The five best 2023 Premier League summer transfer windows - including Aston Villa and Newcastle triumphs

For some reason, the transfer window always slams shut, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t that work better for a transfer door? Can’t the transfer window simply be closed firmly, or perhaps rolled up like it’s in a transfer car? Anyway, it’s done whatever it is that transfer window done when the deadline has finally passed, and that means that armchair judges around the country can finally pass their verdicts on the business done.

And we’ve already belittled five clubs for their terrible transactions, so it only remains for us to take once more to our pulpit to praise those teams that have done some of the smartest business of the summer – on paper, at least. After all, “winning the transfer window” resolutely refuses to mean anything whatsoever in reality as the Premier League bizarrely insist on refusing to award or deduct points based on net spend. But we know how much this means…

Aston Villa

A summer which gave Villa the chance to demonstrate not just their ambition but also their business smarts started with the free signing of proven thoroughbred Youri Tielemans, got better with the addition of the excellent Pau Torres from Villarreal, and then hit even greater heights with the club record signing of Moussa Diaby, who already looks like one hell of a player in the Premier League.

Throw in the low-risk, high-reward loan acquisition of former wonderkid Nicolò Zaniolo and the addition of former Barcelona defender Clément Lenglet into the mix and it’s pretty hard to find fault, although it will be interesting to see if the sale of youngsters like Cameron Archer and Jadene Philogene comes back to bite the Midlanders in years to come. For now, this was a summer of stated intent, and the result is a squad that has every chance of another European run.

West Ham United

A summer which looked close to disaster has ended up looking positively superb after West Ham finally found ways to spend the Declan Rice money following reported fallings-out between manager David Moyes and technical director Tim Steidten.

An abortive move for Harry Maguire notwithstanding, West Ham have added some serious quality to the ranks and while Rice’s absence will be felt, being able to call upon James Ward-Prowse, Edson Álvarez and Mohammed Kudus should more than make up for the England man’s departures. The failure to find a new striker, or to offload Michail Antonio and Danny Ings, is a black mark on the Hammers’ record, but the fact is that they look to have added strength and depth to their team while also turning a profit, and it’s hard to argue with that.

Brighton & Hove Albion

Another summer masterclass from the Sussexians, who sold Moisés Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister and Robert Sánchez for big fees and then added some of the most promising young players in the world to their ranks in their stead.

The hugely gifted Bart Verbruggen, Carlos Baleba, João Pedro and Adrian Mazilu are all queueing up to be the next players to be sold on for vast profits while James Milner and Mohamed Dahoud offer some experience and nous in the middle of the park to help the youngsters crack on. Oh, and then they got Ansu Fati on loan, just to dial the excitement on the south coast up to 11. And they made a £75m profit. It’s been said enough times that it’s boring now, but what a ridiculously well-run club.

Newcastle United

Sandro Tonali has already taken to life at St. James’ Park (and surrounding branches of Wetherspoon’s) like a duck to water, Harvey Barnes will no doubt be good for a decent number of goals from the left flank, and both Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento are massively exciting prospects who add depth at full-back – it’s hard to pick too many holes in Newcastle’s business, even if results haven’t met expectations just yet.

The departure of cult hero Allan Saint-Maximin will sting for a little while, sure, but once the hurt has faded this will probably look like another very sensible summer of spending by a club who seem to be moving forward at a steady but relatively sustainable pace. The failure to get fees for several unwanted players isn’t ideal, but at least the likes of Ryan Fraser, Isaac Hayden and Jamal Lewis have been found new homes on loan for now.

Nottingham Forest

Forest’s wild spending strategies of last season, which targeted quantity far more than they worried about quality, seem to have been refined somewhat this summer, and while bringing 14 new faces in does suggest that some of their magpie-like tendencies remain it looks like the choices of players are rather better this time around.

Ibrahim Sangaré and Nicolás Domínguez should add quality to the middle of the park, youngsters like Murillo and Andrew Omobamidele offer promise for the future, and the signing of Callum Hudson-Odoi was so cheap that it could barely be called a risk. The loss of Brennan Johnson will be a painful one, and the squad still looks thin up front, but overall this looks like a team built for the Premier League and built to last, with players who could make up the spine of the squad for years to come. One thing that should not have been allowed to happen, however, was the loan signing of World Cup champion Gonzalo Montiel, who is under investigation for an alleged rape which occurred at his home in Buenos Aires in 2019. No team should buy players under such suspicions, and no amount of footballing ability should allow the safety of women to be sidelined.