The five best 2023 Premier League summer transfer deals - including Liverpool and West Ham coups

As the dust begins to settle on another hectic transfer window, may we all embrace a period of deep, introspective reflection. Money was spent (and in many cases, wasted), players were bandied around the country with reckless abandon like shuttlecocks with sleeve tattoos, and squad lists were radically altered.

All across the Premier League we saw all kinds of deal being struck, but who were the real winners of this summer’s market dogfight? We’ve picked out five transfers that look particularly impressive for various reasons. Check them out below...

Declan Rice to Arsenal

It wasn’t so long ago that the prospect of Arsenal breaking the British transfer record (however briefly) to sign a player who was also linked with the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City, and Bayern Munich would have felt wholly unimaginable. Declan Rice’s arrival in north London appeared to be, therefore, not just a statement for intent, but a sign of the times too, with the Gunners eager to reassert their credentials as genuine title contenders.

The England international already feels like an integral presence in Mikel Arteta’s engine room, and his early performances - occupying a slightly more box-to-box role than the one that we were used to seeing him in at West Ham - would suggest that this is a transfer that will benefit both the player and his new club for years to come.

Ansu Fati to Brighton

At the time of writing, Ansu Fati is yet to kick a ball for Brighton. There is, therefore, the distinct possibility that his stint in England could be an absolute disaster. Somehow, however, that feels incredibly unlikely.

This is the type of transfer usually reserved for the pixelated pipe dreams of Football Manager saves - a world-renowned Barcelona prodigy lured to a club who were bobbing between the old Divisions One and Two around the time that he was born. But things could hardly be more different now; Brighton are a team on the up under Roberto De Zerbi, and if Fati can make good on even a fraction of his promise, he will only contribute to that meteoric rise.

Dominik Szoboszlai to Liverpool

Heading into the summer, Liverpool needed a midfield rebuild. Partway through the summer, with half of their previous cohort now employed in the Saudi Pro League, they really, really needed a midfield rebuild. World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister was drafted in from Brighton for a relative bargain fee, but it is Dominik Szoboszlai, the dashing Hungarian from RB Leipzig who has really impressed thus far.

All-action with an eye for goal and a wonderful air of sophistication to his play, the early evidence would suggest that the 22-year-old is a worthy successor to some of the great Anfield number eights that have come before him.

James Maddison to Tottenham Hotspur

How do you replace Harry Kane? The simple answer, as Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has pointed out a few times now, is that you can’t. What you can seek to do, however, is to share the burden of creative might across a few pairs of shoulders in his absence.

Since signing from Leicester City, James Maddison has been, in a word, magnificent. Four Premier League games have yielded four goal contributions, and the playmaker looks to be getting the very best out of those around him too. Postecoglou is building something special at Spurs, and Maddison is pivotal to it.

James Ward-Prowse to West Ham

And finally, a word of appreciation for James Ward-Prowse. When West Ham lost Declan Rice earlier in the summer, it must have felt like something akin to the end of the world. The Hammers took their time in finding a replacement, but with the arrival of the former Southampton talisman (and Ajax’s Edson Alvarez) they look to have plugged that particular vacuum more than adequately.

David Moyes’ side are absolutely flying at the moment, and it is no fluke that their imperious run of form has coincided with Ward-Prowse’s introduction into the midfield. A really astute signing for West Ham, and a perfect example of how to effectively reinvest such a monstrous transfer fee.