Ranking the most game-changing transfers in Premier League history
BBC Sport · C · trust 34/100
By Alex Bysouth BBC Sport senior journalist Published 4 hours ago The 'here we go' is on hold, the 'bombas' are done and dusted and the window panes are reverberating after being forcefully closed on Tuesday night.
Now comes the moment for new arrivals to make their mark on the pitch rather than the balance sheet.
Throughout the Premier League era there have been hordes of transfer hits and misses, but today we're looking at those signings who proved game-changing for their club and the competition, the ones who really moved the needle.
I've ranked my top 10 below. You can have your say in the comments.
You could make an argument for plenty of players who were left off this list. Thierry Henry is probably the one quibbled over the most, Arsene Wenger turning him from misfiring winger to one of the generation's greatest forwards.
But Arsenal had been champions 12 months before he arrived, and it took until Henry's third season for the Gunners to reclaim that crown.
You could point to Cristiano Ronaldo, who won a Ballon d'Or at Manchester United , or Wayne Rooney, who became the club's record goalscorer.
But a teenage Ronaldo took time to bed in, while Rooney, despite a debut hat-trick in Europe, had to wait until his third season for a Premier League winners' medal.
Then there's a plethora of Manchester City signings. Erling Haaland announced himself with 36 goals in 35 top-flight games but arrived in the middle of City's four-year title-winning streak. Yaya Toure, Kevin de Bruyne and Rodri all had big impacts.
However, the list can only be 10 names long. So here it is...
10. Petr Cech - Rennes to Chelsea , £7m, July 2004
Austrian goalkeeper Jurgen Macho was one of first faces through the door as the Roman Abramovich era began at Chelsea , arriving on a free transfer from Sunderland , only to tear his cruciate ligament and never play for the club.
A keeper signed the following summer would prove far more influential at Stamford Bridge.
While prising Claude Makelele from Real Madrid's Galacticos was a huge statement - likewise Hernan Crespo from Inter Milan - Petr Cech was the wall on which back-to-back titles were built.
Cech conceded only 15 goals in his debut league campaign, going on a run of 1,025 minutes without being beaten and ending the season with a record 24 clean sheets.
His Chelsea career spanned 11 seasons and included four Premier League titles and a Champions League. The Blues made back the £7m they paid - and then some.
9. Alan Shearer - Southampton to Blackburn, £3.6m, July 1992
Blackburn Rovers, fresh off a sixth-placed finish in Division Two, immediately set out their intentions after promotion via the play-offs guaranteed them a spot in the inaugural Premier League season.
Southampton striker Alan Shearer had interest from Manchester United , but Rovers - bankrolled by local businessman Jack Walker - tabled a British record £3.6m for the 21-year-old and enjoyed an almost immediate return.
Shearer scored 16 times in his first 21 Premier League games before injury, helping Blackburn finish fourth in their first top-flight season for 27 years. He bagged 31 as they finished runners-up the following term, and 34 in 1994-95 as Rovers were crowned champions for the first time since 1914.
Chris Sutton, another British record buy at £5m from Norwich City, may argue he was the signing who got Blackburn over the line, forming a formidable 'SAS' frontline, but it was Shearer's arrival that set the ball rolling.
8. Carlos Tevez - Corinthians to West Ham, undisclosed, August 2006
West Ham fans frantically refreshing Ceefax on 31 August 2006 must have thought they'd landed on the jokes page when news broke of a double swoop for a pair of Argentina's top young stars.
It was a huge coup for the Hammers, pipping the world's best clubs to add 22-year-olds Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano to Alan Pardew's squad.
With West Ham struggling near the bottom of the league, Mascherano left for Liverpool on loan after Christmas. Tevez, meanwhile, would have a huge impact.
West Ham were bottom with 11 games to go - nine points adrift of Sheffield United - but won seven games and Tevez netted seven times, including the winner against Manchester United on the final day, to relegate the Blades.
Sheffield United claimed foul play over the third-party ownership of Tevez and Mascherano, and West Ham were eventually ordered to pay £20m in compensation, having initially been fined £5.5m rather than being docked points.
7. Robinho - Real Madrid to Manchester City , £32.5m, August 2008
It gets somewhat lost in the cloudy narrative of the past, but Robinho had a decent first season at Manchester City , scoring on his Premier League debut and netting 14 times in 31 top-flight games to finish as their top scorer.
Things went downhill from there, but Robinho's performance was less important than what his arrival meant for the future of English football. It was City laying down a marker.
On the day the club were bought by the Abu Dhabi United Group - it also happened to be transfer deadline day - they nabbed one of the world's most prominent players from under the noses of Chelsea for a British record fee.
City finished 10th that season. But 18 years and more than £3bn on transfers later, they have become the most dominant club in England, winning eight titles.
6. Virgil van Dijk, Southampton to Liverpool , £75m, January 2018
Mohamed Salah might feel hard done by here. After all, he did score 32 Premier League goals in his first season at Liverpool after arriving from Roma in 2017.
But that didn't immediately move the needle in terms of pushing Liverpool further up the league table - they finished fourth again and scored only six more goals as a team compared to the previous season.
Instead, it was the £75m signing of Virgil van Dijk in January 2018 - and arguably goalkeeper Alisson Becker that summer too - that really raised the bar for Jurgen Klopp's side, who lost only…
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