The Premier League winners & losers from transfer deadline day

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Transfer deadline day is the single date in the calendar that sums up modern football as accurately as possible.

Like a flock of fathers accompanying their wives and children around a Turkish bazaar, sporting directors all over the world spent 24 hours negotiating, haggling, threatening to walk away and eventually getting talked into a pair of trousers they’ll never wear, and didn’t even intend to buy.

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Once again, the Premier League was the epicentre of the transfer world, with those in power feeling the pressure to appease a frustrated fan base or an under-fire manager. So, who were the real winners and losers of the summer transfer deadline day this time round?

Well, despite everything that has happened at the start of this season, it has to be said that Arsenal’s final day of the transfer window couldn’t have gone much better. The Gunners managed to offload major earner Willian and the unwanted Hector Bellerin, while signing Takehiro Tomiyasu to shore up a defence that has leaked nine goals already this term.

Let’s hope Mikel Arteta stays in the job long enough to see his summer spending come to fruition…

Another winner has to be Manchester United. Any club that announces the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo on deadline day is automatically showing off and the £30m sale of Daniel James was also impressive.

It is a shame to see someone leave who worked as hard and wanted to succeed as much as James did, but United will be satisfied that their negotiators did their job on Tuesday.

West Ham United complete the major winners of the final day of the window, getting two huge deals over the line. Having already signed Chelsea’s Kurt Zouma, the Hammers splashed out on CSKA Moscow star Nikola Vlasic, before later announcing the loan signing of midfielder Alex Kral.

They also won the deadline day social media battle, posting a great video to announce Kral’s arrival, alongside his Czech compatriots.

A special shoutout goes to Crystal Palace too, after they won the race to land Celtic striker Odsonne Edouard. The Frenchman is highly rated, and at £14m, he could end up being a steal for the Eagles.

Now for the losers. Could you call Chelsea losers? Over the course of the entire window – absolutely not. But the final day? Meh, maybe. The Blues were expected to sign Sevilla centre-back Jules Kounde, and it was a deal they had been working on for some time. In the end, they couldn’t get it over the line and had to settle for a loan move for Saul Niguez.

Tough life, eh? Elsewhere on the losers‘ heap, we see a lifeless Newcastle United, doing everything in their power to deflect from their transfer failings.

Instead of bolstering the squad in the necessary areas, the Magpies signed Goal! regen Santiago Munoz, a teenage Mexican striker. Will he have any impact in the Premier League? Not as much as signing a much-needed centre-midfielder or centre-back would have done.

An honourable mention goes to Everton for signing Salomon Rondon while keeping James Rodriguez at the club, despite the fact he’s openly admitted he doesn’t know which teams the Toffees are facing and is the unhappiest footballer in the world.

Alongside them are Merseyside partners Liverpool, who failed to replenish their forward line for another season. It’ll be interesting to see what Jurgen Klopp can conjure up for the Reds when Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah jet off for African Cup of Nations duties…