How does the hectic transfer window at Nottingham Forest compare to spending the summer in the past?

If Nottingham Forest completes Willie Polley’s transfer from Wolverhampton Wanderers today, it would be the club’s 19th signing this summer.

No Premier League club has signed more first-team players in the summer transfer window (if you exclude returning loanees and youth signings), although some have come close.

But how dangerous is such a comprehensive reform? Our club reporters have rated some of the most extravagant spending periods in Join the Premier League to see what you might learn from Nottingham Forest.

Promotion to the Premier League via playoffs was unexpected for Crystal Palace and arrived in an unorthodox fashion. Only three years ago they had escaped management. In 2010-11 they narrowly avoided relegation. The following season they finished the bottom half of the tournament.

Then, as the 2012-13 season progressed, Ian Holloway replaced Dougie Friedman as coach, and Palace looked increasingly likely to push for the Premier League. They made it through play-offs, but with finances still tight, the squad was made up largely of players who had been left out from elsewhere and who were reclaiming their careers.

All this made it difficult to prepare for life in the first division: the uncertainty, financial constraints of previous seasons, a change of style particularly inappropriate for current players, as well as a rocky relationship between chairman Steve Parish and Holloway, which ended with the manager’s dismissal at the start of the season.

Holloway has pursued the signings of Jerome Thomas (at fairly substantial wages), Elliot Grandin and Florian Marang on free transfers. The trio made 13 appearances among them, 12 of which were by Thomas.

Other hiring failures have included Jimmy Kibe, who was signed on a massive £2m fee because Palace were concerned about scoring with Wilfried Zaha leaving for Manchester United and Glenn Murray suffering a long-term injury. Kibe played six times. Osman Su failed to appear. Stephen Dobby has played three times in all competitions after the loan move was turned into a permanent deal.

Signing right-back Jack Hunt was easier than signing their favorite target Kieran Trippier, whose asking price of £3m was considered excessive at the time. Hunt broke his ankle in his first training session and did not play a game for Palace. Adeline Guidiora arrived from Nottingham Forest but was initially not a consistent player before leaving for Watford initially on loan and then permanently.

There were 27 appearances in 18 months for Barry Bannan, who signed to fit in with Holloway style, before eventually leaving for Sheffield Wednesday after a loan at the Bolton Wanderers.

Jose Campana arrived from Seville after participating with the Spanish youth teams. The 20-year-old has been suggested by Holloway’s European connections in hopes that he can help Palace become a more technical side. Palace wasn’t ready for him and he wasn’t ready for the Premier League, but they got their money back, and they sold him for around £2m to Sampdoria. Since then, he has been appointed to a senior level by Spain.

Dwight Gale celebrates scoring Crystal Palace goals in August 2013 (Photo: Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

However, there have been some qualifying successes. Dwight Gayle was signed from Peterborough for £4.5 million and scored 25 times in 74 appearances. It was sold for £10m to Newcastle United. Adrian Mariappa appeared nearly 50 times over the course of three seasons after signing from Reading.

Marouane Chamakh has become a cult hero – due to his charismatic and enigmatic personality and dedication on the field – and an important figure behind Cameron Jerome, who struggled for goals but worked hard in his season on loan.

Finally, Jason Buncheon arrived on loan from Southampton before joining permanently. He became an essential part of Palace to retain his position in the Premier League over the course of several seasons.

Matt and Wesnam

After the sudden sacking of Chris Coleman in April, Fulham owner Mohamed Al Fayed staunchly backed Coleman’s successor Laurie Sanchez – then Northern Ireland manager – in the summer of 2007. Sanchez reshaped the team to hit £15m in spending on 15 new faces, 11 of which came for fees.

There was a Northern Irish flavor to rebuilding his squad, with internationals Aaron Hughes (£1m), Chris Bird (£3m), David Healey (£1.5m) and Stephen Davis (£4m) joining the West London club. Other notable names include Diomense Camara from West Bromwich (£6m), Paul Konechsky from West Ham (£3.25m), Lee Cook from Queens Park Rangers (£2.5m), and Hammour Bouazza from Watford (£3m). ) and Danny Murphy from Tottenham. .

Although the results were… mixed. At first, it seemed like a disaster. Sanchez was sacked in December after winning just four of his 24 matches. His new recruits struggled and some, like Hailey and Davis, would not survive the season.

Others who rarely appear: Shivke Koki, signed on a four-month loan from Palace, participated in 10 matches. Casey Keeler, free from Borussia Moenchengladbach, 13; Portsmouth’s Dejan Stefanovic made 13 appearances, none of which appeared after January. Bouazza played 20 games and then spent the following season away on loan. Nathan Ashton appeared once. Adrien Leger did not appear. nor cook Over two years, due in part to injury.

Others, though, will form the basis of Fulham’s best times. Under Sanchez’s successor, Roy Hodgson, Fulham saved their season and ensured the Premier League’s survival on the final day before qualifying for Europe the following season. In 2010, they reached the final of the European League.

Brady Hangeland playing for Fulham in February 2008. (Photo: Tony Marshall/PA Images via Getty Images)

Hughes made up half of The Times and along with Brady Hangeland in the middle, the pair appeared together in 207 appearances. Bird, the versatile master of Fulham, would become a cult hero and stay for six years. Konecsky stayed on for four years, starting the Europa League final, before joining Liverpool. Murphy became club captain after scoring the winning goal against Portsmouth to keep Fulham in the top flight on the final day of 2008. Kamara also played his part in Fulham’s success during a four-year stay.

Thanks to Hodgson then, Sanchez’s summer will by no means be a write-off for Fulham.

Peter Rotzler

After winning promotion from the championship, Watford were quick to cash the money ahead of the 2015-16 season.

Sixteen signatures were signed in the summer window. Etienne Capoue at the time became a club-record transfer after arriving from Tottenham Hotspur on a four-year deal. The French midfielder had a point to prove after falling out of the standings with his former side under coach Mauricio Pochettino. He spent over five years at Watford and was named the club’s player of the year in 2018-19.

Etienne Capoy playing at Watford in August 2015 (Photo: Tom Dulat/Getty Images)

Another great signing was Nathan Ake of Chelsea. Having just signed a five-year contract with Stamford Bridge, Akie was looking to get minutes elsewhere – he’s got that in Vicarage’s way. He made his Premier League debut against Newcastle United and scored his first league goal in a 3-0 win over Liverpool. Quique Sanchez Flores, then coach, often used Ake as a left-back and his impressive performances saw him win the Young Player of the Season award from Watford.

However, a lot of signings simply didn’t work out, and it was Dutch international Stephen Burgess who was disappointed. It was the club’s fifth most expensive deal out the window and arrived amid great excitement. The 23-year-old scored 11 goals in 25 games for AZ Alkmaar in 2014-15 but was unable to secure a place in Watford’s starting line-up, largely because he didn’t fit in Sanchez Flores’ 4-2-3-1 method. He was eventually loaned to Feyenoord the following season.

Watford finished in a relatively safe thirteenth place in the Premier League and even reached the FA Cup semi-finals, losing 2-1 to Crystal Palace. It was a successful season, but it wasn’t enough for Sanchez Flores to keep his job, as the Spaniard left the club in the summer.

Omar Jarek

The summer that changed Chelsea football. Within two weeks of completing a £140m takeover of the club from Ken Bates at the beginning of July 2003, enigmatic Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich set out to create a new powerhouse for English and European football with an unprecedented bragging transmission.

Glenn Johnson, Jeremy, Wayne Bridge and Damien Duff all arrived within six days of July for a total spend of £37m. By mid-August, the same amount was put in place again to bring Joe Cole, Juan Sebastian Veron and Adrian Muto to Stamford Bridge. Before the summer transfer window ended, they were followed by Hernan Crespo, Claude Makelele, Alexei Smertin and Neil Sullivan.

Neil Sullivan playing for Chelsea in February 2004. (Photo: Tony Marshall/Impex via Getty Images)

Abramovich bought an almost entirely new team in the span of one summer, and Chelsea, having qualified for the Champions League with a 2-1 victory over Liverpool on the final day of the 2002-03 season, turned into a club that aroused fear and envy among the dominant powers they now aspire to challenge.

“Roman Abramovich stopped his Russian tank in our front garden and fired at us with £50 banknotes,” Arsenal chief executive David Dean said of the new Chelsea benefactor.

The passage of time may have dampened the direct impact of the above figures, but the sheer scale of Chelsea’s summer spending cannot be overstated; Adjusted for transfer fee inflation, it is estimated that 2003 expenditures on players will be £406.3m in 2022.

Chelsea didn’t even manage to get all of their transfer targets, and some of the players they bought in that wild first summer – most notably Veron and Mutu – proved to be expensive failures. But the economic power of Abramovich’s will has been established and the club’s upward trajectory on the pitch cannot be denied.

Liam Tommy

(Top images: Getty Images)