple of quieter, smaller deals could well end up being the shrewdest business of the lot. That's the nature of the transfer market: the deadline is only ever the end of the beginning.