Three games into the Premier League season feels like as good a time as any to rank summer signings and we\u2019ve done just that with the 14 most expensive of them this summer.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re all thoroughly looking forward to the prospect of Alexander Isak being the flop of all flops but have limited this list to those who have played in at least two of the games so far.<\/p>\n
So you can look forward to an updated version of this which includes Isak and his sulking compadre Yoane Wissa, along with Nick Woltemade, Eberechi Eze, Xavi Simons and Alejandro Garnacho, but for now it\u2019s just the 14.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
14) Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen to Liverpool) \u2013 \u00a3100m rising to \u00a3116m<\/strong><\/p>\n Probably not the worst performer of everyone listed here, but all things considered \u2013 the cost, his reputation, a full pre-season \u2013 he merits bottom spot, with Liverpool arguably winning all three of their opening three games in spite of him.<\/p>\n Maybe it\u2019s a coincidence that they\u2019re struggling for attacking fluency but BILD\u2019s report of Germany\u2019s shock World Cup qualifying defeat to Slovakia<\/a><\/strong> which stated\u00a0that Wirtz\u00a0\u2018couldn\u2019t live up to the demands placed on him\u2019 feels equally applicable to the start of his Premier League career. Poor lad \u2018has forgotten his joy\u2019<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n MAILBOX: Everybody makes the same point about Florian Wirtz and Kevin de Bruyne\u2026<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 13) Benjamin Sesko (RB Leipzig to Manchester United) \u2013 \u00a366.2m rising to \u00a373.4m with add-ons<\/strong><\/p>\n Four off-target shots in 80 minutes of Premier League football off the bench following a \u00a366m move to solve Ruben Amorim\u2019s goalscoring woes probably isn\u2019t\u00a0exactly what he had in mind, and he did himself no favours by stepping up tenth in the penalty shootout defeat to Grimsby Town<\/a><\/strong> having put a stoppage-time chance over the bar from roughly four yards out to ensure the game went that far.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 12) Jamie Gittens (Borussia Dortmund to Chelsea) \u2013 \u00a348.5m rising to \u00a352m with add-ons<\/strong><\/p>\n Feels nailed on to be the next talented forward Chelsea can\u2019t be arsed to develop before flipping for profit, or at least for no great loss within the next two years. Started the opening-day draw with Crystal Palace but was hooked early in that one before two brief substitute appearances ahead of the signing of Alejandro Garnacho to provide further competition for his already limited game time.<\/p>\n READ: Chelsea\u2019s successful transfer model not the one football needs, but the one it deserves<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 11) Anthony Elanga (Nottingham Forest to Newcastle United) \u2013 \u00a352m rising to \u00a355m with add-ons<\/strong><\/p>\n Really quite unfair to judge a guy signed to create chances for a striker Newcastle haven\u2019t had for the opening three games of the season, but it\u2019s all we can do. There\u2019s plenty of room for improvement.<\/p>\n READ: Newcastle fleeced for extra \u00a390m as Liverpool stung for Alexander Isak<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 10) Milos Kerkez (Bournemouth to Liverpool) \u2013 \u00a340m<\/strong><\/p>\n The calls for Andrew Robertson\u2019s return to the starting line-up aren\u2019t yet widespread, but there have certainly been suggestions that Arne Slot may revert to the tried and tested left-back<\/a><\/strong>, at least before a better outing for Kerkez against Arsenal, after some worrying signs that he\u2019s one of the new breed of defenders who don\u2019t really like defending.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 9) Bryan Mbeumo (Brentford to Manchester United) \u2013 \u00a365m rising to \u00a371m with add-ons<\/strong><\/p>\n The scorer of Manchester United\u2019s Goal of the Month for August, which was revealingly described as \u2018well-worked\u2019 rather than a hoof, flick-on, bumble to the byline by Diogo Dalot and simple finish from Mbeumo. The alternatives options were two own goals or a Bruno Fernandes penalty.<\/p>\n Mbeumo scoring a decent goal against Grimsby before missing the crucial penalty feels like a decent summary of his Red Devils career to date \u2013 about par. We\u2019re none the wiser.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 8) Viktor Gyokeres (Sporting to Arsenal) \u2013 \u00a355m rising to \u00a363m with add-ons<\/strong><\/p>\n Two goals in three games is a start we\u2019re guessing both he and Mikel Arteta would have taken after an incredibly long build-up to him joining Arsenal and then a short pre-season because of that dragging of feet. That first goal against Leeds was so perfectly Gyokeres \u2013 direct and powerful before a top finish \u2013 while it\u2019s also nice to get off the mark from the penalty spot. Plenty more of those to come, we suspect.<\/p>\n But he did also look like a but of a lump in the games against Manchester United and Liverpool to grant some early doors flat-track bully theories.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 7) Noni Madueke (Chelsea to Arsenal) \u2013 \u00a348.5m rising to \u00a352m with add-ons<\/strong><\/p>\n Given we may never have been more invested in an Arsenal player doing well we briefly wondered whether the #NOTOMADUEKE petition was actually signed by a bunch of genius Gunners seeking support from the masses for one of their big summer signings.<\/p>\n We gave our heads a wobble and reverted to our previous opinion of them a bunch of unthinkable tw*ts lacking any sort of human decency, which will allow us to continue to enjoy Madueke\u2019s performances after a promising start to his Arsenal career.<\/p>\n READ MORE: England player ratings v Andorra: Anderson and Madueke impress but CBs and Rashford struggle<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 6) Tijjani Reijnders (AC Milan to Manchester City) \u2013 \u00a346.3m<\/strong><\/p>\n Who needs Kevin De Bruyne? Oh, we do. One excellent performance against Wolves was followed by two hugely uninspiring displays for City\u2019s new midfielder.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 5) Matheus Cunha (Wolves to Manchester United) \u2013 \u00a362.5m<\/strong><\/p>\n He\u2019s not off the mark yet like his fellow United inverted winger summer signing, but has still looked as though he will be the better addition as we suspected before the season started. Got a ways to go to prove he\u2019s some sort of Eric Cantona regen, mind.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 4) Martin Zubimendi (Real Sociedad to Arsenal) \u2013 \u00a360m<\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019ve not\u00a0really\u00a0noticed him and while we accept the argument that that\u2019s sort of the point with players of his ilk who sit at the base of midfield, keeping things ticking along while allowing others to attack and express themselves, it got to a point with Rodri before his injury where we couldn\u2019t keep our eyes off him.<\/p>\n It may be a slight concern that Zubimendi has looked far, far better for Spain in their World Cup qualifiers<\/a><\/strong> than he has done for Arsenal, but then maybe it\u2019s time for us all to accept that Arsenal are not Spain.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 3) Mohammed Kudus (West Ham to Tottenham) \u2013 \u00a355m<\/strong><\/p>\n Suspicions that those questioning Kudus\u2019 price tag after a very ordinary output of five goals and three assists last season were missing the obvious \u2018but he was playing for West Ham caveat\u2019 have been confirmed through his displays for Spurs.<\/p>\n He put the willies up PSG in the Super Cup, got two assists on the opening day win over Burnley and there\u2019s been plenty of other evidence besides that the 25-year-old will be able to more effectively combine his enviable skill, speed and power to reap reward this season compared to last.<\/p>\n He\u2019s in the Premier League XI of the season so far<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 2) Hugo Ekitike (Eintracht Frankfurt to Liverpool) \u2013 \u00a369m rising to \u00a379m with add-ons<\/strong><\/p>\n Ekitike said what all players must when asked about competition for places on the back of Alexander Isak\u2019s deadline-day arrival from Newcastle, insisting he\u2019s looking forward to the challenge<\/a><\/strong> rather than frankly a bit f***ed off that after three goals and an assist in four games for Liverpool he may soon be watching from the bench, though maybe not\u00a0that\u00a0soon<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n But such is his form that it\u2019s now assumed by many that Arne Slot will look to crowbar him into the team on the left, though that also feels very unfair on Cody Gakpo, who\u2019s arguably been the Reds\u2019 best player so far this season.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 1) Joao Pedro (Brighton to Chelsea) \u2013 \u00a355m rising to \u00a360m with add-ons<\/strong><\/p>\n Quite clearly the best of the 427 signings BlueCo made this summer and possibly already one of the best since the takeover just over three years ago. He\u2019s got two goals and two assists already to provide genuine hope that Chelsea have finally found a close to fully-formed striker to lead their attack. No ifs, buts, maybes or time to bed-in required for the 23-year-old bodes very well indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three games into the Premier League season feels like as good a time as any to rank summer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,179,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-409825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-liverpool","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115173108241822422","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}