The summer transfer window will close today, with all eyes on the deadline-day moves.

While we’re running a live blog dealing with all the last-minute transfers, this article rounds up the other major ‘ins’ that we’ve seen between the start of Gameweek 1 and yesterday.

The more noteworthy signings from a Fantasy Premier League (FPL) perspective will be given their own Scout Reports but this round-up recaps everything else.

SCOUT REPORTS

TRANSFER ROUND-UP

Kepa Arrizabalaga (Chelsea to Bournemouth, loan)

With Murara Neto (£4.5m) on his way out, Bournemouth have already secured the temporary capture of Kepa Arrizabalaga (£4.5m).

In only one of the last four campaigns has he been a regular. Playing back-up at Chelsea in 2020/21 and 2021/22, he ended up mostly as understudy to Andriy Lunin in a loan spell at Real Madrid last season.

The underlying goalkeeping stats from his three seasons as a Chelsea regular are a real mixed bag. The nadir came in 2019/20 when he posted the Premier League’s worst xGP figure.

Since then, though, his xGP has been level or positive – even if he was a bit-part player in three of those four subsequent campaigns.

The departing Neto, for all his detractors, actually had a +2.40 xGP last season.

There likely won’t be too many takers for Kepa in the short term, with the Cherries near the bottom of our Season Ticker:

Mikel Merino (Real Sociedad to Arsenal, £27.4m)

Another Premier League returnee, although you’ll do well to remember his first stint in the English top flight.

Mikel Merino (£6.0m) spent 2017/18 at Newcastle United, making 14 starts and 10 substitute appearances. There was just one goal and one assist to show for his efforts.

He’s not a midfielder defined by attacking returns, of course, but it’s what we FPL managers are mostly interested in.

MERINO’S LA LIGA RECORD FOR REAL SOCIEDAD

As you can see above, we’re not expecting much for the £6.0m outlay in FPL. Bookings outnumbered his attacking returns in four of his six seasons in La Liga. Only once did he hit double figures for goals and assists combined.

A shot every 82.8 minutes for Real Sociedad last season is nothing to write home about, either. He is handy in the air, mind: half of his 30 efforts in 2023/24 were headers. Given Arsenal’s strength at set plays, he could very well chip in with a few goals at corners and free-kicks.

He may be afforded a bit more attacking license at Arsenal, too. While’s he capable of playing as a ‘six’, the suggestions are that he’ll take up the Xhaka role as the left-sided ‘eight’. Kai Havertz (£8.1m) and Declan Rice (£6.5m) variously played there last season. Somewhere around 10-15 attacking returns would be about par for that role.

We won’t see him in the starting XI anytime soon, of course: a shoulder injury has ruled him out for “weeks”.

Ilkay Gundogan (Barcelona to Manchester City, free)

Ilkay Gundogan (£6.5m) turns 34 in less than two months’ time, so expectations have to be tempered about the German’s output in 2024/25.

In some respects, he’s still dining out – in FPL terms – on that 13-goal season in 2020/21, when he was unleashed as a more attacking ‘eight’ in the Covid-riddled campaign.

That was the only season in his entire career in which he’s hit double figures for league goals.

He did however contribute 13 assists for Barcelona last season, showing there’s life in the old Gundog yet.

As ever with City, it’s the security of the starts rather than the calibre of the player that is the million-dollar question. Bernardo Silva (£6.6m), Mateo Kovacic (£5.5m) and Kevin De Bruyne (£9.6m) have been the starting midfield three in Gameweeks 1 and 2, while Rodri (£6.4m) is still to come back into the side. Phil Foden‘s (£9.4m) future likely lies centrally, too.

There might be a time in the season when the stars align (good fixtures, injuries to positional rivals, a more advanced midfield role) but he’s only one to monitor, at best, for now.

“He can play in the same position as Rodri, like [Mateo] Kovacic, like Nico [O’Reilly], like Matheus [Nunes]. Rodri and Gundogan can play as attacking midfielders or he can play as the false nine.” – Pep Guardiola on Ilkay Gundogan

Sepp van den Berg (Liverpool to Brentford, £25m)
Gustavo Nunes (Gremio to Brentford, £10m)

Not a great deal is expected from Gustavo Nunes initially. Just 18 years old, he’s only had six months of senior football after making his Gremio debut in February.

A right-footed winger, he’s predominantly played on the left in his native Brazil. He’ll have to first brush past the likes of Kevin Schade (£5.5m), Keane Lewis-Potter (£5.0m) and Yoane Wissa (£6.1m) for starts, and we don’t expect that to happen any time soon.

“Nunes has played on the left for Grêmio because it has worked and that is the position they desperately needed. But we have seen in the last four to six weeks that he has been drifting inside; even when he has been playing on the left, he has come central.

“He is right-footed and so is not afraid to go more direct into that no.10 role and operate in the box a little bit more.

“I love a winger who does not just stay in their zonal area, and it seems he is trying to get more opportunities to add goals to his game. I would say he is better drifting into the no.10 position rather than starting there.” – South American football expert Nathan Joyes, via the Brentford site

As for Sepp van den Berg (£4.0m), he’s one for the £4.0m defender watchlist. Given the significant money Brentford have paid for him, there’s hope he can establish himself as a starting centre-half in the medium term.

Three goals and 25 shots in the box in 33 league appearances for Mainz last season show that he has an eye for goal, too.

As Thomas Frank pointed out in the quote below, however, competition remains fierce at the back.

“I think he’s a great player with an even bigger potential.

“I hope [he can become a week-in, week-out starter], of course. I have a few others that also can play centre-back: Kristoffer Ajer, Ben Mee, Ethan [Pinnock] and Nathan [Collins]. So there is good competition but we need a strong squad.” – Thomas Frank on Sepp van den Berg

On the bench in Gameweek 2, he made his Brentford bow in the midweek cup win over Colchester United.

Chiedozie Ogbene (Luton Town to Ipswich Town, £8m)
Dara O’Shea (Burnley to Ipswich Town, £15m)
Jack Clarke (Sunderland to Ipswich Town, £15m)
Jens Cajuste (Napoli to Ipswich Town, loan)

Ipswich have been one of the busiest Premier League sides in the transfer window.

Much like van den Berg above, Dara O’Shea (£4.0m) is a name to monitor in the budget defender pool.

He’ll have to muscle his way past Luke Woolfenden (£4.0m) as the right-sided stopper but if and when he’s established himself in the Ipswich starting XI, he’s very capable of chipping in with an attacking return.

A mightily impressive three goals and four assists arrived for Burnley in the top flight last season:

Above: FPL defenders sorted by attacking returns (ARtn) in 2023/24

Jens Cajuste (£5.0m) is a name you can safely forget about, however. Likely to be one of the midfielders in the Ipswich double pivot in the long term, the Swede’s best-ever single-season goal tally is three. He didn’t manage one for Napoli last season.

Chiedozie Ogbene (£5.0m) and Jack Clarke (£5.5m) are options on the right and left wing respectively. Ogbene’s arrival probably spells bad news for Ben Johnson (£4.0m), too, as the former Luton Town man is capable of operating as a wing-back/hybrid winger whenever Kieran McKenna opts for a 3-4-2-1.

Clarke comes fresh from a superb season with Sunderland in which he contributed 15 goals in 39 starts. He also ranked 10th in the English second tier for shots. Comparisons with Villa-era Jack Grealish, in terms of gait, trickery and ball-carrying, have been drawn.

There’s a chance he may be on penalties, too, as there’s not an obvious leading candidate in the existing Tractor Boys’ squad. Five of his 15 league goals last season came from the spot.

Alex Moreno (Aston Villa to Nottingham Forest, loan)

Three into one was never going to go at Aston Villa, who have let Alex Moreno (£4.4m) depart on loan.

That leaves Lucas Digne (£4.5m) and Ian Maatsen (£5.0m) as the left-back options in the West Midlands.

As for Moreno’s new club, he’ll be tussling with Ola Aina (£4.4m) and Neco Williams (£4.5m) for a place in the Nottingham Forest back four. Aina’s versatility means he can switch flanks if Moreno comes in on the left.

The Villa loanee made his Forest debut in Wednesday’s cup defeat to Newcastle United, having been a substitute in Gameweek 2.

You’d ideally like to see his attacking attributes complemented in a wing-back system but Nuno Espirito Santo’s switch to a 4-2-3-1 renders that unlikely for now. One of the leading defenders for minutes per chance created (66) in 2022/23, he fell away at Villa in a disappointing second season.

Joachim Andersen (Crystal Palace to Fulham, £30m)
Sander Berge (Burnley to Fulham, £25m)

Two of Fulham’s recent recruits have plenty of Premier League experience.

Sander Berge (£5.0m) has almost zero FPL appeal: one goal and two assists is his best effort in the top flight.

But his arrival could help stiffen a midfield that lost Joao Palhinha in pre-season. Berge was among the top eight midfielders for receptions, clearances and blocks in 2023/24.

It could also have repercussions for Andreas Pereira (£5.5m) and Emile Smith Rowe (£5.6m), who may be tussling for one spot in some games if Marco Silva opts for a more defensive double pivot of Berge and Sasa Lukic (£5.0m).

As for Joachim Andersen (£4.5m), still in 14.7% of FPL squads, he’s a fairly reliable known quantity. From a Fantasy perspective, his excellent distribution and threat at set plays led to him being one of only two centre-halves to register more than 20 shots and 20 key passes in 2023/24.

Five attacking returns were banked in the process.

Bilal El Khannouss (Genk to Leicester City, £21m)
Jordan Ayew (Crystal Palace to Leicester City, £5m)
Oliver Skipp (Tottenham Hotspur to Leicester City, £20m)

“Nothing to see here, please disperse”

A bit harsh, perhaps, but in reality, there’ll be few takers in this lot – the Foxes have already offered us a £4.5m midfielder in the shape of Harry Winks.

Bilal El Khannouss (£5.0m) is an attack-minded central midfielder but failed to even reach double figures for attacking returns in the mighty Belgian Jupiler Pro League last season.

Jordan Ayew (£5.4m) will offer Leicester plenty of graft and the occasional return. He’s not gone past four league goals in any of the last four seasons, however; more perspiration than inspiration.

As for central midfielder Oliver Skipp, he’s arguably overpriced even at just £5.0m. Two goals and one assist would be a paltry contribution for one season but that is his sum career total.

Matt O’Riley (Celtic to Brighton and Hove Albion, £25m)

Matt O’Riley‘s (£5.5m) Brighton debut lasted all of nine minutes in midweek – and now an ankle injury looks set to sideline him for a lengthy period.

It deprived us of another possible Fantasy option from this exciting Brighton side, as O’Riley would have likely assumed the advanced central midfield role that James Milner (£5.0m) has been taking up in the first two Gameweeks.

Above: James Milner (8) was the more advanced of Brighton’s two central midfielders in Gameweek 1, with Mats Wieffer (27) holding the fort

O’Riley delivered 18 goals, 13 assists, 109 shots and 93 key passes for Celtic in the league last season. He was on set plays for Brendan Rodgers’ side, too.

All figures to be taken with a pinch of salt, as they were registered in the Scottish top flight, but Brighton are no mugs in the transfer market – and this Bhoy is very highly rated.

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