Deadline day has been pretty underwhelming in recent years, but with the likes of Iliman Ndiaye (£6.0m), Enzo Fernandez (£6.9m) and Malick Fofana linked with last-minute moves, today could be quite eventful.
We’re also expecting a late flurry of ins and outs beyond these high-profile transfers, with several Premier League clubs anticipated to be active.
Naturally, these late developments in the market could affect Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers’ plans going into Gameweek 3 and beyond.
With that in mind, this live blog will be rounding up the confirmed deals that could present Fantasy bosses with new targets – or have a negative impact on existing assets.
TRANSFER DEADLINE DAY – AS IT HAPPENED
01:00 – Juan Riquelme Angulo Caicedo (Independiente del Valle to Sunderland, £5m)
One for the future here.
The 18-year-old Ecuadorian only made his professional debut in March of this year, though he hit the ground running with six league goals from just seven starts and eight sub appearances.
A tall, powerful striker, he actually finished his time in his homeland on the right wing.
“His physical qualities are obvious, but he also has good movement, technical ability and a natural instinct for scoring goals.
“He has already shown in a short spell that he can compete at senior level despite his age, and we are delighted to bring him to Sunderland at this important stage of his development.
“We look forward to supporting him as he adapts to European football and continues his progression with us.” – Sunderland AFC Director of Football, Florent Ghisolfi
Expect a gradual introduction and a place in the pecking order behind Brian Brobbey (£6.0m) and Wilson Isidor (£5.5m).
01:00 – Darío Osorio (FC Midtjylland to Crystal Palace, loan)
Linked with various Premier League clubs this summer, Crystal Palace have secured the signing of Osorio on an initial loan, with an obligation to buy from Midtjylland. It will cost at least £24 million, before add-ons.
The talented 22-year-old Chilean is a left-footer who cuts inside from the right. He’s been playing in Denmark for three years, delivering 25 goals and 18 assists in 121 matches, averaging 2.57 shots per game in 2025/26’s Superliga.
Perhaps Palace fans will be dreaming of the next Michael Olise? It’ll be interesting to see what this means for Ismaila Sarr (£6.4m). He’s not featured so far, but might not secure his desired departure – at least to a club whose transfer window is still open.
00:45 – Jean-Mattéo Bahoya (Eintracht Frankfurt to Leeds United, loan)
Signing on an initial loan deal, 21-year-old Bahoya is a left-sided attacker with devastating pace.
He joined Frankfurt in January 2024 and, during his first full season, recorded the fastest ever Bundesliga sprint since records began. Only three individuals have ever exceeded 37 km/h in the Premier League – Micky van de Ven (£5.0m), Kyle Walker and Jackson Tchatchoua.
The France Under-21 international doesn’t initially seem to deliver an end product, recording seven goals and eight assists in 78 Frankfurt matches, though over half came from the bench. 448 minutes per goal isn’t so bad – one approximately every five games.
Yet Bahoya’s biggest strength is dribbling, completing 2.78 take-ons per 90 last season. He gives off Jeremy Doku (£7.4m) vibes.
Perhaps Daniel Farke’s plan is to have him and Harry Wilson (£6.5m) play behind Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m), but first he has to oust Brenden Aaronson and Noah Okafor.
00:30 – Quinten Timber (Marseille to Crystal Palace, undisclosed)
The versatile Dutch international has filled in pretty much everywhere during his time in the Netherlands and France but he’s typically deployed in the middle of the park.
It seems likely that he’ll be cover/competition for Daichi Kamada (£5.0m) and Adam Wharton (£5.5m).
2023/24 was his standout season for attacking returns:
| Season | Team | Apps | Mins | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | Marseille | 14 (1) | 1114 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025/26 | Feyenoord | 14 (3) | 1317 | 2 | 4 |
| 2024/25 | Feyenoord | 16 (2) | 1395 | 6 | 0 |
| 2023/24 | Feyenoord | 31 (0) | 2675 | 7 | 9 |
| 2022/23 | Feyenoord | 19 (5) | 1645 | 2 | 3 |
| 2021/22 | FC Utrecht | 31 (2) | 2536 | 2 | 3 |
A knee injury curtailed his 2024/25 campaign, and a fallout with Feyenoord boss Robin van Persie led to a January move to Marseille.
His stock has somewhat fallen over the last two years, then, but he was still involved in the Netherlands’ 2026 World Cup campaign.
00:15 – Malick Fofana (Lyon to Sunderland, £30m)
An exciting acquistion for Sunderland.
Fofana was at the centre of a tug of war between the Black Cats and Crystal Palace on deadline day but the Mackems won the race.
The 22-year-old Belgian international has spent the last three-and-a-half seasons at Lyon, although last year was decimated by ankle surgery.
| Season | Team | Apps | Mins | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | Lyon | 9 (3) | 754 | 2 | 1 |
| 2024/25 | Lyon | 16 (13) | 1,587 | 5 | 4 |
| 2023/24 | Lyon | 4 (13) | 550 | 3 | 0 |
| 2023/24 | Gent | 12 (7) | 1,144 | 2 | 3 |
| 2022/23 | Gent | 8 (11) | 769 | 0 | 2 |
| 2022/23 | Gent | 0 (3) | 15 | 0 | 0 |
Positionally, he’s chiefly left winger. That puts the likes of Chemsdine Talbi (£5.4m) and Nilson Angulo (£5.0m) under immediate pressure, although both of the above – and indeed Fofana – have deputised on the opposite flank, where FPL defender Trai Hume (£4.5m) is currently to be found ‘out of position’.
Fofana hit double figures for shots from both his left and right feet in 2024/25, for instance.
“Malick has all the attributes to thrive in the Premier League. He is a player with huge potential and Sunderland AFC will provide him with the right environment to continue to develop and prosper.
“He operates off the left and will complement the versatility of the other wide men we have at the club, who can play across both flanks.” – Sunderland Director of Football, Florent Ghisolfi
‘The budget Barcola’ was how one French football expert described Fofana, who is a pacy and direct wide-man.
His end product perhaps needs work. He’s never bettered a minutes-per-chance-created average of 50 in his time at Lyon, for instance. Fofana averaged a shot every 40 minutes in Ligue I in 2024/25, meanwhile – again, a so-so figure.
But he’s young, was even linked with Arsenal this week, and there’s plenty who share the opinion that Sunderland have trumped Newcastle with their deadline-day signing of a young Belgian prospect (see Fernandez-Pardo below).
00:00 – David Affengruber (Elche to Fulham, undisclosed)
The end for Joachim Andersen (£5.0m)? It’s perhaps premature to say that but there are question marks over whether the Dane can hack it in a high-tempo-and-high-line set-up under Alvaro Arbeloa.
Affengruder is a ball-playing, right-sided centre-half, which sounds very Andersen.
However, the 22-year-old Austrian has also got that bit of recovery pace that the creaking Denmark international hasn’t.
Encouragingly, Affengruber averaged 10.03 DefCons per 90 minutes in 2025/26, which is just over the threshold.
He’s scored just one league goal in two full seasons with Elche.
00:00 – Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Lyon to Everton, undisclosed)
The solution to Everton’s right-back problems?
Midfielder Merlin Rohl (£5.0m) is currently occupying that position, while centre-back Jake O’Brien (£4.9m) did it for much of 2025/26.
It’s perhaps fitting, then, that a player who spent a chunk of his career in other roles should be given the next stab at it.
The versatile Maitland-Niles has, at least, spent much of his three-year stint at Lyon at right-back.
A model of consistency, he’s delivered one goal and four assists in each of his three Ligue I campaigns.
But full-backs tend not to get too much attacking license under David Moyes (in the Baines/Coleman era, yes, in the current one, no), and the centre-backs lap up the DefCons.
Maitland-Niles, indeed, only averaged a poor 6.01 DefCons per 90 minutes in 2025/26.
Not much FPL potential, then.
23:50 – Ben Chilwell (Strasbourg to Crystal Palace, undisclosed)
A return to Crystal Palace for Chilwell, who spent the second half of 2024/25 on loan at the Eagles.
He moved to Strasbourg last summer, making 20 Ligue I appearances and creating two assists.
He’ll very likely be back-up to Tyrick Mitchell (£4.5m), as he was during his last stint in south London.
23:35 – Christos Mouzakitis (Olympiakos to Hull City, undisclosed)
Guess what? Yet another Hull City central midfielder, something we discussed at 22:00 when Tim Iroegbunam signed.
This one is a hotly tipped teenager, who has already made 50 league appearances for Greek giants Olympiakos and amassed 11 senior caps for his national team.
He’s only bagged two goals and three assists in those half-century of run-outs for Olympiakos, while his DefCons per 90 minutes were down at 8.60 – so he’s not someone who immediately stands out from an FPL perspective, despite his growing reputation.
We’ve now got at least seven Hull players – including £4.5m option Regan Slater – competing for two or three central midfield spots.
23:30 – Chema Andres (Stuttgart to Brighton and Hove Albion, undisclosed)
A new name in the Brighton central midfield mix.
Andres was brought through the Real Madrid youth system but made just two senior league appearances for the Spanish giants before moving to Stuttgart last summer.
There, he made 14 Bundesliga starts and a further 11 substitute appearances in 2025/26.
A physical specimen at 6’4″, you won’t be surprised to hear that he’s a defensive midfielder and not a fleet-footed playmaker.
His DefCon rate per 90 minutes was monstrous: 13.71. That’s only just below Elliot Anderson’s 13.94 of 2025/26.
Given his height, he was also a sporadic threat from set plays. Two of his three Bundesliga goals came from corners.
One to monitor, then, but first he has to get past Yasin Ayari (£5.5m) and Pascal Gross (£5.5m).
23:30 – Sorba Thomas (Stoke City to Hull City, undisclosed)
Having let Gameweek 2 match-winner Liam Millar (£5.0m) move to Birmingham City earlier in the day, Hull have reinforced their options on the left wing.
Thomas arrived from Stoke City, where he hit 10 goals and 11 assists in 45 Championship appearances last season.
Fond of a shot from distance (three of his 10 goals in 2025/26 came from outside the box), he overachieved massively on the xG front (+5.18).
He was the Championship’s leading chance creator of the season just gone, with 90. As you’d probably expect, he was helped by a significant role at free-kicks and corners.
Elliot Stroud (£5.0m) now comes under threat in this unbeaten Hull side.
23:30 – Enzo Fernandez (Chelsea to Manchester City, £125m)
The deal of the day, surely, and so much to unpack that it’s best left to a full-blown Moving Target article!
Suffice to say, City’s big-money purchase of Enzo, now at £6.9m in FPL, puts the cat amongst the pigeons in their engine room.
Where does this leave Nico O’Reilly (£6.5m), for instance, as he’s been playing as an 8/10 in the first two Gameweeks? The Cityzens now have him, Elliot Anderson (£6.4m), Enzo and Ayyoub Bouaddi (£5.5m) tussling for two slots.
If Enzo is used as a ’10’, where do Rayan Cherki (£7.7m) and Phil Foden (£7.0m) feature, especially after the arrival of Iliman Ndiaye (£6.0m)?
Plenty to ponder.
23:10 – Zian Flemming (Burnley to Ipswich Town, £20m)
An intruiging one, this, given that Flemming plundered 11 goals for Premier League strugglers Burnley last season.
Indeed, he was among the leading forwards (min. 1,000 minutes) for minutes per goal in 2025/26:
With Emersonn (£5.5m) to be assessed for a knee injury sustained in Gameweek 2, it’ll be interesting to see if Flemming goes straight into the Ipswich line-up.
He’s match-fit enough, having scored three league and cup goals for the Clarets in as many starts in 2026/27.
He has a good spot-kick record, too (13/15), if given the chance by Gary O’Neil.
23:00 – Tosin Adarabioyo (Chelsea to Tottenham Hotspur, undisclosed)
The new Kevin Danso (see below)?
Tosin, £4.5m in FPL, is almost certainly going to be back-up for a right-sided centre-back role at Spurs, behind Jan Paul van Hecke (£5.0m).
22:45 – Melvin Bard (Nice to Leeds United, loan)
A new positional rival, or more likely back-up, for Gabriel Gudmundsson (£4.5m).
Bard is a left-back who has been a regular with Nice since the 2021/22 campaign, when he joined from Lyon.
The 25-year-old Frenchman has never banked more than four attacking returns in a season, while he has never bettered 7.22 DefCons per 90 minutes in any of his five campaigns.
This transfer likely means we will see less of the versatile James Justin (£4.5m) at left wing-back, and perhaps more of him competing with Jayden Bogle (£4.5m) on the opposite flank.
There’s also a chance of us seeing Justin as a right-sided centre-back if Joe Rodon (£4.5m) faces a spell out.
22:30 – Robinio Vaz (Roma to Hull City, loan)
Another positional rival for Oli McBurnie (£5.5m), but someone who is very inexperienced:
| Season | Team | League starts (Sub apps) | Mins | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | Roma | 0 (12) | 205 | 1 | 0 |
| 2025/26 | Marseille | 3 (11) | 373 | 4 | 2 |
| 2024/25 | Marseille | 0 (2) | 74 | 0 | 0 |
Still, this is a promising 19-year-old striker who cost Roma around £21m in January.
A total of four Ligue I goals from just 373 minutes of action with Marseille in 2025/26 was eye-catching, especially considering the low number of shots (eight) and an xG of just 2.31.
Three of those eight efforts (albeit none of his goals) were headers, too, so the pacy, physical 6’1″ striker may be a decent fit at Hull.
22:15 – Jack Grealish (Manchester City to Everton, loan)
With Ndiaye gone, Everton needed reinforcements in the wide areas – and they’ve recruited a familiar face.
Grealish, available at £6.5m in FPL, spent last season on loan with the Toffees.
It was a temporary stint that was curtailed by a campaign-ending foot injury in January.
When he was fit, he didn’t do too badly: two goals and six assists from 18 starts and two substitute appearances.
£0.5m more than DefCon machine James Garner (£6.0m) is questionable, however, and the identically priced Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£6.5m) comfortably outdid him for points per start in 2025/26:
22:15 – Brooke Norton-Cuffy (Genoa to Hull City, undisclosed)
Competition for Lewie Coyle (£4.0m) at right-back/right wing-back.
Norton-Cuffy effectively replaces Cody Drameh (£4.0m), who moves in the opposite direction to Italy.
The new arrival on Humberside, who is still only 22, has spent the last two years in Serie A.
A bit-part player in 2024/25, he established himself as a regular with Genoa last season and delivered two goals and an assist from 25 starts.
22:00 – Tim Iroegbunam (Everton to Hull City, undisclosed)
Another summer signing for Hull – and there’s more to come.
As for central midfielder Iroegbunam, he’s never scored a Premier League goal in 59 appearances.
Instead, any residual appeal comes from DefCons – and he’s racked them up at a furious rate in what pitch-time he’s been afforded at Everton:
| Season | DefCons per 90 |
|---|---|
| 2025/26 | 11.00 |
| 2024/25 | 15.56 |
| 2023/24 | 11.14 |
There’s a heck of a lot of competition in the Hull engine room, however – so he’ll first have to establish himself ahead of at least three of the following five:
22:00 – Mykhailo Mudryk (Chelsea to Tottenham Hotspur, loan)
Remember him? Mudryk, priced at just £5.4m in FPL, hasn’t kicked a ball in the Premier League since November 2024. Provisionally suspended by the Football Association (FA) for alleged doping offences the following month, he was finally cleared in July of this year.
He wasn’t much cop before that, in truth.
His best season at Chelsea was in 2023/24, when he delivered five goals and five assists from 18 starts and 13 substitute appearances. He averaged a so-so 4.1 points per start during that time.
He does, however, now reunite with the man who brought the best out of him at Shakhtar Donetsk: Roberto De Zerbi.
“Having worked with Misha earlier in his career, I know exactly what he can bring to our team.
“He has the quality to change a game with his speed and ability in one-vs-one situations, and is an exciting, attacking talent.
“I will demand a lot from Misha and it is our job to help him find the best version of himself. If we do that then he can become a very important player for us. I am very happy he chose to come here, and I cannot wait to work with him again.” – Roberto De Zerbi
It’s a long way back for Mudryk after so long out, and he’ll have to compete with Mathys Tel (£5.9m) and, potentially, Savio (£6.5m) and Omar Marmoush (£7.0m) on the left wing.
22:00 – Hugo Larsson (Eintracht Frankfurt to Fulham, loan)
How many central midfielders do you want, Fulham?
Following the arrival of Manuel Angel an hour ago, the Cottagers now have Larsson, Angel, Shea Charles (£5.0m), Alex Iwobi (£5.5m) and Sander Berge (£5.0m) competing for two places in the engine room.
Might we see Iwobi move back to a wide-midfield position, potentially on the right? Fulham only really have Oscar Bobb (£5.5m) out there.
As for Larsson, he has been a regular at Eintracht Frankfurt over the last three seasons. The 22-year-old Swedish international joined Frankfurt from Malmo in May 2023.
LARSSON’S BUNDESLIGA RECORD WITH FRANKFURT
| Season | Starts (sub apps) | Mins | Goals | Assists | DefCons per 90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | 21 (4) | 1,820 | 2 | 2 | 8.41 |
| 2024/25 | 28 (5) | 2,406 | 3 | 1 | 9.06 |
| 2023/24 | 21 (8) | 1,886 | 2 | 1 | 10.17 |
As the figures above suggest, he’s neither a goalscoring midfielder nor a DefCon magnet. Indeed, the Athletic’s German football correspondent, Seb Stafford-Bloor, describes him as an ‘all-purpose midfielder’ – and thus he’s probably going to be an FPL afterthought.
21:00 – Iliman Ndiaye (Everton to Manchester City, £60m)
The biggest deal of the day so far – and one that could have huge FPL implications.
Ndiaye, a 14.4%-owned £6.0m midfielder in Fantasy terms, has swapped Merseyside for Manchester for an initial £60m. That fee could rise to £65m with add-ons.
Where to begin with this one?
The obvious initial observation is that he’s going to really struggle to be the 90-minute man he was at Everton. With Antoine Semenyo (£8.5m), the currently injured Jeremy Doku (£7.4m), Allan Elias (£6.0m) and, for the time being, Phil Foden (£7.0m) as competition out wide, Ndiaye is going to have his work cut out.
Even if he becomes a regular Premier League starter, the likelihood of him repeatedly lasting full games and escaping the occasional bit of fatigue-led rotation is slim.
He’s losing penalties now, too. Erling Haaland (£15.5m) isn’t going to be giving them up at City.
Ndiaye is also surely going to take a hit when it comes to defensive contributions; he’s hit the 12 mark in both Gameweeks this season.
Lots to unpack (not to mention the fact that Everton will need a new penalty taker), so we’ll do it all in more detail in a Moving Target article.
21:00 – Manuel Angel (Real Madrid to Fulham, £3m)
Alvaro Arbeloa has returned, for the third time in this transfer window, to his former club Real Madrid to bolster Fulham’s ranks.
And once again, following the captures of Gonzalo Garcia (£6.0m) and Cesar Palacios (£5.5m), it’s another academy product Arbeloa is very familiar with.
The 22-year-old Manuel Angel was a regular – and captain – under Arbeloa for Real Madrid ‘B’ in 2025/26. And, upon Arbeloa’s promotion to head coach of the senior side, it was the now-Fulham boss who handed the young central midfielder his La Liga debut in March of this year.
As you’d expect for someone who’s just made his senior bow in the last six months, he’s very green. Just one senior start in his entire career, although there have been 85 run-outs for the second string.
Just three goals in those 85 run-outs for Real Madrid betray his lack of goal threat.
DefCons will likely be more forthcoming, although there’s precious little data – 11 contributions in 95 minutes of Real Madrid action – to go off.
20:00 – Kevin Danso (Tottenham Hotspur to Sunderland, loan)
Another centre-half to add to the ranks at Sunderland.
Dan Ballard (£5.0m), Nordi Mukiele (£5.5m), Omar Alderete (£5.0m) and Luke O’Nien (£4.0m) have all featured there for the Black Cats already this season, with Ballard and Mukiele the DefCon-amassing, clean-sheet-earning pairing in Gameweek 2.
O’Nien, a Gameweek 1 starter and fleetingly brief Bench Boost option, suddenly finds himself as low as fifth in the centre-back pecking order.
Given the wealth of centre-half options at Regis Le Bris’ disposal, and, you’d assume, the likelihood of Danso only heading to Wearside with the assurances of more game-time, does this mean we’re going to see more of Mukiele at right-back, rather than centre-half? He’ll be in direct competition with veteran Belgian Thomas Meunier (£4.5m), who turns 35 this month, for that role.
And, in turn, is Fantasy defender Trai Hume (£4.5m) now simply going to be a full-time winger for the Mackems?
Danso, typically a right-sided centre-half, does actually seem like a good fit for Sunderland.
He had eye-poppingly good DefCon numbers in 2025/26, indeed, with the best rate of any defender (11.59 per 90 minutes, below) who logged more than 1,000 minutes of pitch-time:
Alas, he’s priced up at £5.0m in FPL, so there’s no cheeky £4.5m bargain to be had here. Still, a repeat of those historic DefCon figures and £5.0m will still represent good value.
19:00 – Lucca Brughmans (Genk to Liverpool, £30m)
Considering the 6ft 7in goalkeeper only made his senior debut less than five months ago, there’s not much to say about his 15 appearances and six clean sheets – though there was clearly enough to impress Liverpool’s scouts.
This is big money for an 18-year-old stopper, but he’s staying on loan at Genk for one season, seemingly part of the long-term plan to replace Alisson Becker (£5.5m). Should the Brazilian leave next summer, either Brughmans or Giorgi Mamardashvili (£5.0m) can take over.
15:00 – Matias Fernandez-Pardo (Lille to Newcastle United, £51m)
Completing an incredible turnaround, Newcastle can realistically claim that they have ‘won’ this summer window, with Fernandez-Pardo being the bow on top.
An exciting attacker who they long thought was an unrealistic target, they’ll be delighted to sign the Belgian. As a consequence, it allows Nick Woltemade (£5.9m) to depart on loan, hoping to fix his career.
As for the 21-year-old Fernandez-Pardo, he delivered eight goals and 10 assists in all 2025/26 competitions for Lille (including two penalties).
Initially based on the left flank, he became more of a centre-forward as the season developed, racking up 68 attempts, 30 shots on target and 36 successful dribbles.
Of all under-21 players across Europe’s biggest five leagues, Fernandez-Pardo ranked second for big chances (21).
“Matias is a highly technical player with explosiveness in his game. He can score and assist, he has courage, and he has the ability to take players on. We’re sure our supporters will enjoy watching him play.” – Matthias Jaissle
So, while Matthias Jaissle might have a couple of ideas, the initial thought is that he’ll be the Magpies’ centre-forward, with Yoane Wissa (£6.1m) deeper.
Newcastle are already well stocked for options on the left, with Harvey Barnes (£6.0m) and Bazoumana Toure (£5.9m) on board.
The penalty-taking experience is an interesting one, as the Magpies have lost all three of last season’s spot-kick takers (Woltemade, Bruno Guimaraes, Anthony Gordon) in the summer window.
13:20 – Honest Ahanor (Atalanta to Crystal Palace, loan)
A complicated transfer, Honest Ahanor is the latest centre-back to be exchanged between Chelsea and Crystal Palace. Although technically, he’s on loan from Atalanta.
After selling Maxence Lacroix (£6.0m) to the Blues, Palace decided to borrow Axel Disasi (£4.5m) from them. But Chadi Riad‘s (£4.4m) latest serious injury left them needing another defender.
Teams aren’t allowed to loan more than one player from a fellow Premier League side, so the Eagles have Ahanor for the season before he joins Xabi Alonso’s squad next summer for £40 million.
So, who is he? An 18-year-old who already has two Italy caps and nine Champions League appearances to his name, the left-footer came through Genoa’s youth system and made his senior Serie A debut aged 16.
Ahanor’s sole Atalanta campaign brought one goal in 35 appearances, averaging 7.73 defensive contribution actions per 90 league minutes. Not great at all, but there is something about playing for the Eagles that elevates a player’s DefCon appeal.
FPL managers may currently see out-of-sorts Palace as a team to steer clear of, anyway.
12:30 – Taylor Harwood-Bellis (Southampton to Aston Villa, £25m)
Villa’s busy start to the day continues, as centre-back Harwood-Bellis is the chosen replacement for Ezri Konsa (£4.4m).
The 24-year-old came through Manchester City’s youth system and, in 2023/24, Southampton were the last of several lower-league loan stints.
Made permanent upon promotion, he secured one Premier League goal and – had it then existed – hypothetically gained defensive contribution points in eight of 32 starts in 2024/25. He averaged a poor 7.66 actions per 90 minutes – vastly inferior to his centre-back partner:
Back in the Championship last season, Harwood-Bellis netted an eye-catching seven times in the league.
A quirky fact is that, in November 2024, Lee Carsley called him up for his sole England cap. And, like Francis Jeffers, David Nugent and Steven Caulker, he scored in it! Maybe this Villa move will help him achieve a second appearance.
As it is, he’ll be competing with Victor Lindelof (£4.5m) for that right-sided centre-half slot.
Given the poor historic defensive contribution rate (it was a similar 8.00 per 90 in the Championship last season) and Villa defenders generally performing poorly for DefCons, there won’t be many Fantasy takers.
11:30 – Ibrahim Mbaye (Paris Saint-Germain to Aston Villa, £47m)
It’s been a huge summer of change at Villa Park, with last season’s first-team stars taken away and mostly replaced by a bunch of highly-rated youngsters.
Perhaps the most exciting one is 18-year-old Mbaye. A mostly right-sided forward, he played a role in helping PSG successfully defend their Ligue 1 and Champions League titles, but faced some mighty competition for places. Set-piece duties were a rarity.
Incredibly, he’s already reached four goals from 15 Senegal caps, including one against France at the World Cup.
So how does he fit into Villa’s first-choice XI? John McGinn (£5.5m) has often been the right-sided guy, but he’s versatile, shifting to the ‘number 10’ role once Alysson (£5.0m) entered Monday’s defeat to Arsenal.
Once everyone is up to speed, expect Unai Emery to place Mbaye, McGinn and Johan Manzambi (£5.9m) behind Nicolas Jackson (£6.5m).
10:30 – Ilyas Ansah (Union Berlin to Hull City, £21m)
Hull have splashed out on a 6ft 6in centre-forward who’ll provide competition for Oli McBurnie (£5.5m).
The 21-year-old began 2025/26 with an opening-day brace against Stuttgart, his first-ever game in the top flight. He soon scored past Hoffenheim and Frankfurt in Matchdays 3 and 4, netting past RB Leipzig in December.
However, starts were less certain after the winter break, and no more goals arrived. Overall, Ansah registered 33 shots and 3.25 expected goals, according to FotMob.
