Rice 3rd, Liverpool pair in top 5: Ranking the best Premier League signings of the summer

Is it too early to determine the signing of the summer? Yes. Are we going to do it anyway? Of course we are.

We did this when the transfer window was open and it is time for a shuffle with the international break hitting us hard. Here is our ranking of the top ten summer signings in the Premier League.

10) Lewis Hall to Newcastle United (loan)
We need to have a wildcard/bold prediction here, and this is it. Obviously, the signing of Lewis Hall is one Newcastle made with a long-term vision, but he is a player who can contribute for them in the Premier League and Champions League straight away.

Chelsea became open to selling the 18-year-old and they agreed an initial loan deal with the Magpies, who will pay up to £35million to make the transfer permanent at the end of the season.

Already training with the England senior squad, Hall is bound to become a regular for the Three Lions, whether that be as a left-back or in one of those funky inverted full-back roles every manager wants to play these days. We can’t see that under Gareth Southgate, mind.

£35m for an English, versatile, clearly talented 18-year-old is terrific business and has potential to be Newcastle’s best yet. Don’t let us down, Lewis.

9) James Ward-Prowse to West Ham (£30m)
Not too long ago we were tipping David Moyes to be the first manager sacked and for West Ham to have another mediocre domestic campaign. Fast forward to the first international break of the season and the Hammers are title contenders with Moyes the best manager in the world. It’s a funny old game.

James Ward-Prowse is a Southampton boy but he might have found his perfect home at the London Stadium. It just feels like a wonderful fit. Maybe that is down to the aerial presence in the team, with Ward-Prowse already providing two assists from corners.

Extremely unlucky not to be called up for England, the ex-Saints captain looks to be a very clever piece of business at only £30m.

8) Mateo Kovacic to Manchester City (£25m)
Mateo Kovacic is a player who oozes class and it is nice to see him playing in the best football team in the world. He fits Pep Guardiola’s style down to the ground and was the perfect Jude Bellingham alternative after the 20-year-old brutally snubbed them to join a small club in Madrid.

Manchester City spent around £207m after winning the Treble and while Josko Gvardiol and Jeremy Doku will hog the headlines, Kovacic will have an instant impact at the Etihad and make it very difficult for Matheus Nunes to get consistent minutes this term.

7) Mohammed Kudus to West Ham (£38m)
Such is the power of the Premier League that a club that finished 14th last season can go and take Ajax’s best player for a pretty small fee in today’s market.

We have not seen Mohammed Kudus in a West Ham shirt yet but having watched him shine in the Eredivisie and for Ghana at the World Cup, we are expecting big things. The Hammers have started the season brightly and will only get better once Kudus becomes a regular starter ahead of Said Benrahma.

6) Jefferson Lerma to Crystal Palace (free)
As we have just done with Kudus for West Ham and Hall at Newcastle, we are investing our stock in Jefferson Lerma being a hit at Selhurst Park.

For free, you won’t get very many defensive midfielders and the Colombian is already holding his own against Casemiro, Rodri and Declan Rice statistically. Lerma is a very tidy player and a dream for Roy Hodgson, whose midfield is going to be very difficult to breach thanks to a very solid pivot consisting of the ex-Bournemouth man and Cheick Doucoure.

5) Dominik Szoboszlai to Liverpool (£60m)
Hungarian playmaker Dominik Szoboszlai is the perfect Jurgen Klopp midfielder. He has all the energy in the world, is technically immense with both feet and will pop up with all kinds of goals.

Liverpool went down to ten men on matchdays two and three and it was very hard to tell on both occasions thanks to Szoboszlai’s work rate. Without it, Newcastle United probably would have finished the Reds off at St James’ Park.

As touched on already, Szoboszlai is not just a workhorse and at 22 years old he should be in that Liverpool midfield for bloody ages. Do not be surprised to see his first Liverpool goal against Aston Villa open the floodgates.

4) Moussa Diaby to Aston Villa (£34.6m)
It is baffling how Aston Villa’s only competition for Moussa Diaby’s signature came from Saudi Arabia. Thankfully the Frenchman made the right decision and has hit the ground running in the Premier League. Two goals and an assist in four games is a nice return, especially having come from the Bundesliga, a league in which exports struggle to move and succeed in Our League.

At Aston Villa, Diaby should blossom into a world-class winger and a regular for France. The club’s incredible ambition in the transfer market has the potential to make them a Champions League club within the next two seasons. If that is to happen, Diaby will play a big part and thus justify his position in this list.

3) Declan Rice to Arsenal (£100m)
There is a reluctance to include someone who cost a nine-figure sum, but Declan Rice is the real deal, isn’t he? Well, he kind of has to be at £100m, to be fair.

Rice has seamlessly slotted into Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal system – which is not simple considering the Gunners manager wants his team to use over 35 formations in a game – and has shown he can do the defensive side of the game very well, which is something the Gunners have been missing. After 18 long years, they have finally replaced Patrick Vieira!

2) Alexis Mac Allister to Liverpool (£35m)
Another perfect Klopp midfielder full of energy, great ball-carrying and the ability to get goals and assists, Argentine World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister cost absolute peanuts as well. £35m being peanuts these days is hilarious. Knowing Brighton, Liverpool will owe another £45m when he has played 20 games for them.

£35m for Mac Allister, £60m for Szoboszlai, £20m for Wataru Endo and £35m for Ryan Gravenberch – a whole new midfield for £150m is pretty good going, especially considering Klopp was chucking not too far off that around just for Moises Caicedo.

1) James Maddison to Tottenham (£40m)
To come into a team and become the heartbeat immediately is a testament to James Maddison, and Ange Postecoglou as well, but mainly Maddison, who is loving life in north London.

If Tottenham are to finish in the top six this season it will be down to Maddison. Although Heung-min Son, Yves Bissouma, Dejan Kulusevski and Cristian Romero are all fine players, you do get the impression Big Ange is going to rely heavily on the fitness of the former Leicester City playmaker.

Even without the distraction of European football, and cup competitions until January, it will be an uphill battle to get back into the Champions League. Nobody gave Spurs a chance before a ball was kicked but after seeing them thrive with Maddison running the show for Postecoglou, they are all of a sudden being taken very seriously.