There is nothing like a football transfer window without serious drama and the recently closed window in mainstream European football delivered its fair share of drama to warrant the incredible level of interest this time of the football season generates whenever it comes around.
Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Liverpool had their battles over Malick Fofana but the Black Cats eventually got the deal done on the final day to nab one of the world’s best young wingers. Sunderland will surely be hoping Fofana blossoms to become the world beater he has been tagged as and not wilt under the pressure as Simon Adingra did that led to his loan move to Ajax Amsterdam.
Enzo Fernandez’s wish to leave Chelsea was granted on the final day of the main transfer window as the Blues sanctioned a 125 million pound move to Manchester City.
Though Fernandez didn’t get to play for Real Madrid as he requested earlier this year, he still got the chance to team up with Enzo Maresca who he worked with at Chelsea.
Speaking of Chelsea, Xabi Alonso’s squad was set to sign Lamine Camara from AS Monaco to replace Fernandez until the rippling effects of the collapsed deal involving Folarin Balogun, Everton and Monaco led to Camara’s move to Chelsea getting wiped off. The series of collapsed deals has left all involved-Everton, Balogun, Camara, Monaco and Chelsea- upset about how the drama unfolded.
Monaco still want to ship out Balogun while Everton ended up with just one striker after letting Beto join Fiorentina and Chelsea got a bit short handed in its midfield area after Camara couldn’t join the club to replace Enzo Fernandez.
For Argentine midfielder Fernandez, his Manchester City side has been widely hailed as the team to beat after overhauling its midfield. Following the exodus of Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Tijani Reijnders and Nico Gonzalez, City replaced them by signing Elliot Anderson and Ayyoub Bouaddi. By signing wingers Allan Elias and Iliman Ndiaye, City have literally pushed Phil Foden into an attacking midfield role.
Man City have clearly made these moves to take down reigning EPL champions Arsenal but their upgrades and those of other title contenders aren’t enough to upstage the Gunners and here is why.
Arsenal still have the best defense in the league
The Gunners’ backline powered them to win their first EPL title in 22 years and the unit was bolstered in the offseason through the addition of Ezri Konsa following his transfer from Aston Villa. Konsa joined Arsenal on the back of winning the Europa League title and played a crucial role in leading Villa to finish fourth in the 2025-2026 season en route to qualifying to this season’s Champions League.
On the international front, Konsa, who plays as a centre back or right full back, featured at the 2026 World Cup with England where the Three Lions recorded their best ever finish at the tournament since 1966 by winning the bronze medal.
Tosin’s journey to Tottenham 📚 pic.twitter.com/94neKfbkNU
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) September 2, 2026
Chelsea brought in Marco Palestra, Maxence Lacroix and Pep Chavarria, Liverpool added Jeremy Jacquet while Tottenham Hotspurs got Paul van Hecke, Tosin Adarabioyo, Marco Senesi and Andrew Robertson. However, through a mix of signing young players like Palestra and Jacquet who need time to develop and signing players who are bang on average like Tosin Adarabioyo doesn’t put the likes of Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool ahead of Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta’s side conceded just 27 goals in 38 league games and adding one of the better defenders in the league in Konsa literally makes them untouchable on the defensive side.
Arsenal still have the best midfield in the league
Manchester United’s grand plan to build its way to a title winning side under INEOS has led to the Red Devils’ building up its attack last season by signing Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha in the 2025-2026 season. They targeted the midfield by signing Carlos Baleba, Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos this season with an eye to boost its defense next season but no one considers their midfield as elite.
Chelsea are light in midfield sans Enzo Fernandez’s replacement and Liverpool still don’t have a defensive midfielder which leaves Arsenal and Man City as the top duo locked in battle over which club has the best middle unit in the EPL.
Man City have Fernandez, Anderson, Bouaddi, Nico O’Reilly and Nico Kovacic. Arsenal on the other hand, have Declan Rice, Miles Lewis-Skelly, Martin Zubimendi, Martin Odegaard, Mikel Merino and new signing Bruno Guimaraes.
Bouaddi is young and new to the Premier League unlike Guimaraes while Rice is the second best midfielder behind Bruno Fernandes who is backed by World Cup winners in Merino and Zubimendi. As a collective, Arsenal’s has a deeper, more experienced, more settled unit that puts its midfield ahead of Man City.
Arsenal has the least “chaos” in the league
While teams like Spurs and Aston Villa signed 10 players, Chelsea also brought in a raft of players plus a new head coach. Liverpool signed a handful of players with a new head coach in charge in Andoni Iraola, Man United brought in three midfielders, Man City did what they did in the transfer market while signing a new head coach in Enzo Maresca.
On the other hand, Arsenal brought in just three players, two of them with strong EPL experience, during this transfer window. The best part, Arsenal completed all their signings before its first league game of the season and had no managerial change with Arteta set to extend his stay at the Emirates.
Effectively, Arsenal’s title winning side added more ready-made quality with a large chunk of the setup staying intact and ready to kick on compared to the rest of the league.
