“The strategy was almost perfect” – Fabrizio Romano Romano singled out City as having the strongest transfer window of summer 2022

The Premier League summer transfer window is closed once again and the 20 English top-flight clubs totalled nearly £2billion of spending on new signings.

Nine of them spent £100million or more with Nottingham Forest completing a remarkable 21 signings so far – with a 22nd to come in Serge Aurier.

Premier League clubs spent more than teams from Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A and the German Bundesliga combined with Chelsea spending more in a single window than any other club in the league’s history.

But who had the best window, and who had the worst?

Fabrizio Romano has stated that he believes Manchester City were the winners of this summer’s transfer window after an “almost perfect” strategy that saw them bring in elite talents like Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez, Kalvin Phillips, Manuel Akanji, Sergio Gomez and Stefan Ortega.

Writing in his exclusive CaughtOffside column, Romano singled out City as having the strongest transfer window of summer 2022.

“It’s a question we see more and more these days – which team “won” the transfer window? For me, this summer it has to be Manchester City,” the transfer news expert wrote.

“I think City have done an excellent job: Erling Haaland is incredible, as we’ve seen with his fast start in front of goal.

“Elsewhere, Julian Alvarez is the future, Kalvin Phillips and Manuel Akanji are two smart signings. The strategy was almost perfect.”

Transfer window winners – Manchester City

Recruiting Erling Haaland would be enough for them to win the transfer window alone. No surprises whatsoever here… splashing only £51m on Haaland’s transfer fee is one of the biggest coups in Premier League history.

The 22-year-old is already one of Europe’s best strikers and Man City are already reaping the rewards. He’s registered ten goals and an assist in his opening five league games, including back-to-back hat-tricks. A phenom of a player.

Oleksandr Zinchenko, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus’ big-money exits have helped Man City make a profit, despite signing one of Europe’s best strikers and an established England international in Kalvin Phillips, among others. Incredible business.

All that for a net profit of £36.2m, while keeping Bernardo Silva, ensuring dressing-room harmony and increasing motivation levels, really does make it all seem quite unfair.

Manchester City Full Summer Window Transfer Summary: Every player signed and sold

Ins

• Erling Haaland (£54m from Borussia Dortmund)
• Kalvin Phillips (£44.1m from Leeds United)
• Manuel Akanji (£15.75 from Borussia Dortmund)
• Sergio Gomez (£11.7m from RSC Anderlecht)
• Stefan Ortega (free transfer from Arminia Bielefeld)
• Emilio Lawrence (free transfer from Everton)

Outs

• Raheem Sterling (£50.6m to Chelsea)
• Gabriel Jesus (£47m to Arsenal)
• Oleksandr Zinchenko (£31.5m to Arsenal)
• Gavin Bazunu (£12.6m to Southampton)
• Romeo Lavia (£11m to Southampton)
• Samuel Edozie (£10m to Southampton)
• Pedro Porro (£7.65m to Sporting)
• Juan Larios (£6m to Southampton)
• Darko Gyabi (£5.2m to Leeds United)
• Ko Itakura (4.5m to Borussia Monchengladbach)
• Arijanet Muric (£2.5m to Burnley)
• Claudio Gomes (to Palermo)
• Ante Palaversa (to Troyes)
• Marlos Moreno (to Troyes)
• CJ Egan-Riley (free transfer to Burnley)
• Luca Barrington (free transfer to Brighton & Hove Albion)
• Kwaku Oduroh (free transfer to Derby County)
• Jayden Braaf (free transfer to Borussia Dortmund)
• Pablo Moreno (free transfer to Maritimo)
• Fernandinho (free transfer to Club Athletico Paranaense)
• Daniel Arzani (free transfer to Macarthur)
• Ryotaro Meshino (free transfer to Gamba Osaka)
• Thomas Agyepong (released)
• Mohammed Aminu (released)