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Who won the transfer window? Aston Villa? Man Utd? Daniel Levy?...

Harry Kane Cristiano Ronaldo Jack Grealish

Planet Sport picks out the six Premier League clubs who had a summer worth celebrating and selects the side who will follow in the footsteps of former winners...including Hull.

The 2014/15 deadline day signing of Hatem Ben Arfa on loan confirmed what most around East Yorkshire were already thinking: Hull City had won the transfer window.
Going into their second Premier League season under Steve Bruce, they had already added Jake Livermore, Robert Snodgrass, Tom Ince, Michael Dawson, Mo Diame and Abel Hernandez, not to mention a promising defensive duo by the names of Harry Maguire and Andy Robertson.
Ben Arfa was the icing on an already well-decorated cake and with a first European adventure on the horizon, spirits were high at the KC Stadium.
Unfortunately, winning the transfer window doesn't necessarily translate to winning points.

Ben Arfa was released after just 75 days, having been pulled 30 minutes into a clash with Manchester United - analysis showed he had covered less ground than keeper Allan McGregor. Their Europa League debut ended before the group stage and relegation from the Premier League was confirmed with one game to play.

They even bowed out of the FA Cup in their opening match.
But while Hull's demise serves as a cautionary tale, winning the transfer window remains a thing and there were plenty of teams who gave it their all this summer.
Planet Sport counts down the title contenders.

Europe

Chelsea

The Blues won the Champions League with Timo Werner up front, a player who was more of a hindrance than a help. If they had re-signed Didier Drogba for a second time, even at 43, it would have been an upgrade. But they didn't, they went out and picked up Serie A winner Romelu Lukaku, scorer of 47 goals in 72 games for Inter and voted the league's most valuable player. 

Spain international Saul Niguez also joined on deadline day on loan from Atletico with an option to buy, using some of the £29.8million pocketed from West Ham for Kurt Zouma.

However, they missed out on Jules Kounde and letting Tammy Abraham go to Roma feels a bit premature. Still, they can always buy him back for an extortionate amount of money in a few seasons' time.

Everton

No strangers to winning the transfer window, the Toffees last took the title in 2017/18 after going on a spree which brought in 14 players. Jordan Pickford, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Davy Klaassen and Michael Keane alone came in for a combined figure just north of £115million, while Wayne Rooney was among their free additions.

They went on to finish eighth but not before sacking Ronald Koeman, with replacement Sam Allardyce also departing at the end of the season following complaints from fans over his style of play.

Keen not to antagonise fans again, Everton have appointed former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez…

What his appointment does mean is that their transfer policy has to be spot on and the signs are that it has been.

Demerai Gray and Andros Townsend may lack the allure of Theo Walcott and Yannick Bolasie but should provide a reliable supply line to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, while Salomon Rondon is an upgrade on Josh King.

They've also signed not one but two back-up goalkeepers in Asmir Begovic and Andy Lonergan. We spy a cup run, too.

Champions League

Leicester City

Sometimes transfer windows are not about who you bring in, but who you keep hold of.

And, having fended off interest from Arsenal for James Maddison, the Foxes ensured they didn't go into the last few days of the window on the back foot.

Striker Patson Daka, brought in for £23million from Red Bull Salzburg, is an understandable move given Jamie Vardy's advancing years, while the addition of Boubakary Soumare should lessen their reliance on Youri Tielemans.

At the back, Jannik Vestergaard and Ryan Bertrand have both come in from Southampton, although the less said about the Saints' 9-0 defeat to Man Utd the better (the duo both featured).

Aston Villa

Ask us a couple of weeks ago and we'd have said Villa were very much in the running to win the window.

Yes, they had lost Jack Grealish but they had picked up a not-inconsiderable £100million for him and looked to have invested wisely, with Danny Ings, Emi Buendia and Leon Bailey the standouts. However, the fact that 36-year-old Ashley Young was forced to play centre midfield against Brentford shows that they are still a long way from the finished article.

Nevertheless, three goal contributions from Ings are enough to keep Villa in the Champions League spots.

Tottenham

Harry Kane or £150million?

It's a conundrum even the most seasoned of Fantasy Premier League managers would struggle with.

Thankfully for Tottenham fans, chairman Daniel Levy made his mind up pretty early on and was not for turning.

There's no guarantee the money would have been invested wisely anyway - think the Gareth Bale cash - so hanging on to a 20-goals-a-season-plus striker looks a clever bit of business.

Whether Kane is thinking that after his embarrassing U-turn remains to be seen, but it's amazing what three wins on the bounce can do.

Manchester United

Manchester United fans were already feeling pretty smug about the transfer window before the surprising developments regarding Cristiano Ronaldo.

Long-time target Jadon Sancho was finally snared from Borussia Dortmund, while serial winner Raphael Varane was persuaded to swap Madrid for Manchester.

The tedious biannual Paul Pogba speculation also ended with the midfielder remaining at the Red Devils.

It had been more evolution than revolution, but the signing of Ronaldo has upped the stakes somewhat.

Serie A's top goalscorer in 2020/21, the striker will be desperate to add to his legacy and bring the title back to Old Trafford. His ego will not allow him to settle for second best and that will rub off on his team-mates.

Whether that will be enough to prise the Premier League crown from Manchester City remains to be seen, but he has at least helped United win their first title - transfer window winners 2021/22.

Now they just have to avoid Hull's fate.

READ MORE: Premier League summer transfer window XI: Ronaldo, Lukaku, Grealish and more

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