Looking back at the biggest Premier League transfers from summer 2021

Ronaldo was still one of the biggest names in football. He emerged as one of the world’s best players during his first stint at Manchester United. By this point, though, Ronaldo was not his old self, and Juventus was happy to be done with him. He did score 18 goals in 30 Premier League games his first season back, but he was purely a goal poacher who otherwise was a detriment to the club. That’s why he only played 10 league games with United the next season before he was jettisoned off to his big payday in Saudi Arabia.

Cornet made a name for himself as a young player with Lyon. He scored a goal against Manchester City in the Champions League, which may have drawn the eye of English clubs. Burnley signed the Ivorian for the 2021-22 campaign and he did score nine goals in 26 games. However, Burnley got relegated, so the club needed to move on from Cornet, who likewise was surely happy to move on. He moved to West Ham United, but after a couple seasons of struggling to find his footing he has spent the 2024-25 season on loan at Southampton and then Italy’s Genoa. It seems unlikely Cornet ever finds a significant role with West Ham.

Firpo, a tall left-back, came up with Real Betis before drawing the attention of Barcelona. Obviously, it takes some skill to get a look from Barcelona, and he did see the pitch some in two seasons there. Owing to the money the Premier League has, Leeds United was able to sign Firpo from Barcelona for £13 million. He’s played regularly with Leeds for the last few seasons, but of course that means he’s been in the Championship for a couple years. Firpo and Leeds should be back in the Premier League soon, though.

Ajer is a rarity: A footballer who can make his fellow Norwegian Erling Haaland look small. The 1.98m defender has been a staple for his country, and was a staple for Celtic for a few years before Brentford signed him. While Ajer’s role with the Bees has been erratic, he’s still around, and he’s still yet to enter his late 20's. Also, he’s still a mountain of a man, and that helps at centre-back.

Was Celtic having a fire sale in the summer of 2021? Edouard also moved from the Scottish club over to England. The striker signed with Crystal Palace. He was playing regularly for a few seasons for the London-based club, but the key word is “was.” Perhaps Oliver Glasner is not a fan. Edouard was loaned to Leicester City at the start of the 2024-25 season, but he’s only appeared a few times for a club battling relegation.

Palace dropped £14 million on a Frenchman playing in Scotland and a Dane playing in France. Andersen, though, is a centre-back, not a striker. Andersen was a Lyon player when Crystal Palace brought him in, but he had spent the prior season on loan at Fulham, so the club saw him firsthand. The Danish defender was one of the regular centre-backs for Palace the prior three seasons, but Fulham came calling. Andersen moved back to Fulham with Palace picking up a transfer fee of £30 million. Good business for it, but also good business for Fulham and Andersen.

Speaking of tidy bits of business. Brighton noticed a young defender at Getafe and brought him over to England. Cucurella enjoyed one excellent season with the club, so much so that Chelsea desperately wanted to have him. The transfer from Brighton to Chelsea brought the former a whopping £62 million in transfer fees. Cucurella has been more polarizing at Chelsea, as it is a bigger club with higher expectations, but he’s still a regular for the Blues and he played for Spain’s Euro 2024-winning team.

Nobody expected Soumare to replace N’Golo Kante for Leicester City, but the club did bring over a French defensive midfielder to replace an all-time French defensive midfielder. Soumare played quite a bit for a couple seasons for Leicester, but he couldn’t save the club from relegation. He played at Sevilla on loan while Leicester was down in the Championship. Sevilla lacked the money to make the move permanent, so he returned to Leicester for the 2024-25 season. It’s possible the club gets relegated again, so Soumare may be primed for another loan (or a permanent move).

Zambia striker Daka is one of many of the promising players who get noticed at Red Bull Salzburg and then makes a move to a bigger club. Daka had 27 goals in 28 league games his last season in Austria, earning a fairly sizable fee from Leicester City. Of course, Jamie Vardy has yet to go anywhere. Daka has been in a secondary role, but he’s only 26. Maybe he’ll step up once Vardy is done with the club.

Ramsdale became a starting goalkeeper in the Premier League quite young. He’s still only 26 and he was Bournemouth starter in the 2019-20 season. The next year he was the keeper for Sheffield United, and when it got relegated, Arsenal swooped in with this transfer fee. Ramsdale spent two seasons starting with Arsenal, but he was never going to compete with David Raya. He moved to Southampton for this season for £25 million and has been the starter when healthy. Of course, Ramsdale hasn’t done enough to stop Southampton from having a brutal season.

James made a splash with Swansea in the Championship, earning the Welsh winger a spot with Manchester United. He was a regular for a couple seasons there before getting moved to Leeds in the summer of 2021. James immediately established himself with Leeds but then spent a season on loan at Fulham. The last couple seasons he’s been back with Leeds and, frankly, he’s been crushing it in the Championship. Still in his prime, James should get a chance to make his mark in the Premier League again soon.

You may just know him as “Emerson”, befitting a guy who has played international for Brazil a few times. The versatile defender was a Barcelona player when Spurs signed him, but he spent basically his entire time under contract at Barca on loan with Real Betis. Emerson played regularly for Tottenham Hotspur, and the club even turned down £20 million from a Saudi club. However, this past summer Spurs didn’t turn down an offer from AC Milan, and the defender is now plying his trade in Italy. It’s been going well for him thus far.

West Ham figured it was bringing in a top defender in his prime when it signed Zouma from Chelsea. In a way that was true, though Zouma’s physical play can occasionally yield controversy, and pretty soon after West Ham signed him the defender was embroiled in an animal cruelty scandal. Zouma played quite a bit for the Hammers, but now at age 30, his time has perhaps come and gone. The defender has been in Saudi Arabia on loan for the 2024-25 season.

Jamaican winger Bailey is technically the first £30-million player on this list. He had two nine-goal seasons with Bayer Leverkusen, but of course the numbers put up in the high-flying Bundesliga don’t always translate to England. Aston Villa figured he was worth the risk. Arguably, he was. In the 2023-24 season Bailey scored 10 goals as the club qualified for the Champions League. Goals have been harder to come by this season, but Bailey is still a regular, and he’s played in several Champions League games as well.

When Real Madrid brought in the Norwegian midfielder, Odegaard was the youngest player in Madrid history. The hype was huge, but Real’s lineup is a tough one to crack. Odegaard spent most of his time on loan, and some wondered if he hadn’t been worth the hype. After Arsenal saw him up close on loan it was happy to pay a £30 million fee to bring him in. Odegaard has become one of the best midfielders in the Premier League, a staple for one of the best clubs in England, and is Arsenal’s captain. Oh, and he’s still only 26. Don’t give up on prospects too soon.

Buendia had spent a season with Norwich City in the Premier League, but he turned heads by scoring 19 goals in the Championship in the 2020-21 season. That led to Aston Villa transferring him over. The attacking midfielder immediately became a staple in the lineup, including playing all 38 Premier League games in the 2022-23 season. Unfortunately, Buendia tore his ACL just before the 2023-24 season and missed the entire campaign. He’s back, but in order to get him some run Villa loaned him to Bayer Leverkusen. Not before signing him to an extension, though.

This isn’t Manchester United’s worst signing of the last few years, but it certainly was indicative of the club’s ability to sign a player at the wrong time. Varane had played over 200 games with Real Madrid and been a staple for France internationally. He played regularly and fairly well, for United, but couldn’t save it from the chaos that was unfolding. Also, he never managed to play in more than 24 Premier League games in a season. After three seasons with United, Varane moved to Como. He suffered a knee injury in his first game and promptly retired.

For only one million more, Man United could have had a young, up-and-coming French centre-back. Instead, Liverpool brought Konate over from RB Leipzig. As a young player on a talented squad, one where Virgil van Dijk had one centre-spot locked up, Konate wasn’t a staple of the lineup for a few seasons. Still, he played for one of the top clubs in the world in his early twenties. In his age-25 season, Konate finally became van Dijk’s regular centre-back partner for a team that is likely to win the Premier League. Soon enough he may be van Dijk’s replacement.

The last four of these transfers all see major jumps in fees. White netted his club £15 million more than Konate as we skip the forties entirely. After spending several seasons on loan, White cracked Brighton’s lineup as a regular on the backline. That one season generated enough interest from Arsenal for it to pay this much in fees to bring White over. He then immediately became a regular for the Gunners, which speaks to his talent. A knee issue cut into his 2024-25 season, but White should remain a regular for Arsenal, even if he is in self-imposed exile from the England national team.

Erik ten Hag was a brutal manager at United. One crucial piece of evidence is the role he played in the dissolution of Sancho. With Borussia Dortmund, Sancho was one of the best players in the world. Not just one of the best wingers, not just one of the best players under 25, straight-up one of the top footballers on the planet. That’s why his transfer fee was so high. Technically still under contract with United, Sancho has spent the 2024-25 season on loan at Chelsea. He’s been…pretty good. However, he also doesn’t turn 25 until the end of March. Don’t give up hope! Erik ten Hag can’t hurt him any longer!

Maybe Chelsea regretted giving up on Lukaku all those years ago? Chelsea signed the young Belgian from Anderlecht but never really let him play with the club. Instead he spent his time on loan and then Chelsea transferred him to Everton. He became a star with the Toffees, once scoring 25 goals in a season. Lukaku then had a tumultuous time with Man United (join the club) before moving to Inter Milan. Then, he re-established himself as one of the brightest strikers in the world, so much so Chelsea swooped in with this staggering transfer fee. What did the Blues get for all that money? Eight goals in 26 Premier League games in the 2021-22 season, two seasons of Lukaku being loaned out to Italian clubs, and £25.1 million in transfer fees from Napoli prior to the 2024-25 campaign. Yeah, that probably wasn’t what Chelsea envisioned.

If you want to root against Manchester City, this is the exact kind of thing you can point to. City was already one of the best clubs in the world, but owing to sovereign wealth-fund money they dropped a staggering £100 million on a luxury addition. Grealish’s transfer fee remains one of the 10 biggest in history. The winger and attacking midfielder had just emerged as a star for Aston Villa, and had just earned the attention of the England national team. In came City, who wanted to have Grealish — but didn’t need him. Case in point, he’s never played more than 28 Premier League games in a season for Man City, and he’s been a sub plenty of times. Then again, Aston Villa got a ton of money and used some of it to build up the team that earned the club’s first Champions League appearance in decades. Grealish got to win trophies he never would have won at Villa and he’s made a ton of money. City added depth to the club and brought in an English star. Maybe everybody involved did win, even if fans of every other team lost.