Shining The Spotlight To Premier League’s Rising: Underlooked 2022 Summer Transfer Windows

Hijacks. Bargains. Sagas. Release clauses. Looking back, the 2022 summer transfer window had it all. With Erling Haaland moving to Manchester City for a reported fee of $65 million and Antonio Rudiger choosing Real Madrid as his next destination, we saw some of the world’s biggest names leave their clubs in search of a new challenge. Throughout this article, the spotlight will be turned toward clubs that have had an equally productive but widely underrated transfer window.

Club #1: Nottingham Forest:

The 2022 summer transfer window will certainly be remembered for years to come by Nottingham fans. Led by manager Steve Cooper, the club managed to complete an astounding 16 transfers ahead of the 2022/23 campaign, spending almost $162 million in total.

Within these transfers, we see the likes of Morgan Gibbs-White from the Wolves, Taiwo Awoniyi from Union Berlin, Neco Williams from Liverpool, and Emmanuel Dennis from Watford add their talents to the team. Taiwo Awoniyi, who provided 20 goals and five assists in all competitions last year for Union Berlin, has the potential to create a dangerous duo with Emmanuel Dennis, who netted 10 times and assisted six times in the English Premier League for Watford. On defense, the additions of Omar Richards, Neco Williams, and Moussa Niakhaté add the perfect mix of experience and talent. Due to the outstanding amount of signings which Nottingham Forest have made this transfer window, their overall squad increased in capacity significantly, adding to their depth. These signings have given the team a new face ahead of their campaign in the Premier League this season.

Club #2: Leeds United:

Leeds United bid farewell to one of the most legendary coaches in their history, Marco Bielsa, on February 28, 2022. To replace him, American coach Jesse Marsch stepped up. This coming season will be his first full season in the Premier League, but luckily the Leeds’s quality transfer pickups will reduce some of the nerves heading into the season.

In terms of departures, this window was not an easy one to watch, especially for Leeds’s fans. They witnessed their two best players, Kalvin Phillps and Raphinha, leave the club for reported fees of $53.62 million and $63.80 million respectively. With that money, the task was simple. Replacing the void left by the departures of the two fan-favorites was the biggest priority alongside signing a new RB to replace the aging Luke Ayling. In addition, for fans of the USMNT, this window was exclusively special. Leeds purchased two of the USMNT’s most talented players in Tyler Adams and Brenden Aaronson for reported fees of $18.70 million and $36.13 million. Tyler Adams, alongside Marc Roca of Spain, joined to replace Kalvin Phillips’s role in the Starting XI, while Brenden Aaronson looks to contribute his incessant energy and pressing. Furthermore, Rasmus Kristensen, a talented Danish international, was a smart purchase from Salzburg who filled that much-needed RB position previously occupied by Luke Ayling. To bring creativity and end product into the side, Luis Sinisterra joined from Feyenoord for a price of $27.50 million. The Colombian international was stellar for Feyennord last season, providing 23 goals and 14 assists in all competitions.

Collectively, Leeds’s transfer business was smart. The task of replacing Raphinha and Phillips wasn’t easy, but Leeds managed to do that while replacing even more positions, such as the RB spot.

Club #3 - Arsenal:

The summer transfer window for Arsenal was by no means similar to those of Nottingham Forest or Leeds United. Already a top club in the Premier League, Arsenal’s goal heading into the window was to elevate their team into the Champions League, as they failed to do so in recent years. Still, some of their purchases this window were excellent and are destined to help Arsenal improve significantly.

With Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyand’s departures, Arsenal was in dire need of a central figure in attack—and who better to get than Gabriel Jesus? As an established player in the Premier League for Manchester City, Jesus ticked all the boxes for Arsenal, and it was shocking that in the end, no other teams went for him besides Arsenal. Another job for Arsenal to cover was to bring in competition for Kieran Tierney, who was quite injury-prone last season. Once again, Arsenal turned to Manchester City, but this time for Oleksander Zinchenko, deemed one of Man City’s most “technically-gifted” players. With these two transfers, Arsenal already strengthened their squad to a degree that made qualifying for the Champions League look like a strong possibility, but their business didn’t end here. They increased their depth by purchasing Fábio Vieira from FC Porto for a reported fee of $40 million as well as Matt Turner from the United States of America for a reported fee of $9 million. Vieira brings depth for Martin Ødegaard at the CAM position, while Turner provides much-needed backup for Aaron Ramsdale at the GK position.

The window was a positive one for fans of the Gunners, and now it’s up to the squad to perform and bring back Champions League football to the Emirates Stadium.

Overall, the 2022 summer transfer window was one full of chaos, but with a couple weeks left to go, it will be interesting to see what moves certain teams try to make and how it will impact their respective squads going into the season.