Ten of the best-value deals from this summer’s transfer window

This season, all three promoted Premier League sides have started the season with a new goalkeeper between the posts. Given that the last six teams to come up have conceded a total of 515 goals (85.8 each on average) on their way straight back down, it’s not a bad position to focus on. Burnley replaced James Trafford with Martin Dubravka, while Leeds saw Lucas Perri as a safer pair of hands than Illan Meslier. Sunderland’s recruitment of Roefs, a small part of their £150m summer outlay, might be the best decision of all. Standing 6ft 4in tall, the Dutchman has a presence and composure that belies the fact he is only 22. Roefs has quickly become a fan favourite and saved a penalty to help Sunderland beat Brentford, their second win in three Premier League games.

Celta’s decision to replace Rafa Benítez with B-team coach Claudio Giráldez last year was an inspired one. Giráldez transformed them from relegation candidates to European qualifiers in a single season and did so with minimal spending, building his team around a young, homegrown core of players. With a European campaign looming and winger Fer López sold to Wolves, reinforcements were needed this summer. Jutglà, a versatile attacker raised at Barcelona, could scarcely fit the Celta profile better – and with a year left on his contract, the 26-year-old was snapped up for less than £5m. If a three-year stint in Belgium was an unexpected step in his development, Jutglà still delivered: 31 goals in 105 games, including a fine strike to seal a surprise Champions League win over Atalanta. He may well cause more shockwaves in the Europa League this season.

It has been a turbulent summer for Bayer Leverkusen, with an entire XI’s worth of players coming and going under the watch of Erik ten Hag, who was then dismissed after three games in charge. An uncertain few weeks lie ahead for Leverkusen’s new recruits, including a trio of promising youngsters. Playmaker Ibrahim Maza and centre-back Abdoulaye Faye – plucked from second-tier Hertha and Swedish side Häcken respectively – are intriguing prospects, but flying winger Poku could make the quickest impact. Discovered in amateur football, Poku was quickly identified as a rising star, helping unfancied AZ Alkmaar win the Uefa Youth League in 2023. Able to play out wide, up front or behind a central striker, Poku claims to “leave defenders behind for breakfast” with his raw pace, but is also blessed with a delicate touch. Whoever replaces Ten Hag would be wise to give him a chance to shine.

Bournemouth sold four players this summer for fees in excess of £40m, three of whom were key cogs in Andoni Iraola’s defence last season. The Cherries may have been picked apart but they have responded in the summer market with a range of smart mid-price signings. Truffert could be the best of the bunch; the left-back brings a very different physical profile to the departed Milos Kerkez, but offers an attractive blend of youth and experience. Still only 23, Truffert racked up 150 Rennes appearances and captained the club for part of last season. He also brings big-game prowess to this ambitious corner of the south coast, having featured in all three current Uefa competitions and won a silver medal with France at the Paris Olympics.

Before he had signed his first professional contract, Hidalgo was already aiming high. Having switched position from left-winger to striker, his ambition was to emulate Sergio Agüero. It was another Argentina legend that slowed his progress at Independiente; Carlos Tevez came in as head coach and sent Hidalgo to the reserves. After opting against a free transfer away, he outlasted Tevez and began to attract interest from Europe – including Toulouse, who have built an analytical model under Damien Comolli with scouts in 70 different countries. Comolli has left for Juventus this summer but the club’s approach continues, negotiating a cut-price fee for a player with a reported €20m release clause. Hidalgo has hit the ground running as an impact substitute, notching two assists in three Ligue 1 games so far.

Crystal Palace are masters of a canny cut-price deal, but even by their standards, landing a defender of Sosa’s calibre and experience for a fee of up to £3m was exceptional work. Seen as a rising star at Stuttgart, where he recorded a league-leading 24 assists across three seasons at left-back, Sosa’s career stalled when the former Stuttgart sporting director, Sven Mislintat, brought him to Ajax in 2023 – and was sacked three weeks later. Out of the picture in Amsterdam, Sosa struggled on loan at Torino but already looks a better fit on the left of Oliver Glasner’s 3-4-3 formation. Tyrick Mitchell remains first-choice in that position, but Sosa’s solid European experience will be hugely beneficial as Palace embark on their first continental campaign.

Luis Enrique’s decision to dispense with Gigi Donnarumma and replace him with Lille goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier at PSG was a ruthless statement of intent. It also bolstered Les Dogues’ reputation as one of Europe’s leading clubs in terms of talent development. Having banked £47.6m for academy product Chevalier, Lille spent less than 10% of that fee on their new No 1, who was playing first-team football at 18 for Turkish side Altinordu. Özer joined Fenerbahce but found his path blocked by Altay Bayindir, and took loan moves to Belgium and Portugal in order to play before settling back in Turkey with Eyüpspor. It was Lille’s previous history with Turkish stars like Burak Yilmaz that swayed Özer to move and he has started well, making big saves against Monaco before saving a penalty and notching an assist as Lille dismantled Lorient 7-1.

Another club with a hard-earned reputation for developing players are Parma, aiming to stabilise in Serie A after a turbulent decade. Under new head coach Carlos Cuesta – previously an assistant to Mikel Arteta at Arsenal – the club have cast their net wide this summer in search of young talent. Ordoñez, a tough-tackling midfielder, and January recruit Mateo Pellegrino were both signed from Argentinian side Vélez. Pellegrino scored twice in Cuesta’s first game in charge, a Coppa Italia win over Pescara, while Ordoñez has the ball-winning skills to make a big impact on Serie A midfields. Having flashed up on Manchester United’s radar, Ordoñez is happy to join a club “where so many important Argentinian players made history”. He and Pellegrino could quickly join that list.

Not every good-value transfer involves an unfamiliar name on an upward trajectory. Soler would once have fit those criteria, but his career stalled after leaving hometown club Valencia for PSG’s crowded midfield engine room. He made 50 league appearances in Paris, but only played the full 90 minutes six times, and a season at West Ham on loan saw him fall into a similar bit-part role. Real Sociedad’s deadline-day move is therefore something of a gamble, but the Anoeta seems an ideal location for Soler to rediscover his best form. Back in La Liga, where he made 182 appearances in his first stint, his flexibility and work ethic will be useful to a team rebuilding under new manager Sergio Francisco. If so, fans can thank former midfield star Mikel Merino, who encouraged the move in a phone call with Soler last week.

When a key player is snapped up by a bigger club, some teams prefer a like-for-like replacement. That appears to be the case at Lecce, who have signed Serbian striker Nikola Stulic as the successor to Nikola Krstovic, the Montenegrin forward who has joined Atalanta. Krstovic (Red Star) and Stulic (Partizan) both developed at a Belgrade giant, and both took a sidestep on their way to Serie A. While Krstovic found his scoring touch at Slovakian side Dunajska Streda, Stulic bagged a goal every other game with Charleroi last season. There’s no guarantee that Stulic will keep following his predecessor’s path, but the bargain fee reduces any risk. If Krstovic is a hit in Bergamo, Lecce’s 10% sell-on fee might well cover the cost of signing Stulic entirely.