An effective summer transfer window can be the make-or-break moment for a team’s fortunes in the upcoming season. Regardless of the number of billionaire owners, teams like Brighton and Bournemouth have demonstrated that with the right recruitment, they can find bargains and keep pace with the league’s mega spenders, such as Manchester City, Liverpool, and Chelsea.
Liverpool goes into this year’s EPL as favorites to retain their title. The gambling companies don’t take time off to recoup, unlike the top teams do. They offer outright markets throughout the year.
Many sportsbooks also dabble in casino gaming. While bettors do their research by checking out expert resources like AskGamblers, when it comes to picking out the star signing in the summer, there’s plenty more at stake when teams are siphoning off the central part of their transfer budget to bring in a big-name player. Here are the top 10 biggest signings in the 2025 summer transfer window so far.
Key Summer Transfer Window Signings
Florian Wirtz
If we’re talking about the big moves this summer, then Wirtz’s arrival at Liverpool for a British-record transfer fee is one of the biggest stories there’s been for a long time. As Trent Alexander-Arnold moved to Real Madrid, the Reds had been rumored to be looking at a huge Hollywood signing to get their fans excited, and with Wirtz, they have not disappointed.
Often considered one of the brightest talents in world football, it’s going to be fascinating to see how he settles alongside other record transfer signings at Anfield, such as Van Dijk and Allison.
Jeremie Frimpong
It’s already been a busy window for the Reds. Not only have they spent a significant amount on Wirtz, but they have also invested a substantial sum in Frimpong. The exciting right back spent most of his youth career down the East Lancs when he played for City, and after an impressive few years at Celtic and Leverkusen, the 24-year-old could end up one of the biggest signings of the window.
Martín Zubimendi
It’s Groundhog Day at the Emirates. It feels like every summer for the past three years, the consensus has been that Arsenal are just one or two signings away from ending their drought for a Premier League title. Real Sociedad stalwart Martin Zubimendi has made the switch to North London, and he hasn’t come cheap, with him costing Arsenal somewhere in the region of £60 million.
Matheus Cunha
It’s fair to say that Man Utd’s recruitment over the last few years has been subpar. It’s a significant reason why they’ve fallen so drastically behind their archrivals. Cunha was the leading name linked with Utd, and they managed to land their man for a cool fee of £62.5 million.
As several other players find themselves linked with a move to Old Trafford, including Villa striker Ollie Watkins, Cunha joins the Red Devils, hoping that he can inspire them to not completely get left in the dust by the likes of City, Arsenal, and Liverpool.
Jamie Gittens
Bumper deals at Chelsea are what they’ve become renowned for over the last few years under the erratic ownership of Boehly. Gittens is the latest addition to this list. The winger arrived at Stamford Bridge from Borussia Dortmund with a reasonably modest price tag of £48.5 million. Well, modest for the sort of fees Chelsea have paid over the last couple of summer transfer windows at least.
Kevin De Bruyne
In shirt sales alone, Napoli should be able to recoup the funds they’ve spent on one of Manchester City’s greatest ever players. It’s big news because several major European clubs were interested in the legendary Belgian, but it’s Napoli who managed to beat everyone else to the punch. It will be interesting to see how much he has left and whether he can help Napoli retain their Serie A title.
Jobe Bellingham
While brother Jude got his big money move to Real Madrid last season, Jobe has made the move from newly promoted Sunderland to his brother’s old club, Borussia Dortmund. Buoyed up by the funds from the Gittens sale, Jobe has made the switch to Germany for a fee just shy of £30 million. If he can duplicate even half the form that his brother showed at Dortmund, then it’ll be money well spent.
Tijjani Reijnders
Manchester City find themselves in a rare position, playing catch-up to Liverpool. They didn’t just trail behind Arsenal and Liverpool last season—they were a country mile behind them. Guardiola will hope that the signing of Reijnders will bolster their starting eleven, providing some much-needed cover for Rodri, who was a significant miss for them last season.
Charalampos Kostoulas
If Brighton’s recruitment policy had the war chest that Man City, Chelsea, or Liverpool have had over the last decade, then they could have found themselves sitting alongside some of the giants of European football.
Over the last decade, they’ve brought in unknown players for pennies and sold them for enormous fees. This summer, they’ve spent close to £30 million on another unknown quantity—Charalampos Kostoulas from Olympiacos. There’s not much about this young man that you can find, but you can guarantee that he has something special if Brighton has forked out a pretty sizeable fee for the 18-year-old.
João Pedro
Having established himself as a key player for Watford and Brighton, Chelsea have once again come knocking at the door at Brighton and waved their chequebook. The £60 million they have paid for the Brazilian striker will be a drop in the ocean if Chelsea can fire themselves back into title contention, but as they have shown over the last few years, you can’t break the bank simply to win the league.
Pedro is a fantastic player, but will he be able to hit the ground running and meet the demands of Todd Boehly? He’s certainly got the ability to. If Chelsea’s signings can gel, they could find themselves within touching distance of gatecrashing the Arsenal, Liverpool, and City monopoly that has dominated the league over the last decade.
Final thoughts
There’s bound to be a few more twists and turns between now and when the summer transfer window closes on September 1st. Although there have been a few transfers in European leagues, with a couple of notable inbound players at Real Madrid, the majority of the big signings are in the EPL. It’s likely to remain that way, but there’s bound to be a couple of shock moves over the next few weeks as teams look to get themselves ready for the new campaign.
Main image credit: IMAGO / Revierfoto