Transfer grades for every Premier League club

by **Crimey** Tue May 13, 2014 10:16 am

Arsenal
Mezut Ozil £42 million
Mathieu Flamini Free
Yaya Sanogo Free
Kim Kallstrom Loan

Grade: C

The big signing was Mezut Ozil and despite a fantastic start to his Arsenal career he had an average season. After three years of being one of the best attacking midfield players in the world, he struggled to replicate that having moved to England, he seemed to take a long time to adjust to the physical nature of the league and perhaps was still in shock at the way he seemed to be rushed out of Real Madrid and his settled role there. In the end, Arsenal's star signing was probably Flamini coming back on a free transfer. The side has been crying out for a defensive midfielder like Flamini in the Arsenal side since he left and bringing him back without a transfer fee was a master-stroke. Sanogo has struggled, but is still young so would be harsh to judge and Kim Kallstrom was an absolute disaster and baffling move considering he was injured and ended up having no impact. In the end, the signings weren't bad from Arsenal, just not enough to make any real difference.

Aston Villa
Antonio Luna £2 million
Alexsander Tonev £3 million
Leonadro Bacuna undisclosed
Libor Kozak £8.2 million
Jores Okore £4.7 million
Ryan Bertrand Loan
Grant Holt Loan

Grade: F

Not a single Aston Villa signing has really come off, while it may be harsh to judge Okore who suffered a serious injury almost immediately and the likes of Tonev and Bacuna are still young, the Villa signings were truly awful this year. The amount of money spent is not insignificant and it has resulted in nil.

Cardiff
Kevin Theophile-Catherine £2.5 million

John Brayford £1.75 million
Steven Caulker £10 million
Gary Medel £13 million
Andreas Cornelius £10 million
Peter Odemwingie £3 million
Juan Cala Free
Mats Daehli Undisclosed
Kenwnye Jones Swap
Simon Moore Undisclosed
Magnus Eikrem £2.4 million
Wilfried Zaha Loan

Grade: D

Cardiff made a lot of signings and spent a lot of money and were still relegated. Almost all of their transfers were flops and it is hard to pick which one is worst. Cornelius is probably the popular choicer as worst as he was immediately offloaded to his previous club after six months, but Odemwingie was awful, Kenwyne Jones was then swapped and was even worse while Odemwingie had a fantastic second half of the season at Stoke, Wilfried Zaha turned up and made people question why he has an England cap and is on the books of Manchester United. Steven Caulker, Gary Medel and Mats Daehli had as good season as they perhaps could have done in such a struggling squad and Cardiff will likely struggle to keep hold of the former two.

Chelsea
Marco Van Ginkel £9.5 million
Kurt Zouma £15 million
Christian Cuevas £4 million
Samuel Eto'o Free
Christian Atsu £4.1 million
Willian £35 million
Mark Schwarzer Free
Andre Schurrle £18 million
Nemanja Matic £21 million
Mohamed Salah £15 million

Grade: C+

Chelsea spent a lot of money in what was dubbed a transitional year by Jose Mourinho. Samuel Eto'o came in on a free and had an okay year but like all Chelsea strikers struggled to score goals, while Zouma, Van Ginkel, Atsu were loaned up or injured and therefore did not get the games that their transfer fees would normally get them at other clubs, although they are obviously signings for the future. Willian had a good season but at around £30 million I am not convinced he has shown he is worth that amount of money yet despite an obviously good season. Andre Schurrle probably hasn't been given the chance to repay his fee, when he has played he has looked very good but perhaps doesn't fit into an attacking midfield which is full of small, attacking midfielders rather than tall, powerful wingers. It is a surprise he wasn't given more of a chance as a centre forward. Matic was probably their signing of the season in the centre of their midfield given them a player that will allow their attacking players to flourish and will likely play a Yaya Toure role in Chelsea's side. An okay window but a lot of money spent with not a lot of return....yet.

To be continued...

by Ent Tue May 13, 2014 10:20 am

Did Macay spend nearly £40 million in the summer?

Don't think matic is anything like toure tbh, good player though.

by **Crimey** Tue May 13, 2014 9:01 pm

Crystal Palace
Kevin Phillips Free
Jose Campana £2 million
Barry Bannan Loan
Jason Puncheon Loan + £2.1 million
Jerome Thomas Free
Jack Hunt Undisclosed
Cameron Jerome Loan
Adrian Mariappa Undisclosed
Elliot Grandin Free
Neil Alexander Loan
Jimmy Kebe Undisclosed
Wayne Hennessey £3.65 million
Maraoune Chamakh Undisclosed
Scott Dann Undisclosed
Dwight Gayle £5.3 million
Thomas Ince Loan
Joe Ledley £850,000

Grade: C-

Crystal Palace is an odd one to judge as they did have some success stories within their transfers, Jason Puncheon had a fantastic year and by January was signed permanently. Scott Dann showed the form he had at Birmingham in defence once Tony Pulis came in and organised the squad. Maraoune Chamakh and Cameron Jerome had decent years after struggling at their previous clubs and the January signings of Tom Ince and Joe Ledley had a pretty good impact as well. The problem is there is a lot of players in there that barely played for Crystal Palace or didn't come near to paying back their transfer fees.

Everton
Romelu Lukaku Loan
Gerard Deulofeu Loan
Gareth Barry Loan
James McCarthy £15 million
Joel Robles Undisclosed
Aroune Kone £5.8 million
Antolin Alcarez Free
Aidan McGeady £2 million
Lacina Traore Loan

Grade: A-

One of the few teams this year to have a very good record in the window, while Kone and Traore failed to make an impact because of injuries the rest of their signings did very well. Lukaku arguably had his best season yet, Deulofeu showed why he is so highly rated, James McCarthy stepped up immaculately and Gareth Barry proved why he used to be so highly rated at Aston Villa. Even Alcarez, McGeady and Robles proved decent back up. Everton have to be marked down though because three of their key signings were loan signings and that means they may have to be replaced next year.

Fulham
Scott Parker Undisclosed
Adel Taraabt Loan
Ange-Freddy Plumain Free
Darren Bent Loan
Fernando Amorebieta Free
Maarten Stekelenburg £5.6 million
Sascha Riether £1.5 million
William Kvist Loan
Derek Boateng Free
Lewis Holtby Loan
Clint Dempsey Loan
John Heitinga Undisclosed

Grade: E

Fulham have had a dreadful year, yet in summer it looked like they had had a fantastic summer window. They had brought in a highly rated goalkeeper, a highly rated defender, Scott Parker who injury had brought to an end a period of three or four years where he looked very good, Darren Bent who surely only needed a little bit of love to start scoring bucket loads again. Even Taraabt being a gamble looked a good gamble, and signing Riether a master-class after a very good season the year before on loan. Then their January signings looked good as well. However the only players who didn't perform awfully were Riether, Parker and Holtby, and even their performances weren't anywhere near the level they have played in the past.

Hull City
Tom Huddlestone £6.1 million
Gedo Loan
Yannick Sagbo £1.8 million
Danny Graham Loan
George Boyd Free
Steve Harper Free
Jake Livermore Loan
Ahem Elmohadmay Undisclosed
Allan McGregor £2 million
Curtis Davies Undisclosed
Maynor Figueroa Free
Shane Long £6 million
Nikica Jelavic £7.8 million

Grade: A

Danny Graham aside the two transfer windows can be seen as great successes for Hull City. In the summer their midfield was bolstered considerably and Huddlestone looked a bargain signing as he put in great performance after great performance. McGregor was a good signing as a keeper and Curtis Davies was getting England talk is season was that good. Then in January City secured two Premier League goal poachers to bolster a position they had been struggling in considerably and both got some crucial goals on the run in.

To be continued...

by compelling and rich Tue May 13, 2014 9:02 pm

C+ is a bit generous for chelsea for me, i look at that list and dont see many of those players that have massively improved chelsea. the 3rd place finish probably proves that. willian is ok, works hard for the team but is no world beater, and certainly not as good as mata who they chose to get rid of.

other factor they need criticizing for is they clearly needed a striker and chose not to other than eto on the cheap which in think most people knew wouldn't work

matic is the only good signing on there for me (a player they had already), for 35 mil willian hasn't been worth it in my opinion

by compelling and rich Tue May 13, 2014 9:04 pm

palace deserve a better rating than chelsea, puncheon, gayle and ledley all good signings that have improved palace

by **Crimey** Tue May 13, 2014 9:05 pm

The problem with Chelsea's signings is that while not many made a huge impact this season, all the signings they spent money on were young and clearly part of a rebuilding process and I can't deny that Chelsea have snapped up some of the best young talent in the world, and could conceivably have a good part of a team for the next 10 years in that window.

I think you're being a little harsh on Willian, for his first season in England I thought he did quite well, not as good as Mata had been, but he was stunted by the way Chelsea played and it's clear he is a very good player. I don't think he has justified his transfer fee but he has done well. I thought Andre Schurrle did really well when given the chance as well, he just wasn't given that much of a chance.

C+ is hardly a good grade.

by compelling and rich Tue May 13, 2014 9:06 pm

evertion have done very well in the loan market but for actual transfers they havent done great. big season next season for everton as i doubt they'll be as lucky in the loan market and might have to actually spend some cash

mccarthy in with spare change from fellaini deal deserves a A on its own though

by compelling and rich Tue May 13, 2014 9:09 pm

we can only judge on what they have done so far, they could all turn out massive flops or all world beaters but the fact is we dont know yet. this is judging the impact of transfers this season and chelsea look no stronger this year than last even though they have a top class manager

C is a pass, this season i think they have failed in that they havent won anything

by compelling and rich Tue May 13, 2014 9:13 pm

i would put cardiffs grade down with villa as well, not a chance cardiff been two grades better. both been poor in the market but cardiff have spent a lot more and gone down. villa didnt realy spend much so wont hurt them, when you spend so little is going to be hard to pull off great signings. although as everton have shown perhaps they could have done better in the loan market

by **Crimey** Tue May 13, 2014 9:15 pm

I think it's clear when those players were signed, they weren't signed to make an instant impact but players like Willian, Schurrle and Matic did have good seasons with Chelsea, I wouldn't say they as signings have failed and so get a C, which isn't a good grade but I wouldn't say they have made bad signings, the plus is for the fact that those signings are likely to be seen as very good ones in the next five to ten years.

by **Crimey** Tue May 13, 2014 9:16 pm

Cardiff were saved by having at least two signings who actually did well and nearly kept them up, while Aston Villa as a team did better than Cardiff, not a single one of their signings did well. Money was spent, just very poorly.

by compelling and rich Tue May 13, 2014 9:16 pm

well you'll have to be kind on united for zaha then seeing though he was a "future" signing. even though i think he'll be a massive flop

by compelling and rich Tue May 13, 2014 9:18 pm

Crimey wrote:Cardiff were saved by having at least two signings who actually did well and nearly kept them up, while Aston Villa as a team did better than Cardiff, not a single one of their signings did well. Money was spent, just very poorly.

still two signings that they will probably make a loss on, they might get the money back for caulker seeing though he's english. and both players combined cost 25 mil. you'd expect them to do alright!! that more than villa spent in total

by **Crimey** Tue May 13, 2014 9:51 pm

compelling and rich wrote:well you'll have to be kind on united for zaha then seeing though he was a "future" signing. even though i think he'll be a massive flop

Well he was signed in January last year so won't be in this.

by compelling and rich Tue May 13, 2014 9:57 pm

Crimey wrote:
compelling and rich wrote:well you'll have to be kind on united for zaha then seeing though he was a "future" signing. even though i think he'll be a massive flop

Well he was signed in January last year so won't be in this.

ha ha phew! as if we haven't been criticized enough this season!

by **Dolphin Ziggler** Wed May 14, 2014 1:24 am

I cant have Villa below Cardiff, let alone that far below.

by **Mat** Wed May 14, 2014 1:45 am

If we aren't the lowest/joint lowest, I'll be shocked. Had two ok signings, Sessengeon and Amalfitano, and that was it. Rest were awful

by compelling and rich Wed May 14, 2014 1:48 am

we got mata which should bump us up, otherwise it was just fellaini transfer!!! definitely would have been bottom without mata

by **Crimey** Wed May 14, 2014 4:53 am

Liverpool
Tiago Ilori £7 million
Victor Moses Loan
Kolo Toure Free
Mamadou Sakho £17 million
Iago Aspas £9 million
Luis Alberto £6 million
Aly Cissokho Loan
Simon Mignolet £10 million

Grade: D-

The second poor summer window in a row for Liverpool, Mignolet was probably the best signing Liverpool made but even he struggled towards the end of the season. All the players apart from Ilori played a part in a fantastic season though. Toure did better than most expected early on but made some really costly errors while Cissokho struggled to really show why he should start. Moses had a fantastic debut and faded away as did Aspas who played well early on but the physical game was too much for him. Sakho cost a lot and didn't really pay that back, he was more physical than Agger but didn't show that he was a massive improvement on him but has age on his side.

Manchester City
Jesus Navas £17.6 million
Fernandinho £30 million
Alavaro Negredo £23 million
Martin Demichelis £4.2 million
Stevan Jovetic £25 million

Grade: A

Manchester City's signings paid off as they won the Premier League and while Fernandinho aside they weren't consistently fantastic all year, all had some good games and played important roles. Fernandinho was the best signing and probably signing of the season and allowed Toure to be even better. Negredo had a fantastic first season even if he faded towards the end without Aguero to play with. Navas had a good season as he went in and out of the side while Demichelis did okay, often making bad mistakes but also showing that he is a good centre back. Stevan Jovetic suffered through injuries but even he did well when he got the chance.

Manchester United
Maraoune Fellaini £27 million
Juan Mata £37 million

Grade: D

Manchester United simply didn't bring enough players and the one they did in the summer was overpriced and probably actually made the team worse rather than offering any improvement. Juan Mata may prove to be a fantastic signing but he did very little to turn around United's form after January and at £37 million he cost a lot of money.

To be continued...

by NickisBHAFC Wed May 14, 2014 5:05 am

For a player that cost 30 million you can't give him signing of the season IMO.

Has to be someone cheapish that has done superb.

E.g. Last season Michu 2 million. Season before Demba Ba free.

Not sure who will get that this year.

by **Dolphin Ziggler** Wed May 14, 2014 5:38 am

NickisBHAFC wrote:For a player that cost 30 million you can't give him signing of the season IMO.

Has to be someone cheapish that has done superb.

E.g. Last season Michu 2 million. Season before Demba Ba free.

Not sure who will get that this year.

Nonsense. Different teams play in different figures and its about the impact a signing has on the team. Shrewdest is different to best

by **Crimey** Wed May 14, 2014 5:41 am

Yeah what Chris said.

by NickisBHAFC Wed May 14, 2014 9:06 am

Completely disagree. Money well spent is proven over a long period of time, has Ozil lived up to his 42 million yet, no. Has Aguero lived up to his 30 million, yes 100%. Has Ferndandihno yet? Next season will tell.

But signings of the season, should be done on best bargin, like Michu and Demba Ba. So i think Everton for the signing of Barry or Lukaku. Maybe even James McCarthy from Wigan, he has been class.

by **Dolphin Ziggler** Wed May 14, 2014 9:38 am

Its a basic misunderstanding of the different levels clubs operate in, let alone what value means to each side. It is more to do with their impact. Your system means only a cheap option will ever win it.

by compelling and rich Wed May 14, 2014 9:39 am

i think mccarthy has been exactly what you would expect from 15mil

not many stand out cheap ones this year, puncheon would probably be up there for cheap transfers.

fernandinho while expensive has been a great signing for city as he's freed up yaya to bomb forward. its no coincidence that yaya has scored more goals than ever since fernandinho has come in. thats why he's probably been the signing of the season because of the effect he has to city title winning campaign

by Nakatomi Plaza Wed May 14, 2014 4:38 pm

I think Tom Huddlestone and Wilfried Bony are up there for the best signings of the season.

by Born Slippy Wed May 14, 2014 4:58 pm

I'd put City more at C than A. They spent £100 million on players who didn't improve their team. Fernandinho did well but I'm unconvinced that he is a significant improvement on Barry (albeit younger). Negredo had a good start but faded and the rest were ok to poor. The one position they really needed to strengthen was CB and they failed to do that properly. Ultimately, they had the best squad before spending all that money and still only just scrapped to the title.

United are an E for me. Failed to strengthen areas they needed and Fellaini is the biggest waste of £27 million imaginable.

I'd move Liverpool up to a C and Palace to a B-. All the rest I agree with.

by dummy_half Wed May 14, 2014 9:37 pm

You missed out Fulham's worst signing - Mitroglou signed for £11mill in January as the replacement for Berbatov. Was injured when they signed him and has since played just 120 minutes. Not exactly great business when the desperate need was for a player who sould score goals immediately. Surely drops their grade to at least an F if not a U.

Agree that Fernandinho has been a good signing for Man City, and clearly for them money is not an object so whether he was good value is irrelevant in that context. Obviously, if we were discussing anyone other than Citeh or Chelsea there would be a question as to whether he has done enough to justify the price tag, but that's a different debate.

by NickisBHAFC Wed May 14, 2014 10:07 pm

Yeah Tom Huddlestone is a great shout, give it to him. My favorite player in the prem as well!

by compelling and rich Wed May 14, 2014 10:20 pm

never really seen the fuss with huddlestone, overrated for me. he's a cm who cant run. yes he can spray a ball about if given time and space but so could the likes of veron, cant dominate games, decent for hull yes but rightly couldnt break into a spurs team because he's not good enough

by Duty281 Wed May 14, 2014 10:51 pm

I remember Huddlestone having one good game against a very poor PL team (was it Fulham?), and some idiots were touting him as a outside chance for the England squad to Brazil. Laugh

by jbeadlesbigrighthand Thu May 15, 2014 12:01 am

compelling and rich wrote:never really seen the fuss with huddlestone, overrated for me. he's a cm who cant run. yes he can spray a ball about if given time and space but so could the likes of veron, cant dominate games, decent for hull yes but rightly couldnt break into a spurs team because he's not good enough

Interesting to compare him to Veron, who was a world class player. Veron never succeeded in the premiership because he suited a slower style of play, not because he lacked quality. He was a fantastic player in Italy and internationally, and certainly could dominate games (in the sense of controlling the flow). I'd agree that Huddlestone will probably never be a great premiership player, and doesn't belong in the England team since we don't play in a way that suits him. That doesn't make him a bad player though.

by NickisBHAFC Thu May 15, 2014 8:41 am

Duty281 wrote:I remember Huddlestone having one good game against a very poor PL team (was it Fulham?), and some idiots were touting him as a outside chance for the England squad to Brazil.

It was his best game after an impressive run of form, he has been very consistent this season. Whilst other players have performed better and deserved there spot on the plane more, saying he deserves to go to Brazil, isn't the most ridicules shout i have ever heard. Also the fact its going to be a slow moving patient game in Brazil, where keeping the ball is going to be vital, he does that superbly well.

by nasisillmatic Thu May 15, 2014 7:09 pm

Duty281 wrote:I remember Huddlestone having one good game against a very poor PL team (was it Fulham?), and some idiots were touting him as a outside chance for the England squad to Brazil.

He should still be closer to the squad than Tom Cleverley. How he is on the stand by list is beyond me.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Thu May 15, 2014 8:58 pm

Huddlestone just kicks the ball really sweetly making people think he's a good passer/player when he really really isnt

by **Crimey** Thu May 15, 2014 9:34 pm

Newcastle
Loic Remy Loan
Luuk De Jong Loan

Grade: E+

Remy was a fantastic signing which means Newcastle don't slip down to the depths of an 'F' grade but a lack of signings, in particular permanent signings mean that they can't really be given a good grade. They sold their best player in January without having a replacement in the squad or bringing one in. Luuk De Jong was a pretty poor signing in the end.

Norwich
Nathan Redmond £2 million
Martin Olsson £2.5 million
Leroy Fer Undisclosed
Carlo Nash Free
Javier Garrido Undisclosed
Gary Hooper £6 million
Ricky Van Wolsfwinkel £8.5 million
Joan Elmander Loan
Joseph Yobo Loan
Jonas Guttierez Loan

Grade: D+

On paper Norwich made some fantastic signings, they brought in two strikers who had scored goals wherever they had gone, brought in promising youngster from the Championship, two good left backs and a highly touted midfielder when the Dutch leagues. In practice only Martin Olsson played the way Norwich would have expected. Van Wolswinkel was dreadful without service, Hooper was good in very small patches but for long periods was very poor. Leroy Fer was similar. Redmond obviously has quality and may develop, but he suffered from inconsistency in the same way most young wingers do. The rest of the signings were basically dreadful, Yobo probably the best of the rest.

Southampton
Dejan Lovren £8 million
Dani Osvaldo £16 million
Victor Wanyama £12.5 million

Grade: B

Two fantastic signings, discoloured slightly by one disaster. Lovren is a key reason for Southampton's excellent season, he was a rock at the back allowing the more creative players to run free. Wanyama played a similar role from midfield, rotating with Cork next to Schneiderlin they provided a very good base for the more creative players. Osvaldo is an odd one, he showed brilliance at times but caused trouble and was loaned out by January.

Stoke
Stephen Ireland Loan + Undisclosed
Erik Pieters £3 million
Oussama Assaidi Loan
Marc Muniesa Free
Marko Arnautovic Undisclosed
John Guidetti Loan
Peter Odemwingie Swap

Grade: A

Stoke's new signings pushed them higher up the table than they ever had before, breaking into the top ten and having developed a different style to Tony Pulis' Stoke, the future looks bright from a Stoke perspective. The signings reflect the change in style, Mark Hughes favouring more creative players over big, physical players. The only transfer to disappoint was Guidetti, who as a January loan signing hardly reflects as a huge disaster. Arnautovic was fantastic, Steven Ireland did enough to earn a permanent transfer, the same will likely happen to Assaidi. Peter Odemwingie was an inspired swap and Muniesa was good cover while Pieters made a position Stoke had trouble filling his own.

To be continued...

by J.Benson II Fri May 16, 2014 12:19 am

Been really impressed by Marko Arnautovic. Won't be surprised if a bigger team comes in for him.

by J.Benson II Fri May 16, 2014 12:21 am

J.Benson II wrote:Been really by Marko Arnautovic. Won't be surprised if a bigger team comes in for him.

LOL. I just googled his name and it says that Liverpool, Spurs and Newcastle are all interested.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Fri May 16, 2014 12:25 am

I'd agree with our grade

RVW - Obviously hasn't worked
Hooper - Same as above
Elmander - Did alright
Redmond - Good signing, probably played more than we had hoped with Bennett and Pilkington being out most of the season. Lots of potential and maturing to do
Olsson - Very solid player
Fer - Injuries hurt him, inconsistent post December
Garrido - Backup
Yobo - Did well when he played, injury struck again
Gutierrez - USELESS Meat trombone soloist

Not too disastrous, obviously never worked out for the strikers which is why we've gone down, but we should be able to recoup most of the money spent or hold onto them

Oh and

Carlo Nash - PLAYER OF THE SEASON

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