The Premier League summer transfer window is open for business, with clubs now officially able to register new signings.
You’ll find all the major deals on our dedicated Transfers page, while you can get a club-by-club guide to the key moves via our comprehensive Pre-Season tab.
In this article, we’ll look at all the notable transfers confirmed so far in May and June.
The most significant players will be the subject of their own dedicated Scout Report but all the others will feature in regular round-ups over pre-season, starting with this one.
SCOUT REPORTS
- Ivan Perisic (Inter Milan to Tottenham Hotspur, free)
- Brenden Aaronson (RB Salzburg to Leeds United, £25m)
- Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund to Manchester City, £51.1m)
Click on the above names for a full profile of each player.
FPL TRANSFER ROUND-UP
Boubacar Kamara (Marseille to Aston Villa, free)
Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona to Aston Villa, £17m)
Diego Carlos (Sevilla to Aston Villa, £26m)
Robin Olsen (Roma to Aston Villa, undisclosed)
Aston Villa have been the busiest club of the summer so far, although two of their four transfers involve players who were on loan last season.
Philippe Coutinho and back-up goalkeeper Robin Olsen, who were signed initially on a temporary basis by Steven Gerrard in January, have made their moves to Villa Park permanent.
The new arrivals are Diego Carlos and Boubacar Kamara, who are both defensive acquisitions.
Carlos is a centre-half who has spent the last three seasons playing at Sevilla, while Kamara is a holding midfielder who joins on a free from Marseille.
Brazil international Carlos was part of a Sevilla team that boasted the best defence in La Liga in 2021/22, conceding fewer goals (30) than even Real Madrid (31) and Barcelona (38) and keeping 17 clean sheets en route to a fourth-place finish.
The new Villa stopper made more blocks than any other player in the Spanish top flight last season.
“As a player, sensational. His partnership with [Jules] Kounde, they compliment each other so well. There’s five years in terms of age difference, with Diego Carlos older. He’s the one who looks bigger, he looks stronger and he’s an excellent defender. He would be a top signing for any European club. He is a sensational central defender.” – La Liga pundit Terry Gibson
Like new teammate Tyrone Mings, however, Carlos has cultivated a reputation as someone who is prone to an occasional individual error or three:
“It was a couple of years ago that a Brazilian journalist, based in Spain, brought my attention to Diego Carlos and said ‘I think this is the best Brazilian centre-back in Spain, have a look at him’.
“My conclusion, and he won the Olympic gold medal as well, is that we may be dealing with a centre-back who may look better than he is.
“I worry about Diego Carlos. There are moments when he looks classy, but there are lots of mistakes and wild man things.” – South American football correspondent, Tim Vickery
Carlos does pose a little bit of a goal threat, having found the net on three occasions in 2021/22. His total of 30 goal attempts and 25 shots in the box would have seen him rank among the top 10 defenders in the Premier League last season.
Birmingham Mail meanwhile describe Kamara as a “shoo-in” to feature in the number six role at Villa.
He himself won’t be an FPL asset worth considering – three goals in 130 Ligue I appearances says it all – but, like Carlos, Fantasy managers will be hoping he can have a positive impact on the clean sheet potential of Matty Cash and Lucas Digne.
And the benefits might not just be in terms of shut-outs, with The Athletic suggesting that Kamara’s arrival is part of Gerrard’s plan to “see full-backs Lucas Digne and Matty Cash both given more freedom to attack”.
Villa were at the right end of the table for defensive stats since Gerrard was appointed boss ahead of Gameweek 12 (eighth for fewest goals conceded, for example), so the two new acquisitions could further strengthen the backline.
Matt Targett (Aston Villa to Newcastle, £15m)
Exiting the Midlands is Matt Targett, who renews acquaintances with Newcastle United following his loan move in January.
Since making his debut in Gameweek 24 last season, the corner-taking Targett ranked fifth among defenders for chances created (CC, below) and second for successful crosses (SP, below):
The Magpies will have designs on a top 10 finish next season if heavy investment continues over the summer so their FPL assets could be legitimate targets come Gameweek 1, fixtures depending.
An expected starting price of £5.0m for Targett might be off-putting to some, however, especially if Kieran Trippier is available for the same money.
Rasmus Kristensen (RB Salzburg to Leeds United, undisclosed)
Rasmus Kristensen arrives at Leeds with an attacking reputation, although his numbers only really jump off the page in the season just gone.
The Denmark international – who will reunite with former boss Jesse Marsch – scored on seven occasions in the Austrian Bundesliga in 2021/22, an impressive tally when you consider that he’s a right-back.
There are whiffs of Matt Doherty in the obligatory YouTube highlights reel, with Kristensen not only prominent around the penalty box but posing a real goal threat in the air – whether that be at dead-ball situations or, in true Doherty style, arriving late at the back post during open play.
The big fat disclaimer on all of this is that the eye-popping numbers were delivered in the Austrian top tier for the runaway league leaders. Will Kristensen get as many opportunities to score in a tougher division for a struggling Leeds side?
Indeed, the Dane hasn’t scored outside of Austria or his native Denmark at club level: 24 Champions League qualifying and group stage appearances have brought zero goals and just two assists, while his 18 months at Ajax in 2018/19 were a disappointment as he failed to nail down a starting place and blanked in front of goal in the Eredivisie.
The underlying stats at the highest level are at least encouraging, as he averaged a shot every 80 minutes in the Champions League proper last season; Joao Cancelo’s average in the same competition was 76, for example.
Should Kristensen get a £4.5m tag in FPL, he’ll certainly be one of the more forward-thinking options at the price point.
Fraser Forster (Southampton to Tottenham Hotspur, free)
Tottenham Hotspur have a new goalkeeper in the form of Fraser Forster, who has left Southampton on a free.
He’ll almost certainly be back-up to Hugo Lloris, however, filling the gloves of the now-departed loanee Pierluigi Gollini.
Fabio Carvalho (Fulham to Liverpool, undisclosed)
Liverpool’s new signing follows in the footsteps of teammate Harvey Elliott in moving from Fulham to Merseyside and the expectations are that he’ll experience a similar gradual integration into the team.
Carvalho produced 10 goals and eight assists in 33 league starts for the promoted Cottagers last season, averaging a shot every 35.9 minutes and a key pass every 47.3 minutes.
Deployed as a no. 10 or advanced no. 8 for Marco Silva’s side, the suggestions are that the versatile teenager may instead provide cover across the frontline for Jurgen Klopp’s side rather than be farmed out on loan.
A name to monitor for the future, then, but unless there’s an injury and illness crisis ahead of Gameweek 1, none of us are likely to be using up a Liverpool slot with the Portuguese rookie.
1 year, 10 months agoBet Leeds fans are buzzing that they don’t have to watch Firpo each week! Lol.