Who were the winners and losers of the transfer window?

Manchester City

They were operating from a position of strength anyway, but the transfer window has closed with Manchester City boasting a squad that looks to be the best in the Premier League by a considerable distance.

Raheem Sterling and Fabian Delph joined at the start of the summer, and were subsequently followed by Nicolas Otamendi and Kevin de Bruyne as any worries about breaching Financial Fair Play regulations were well and truly ignored.

Virgil van Dijk

Having been instructed to remain with Celtic until the Scottish side played their Champions League qualifier, the Dutch defender outlined his desperation to move to the Premier League at the end of last week.

His wish was granted yesterday as he completed an £11.5m move to Southampton, and while he has a hefty price tag to live up to, he has joined a club who should be able to take his career to the next level.

Bill Kenwright

Everton’s chairman promised to back Roberto Martinez and hold on to John Stones, and despite a series of increasingly desperate attempts from Chelsea to sign the England international, he proved as good as his word.

Chelsea’s final offer was £30m, but even that did not persuade Kenwright to alter his stance. Stones might have submitted a transfer request last month, but the signs are that he will still be willing to give his all for Everton this season.

Crystal Palace

They did their business before yesterday’s transfer deadline, but Palace will head into the remainder of the season in a position of considerable strength thanks to their summer dealing.

Yohan Cabaye and Bakary Sako have already proved inspired additions to the squad at Selhurst Park, while Patrick Bamford and Connor Wickham provide plenty of potential in attack. To complete a really good window, Palace even managed to hold on to Yannick Bolasie.

LOSERS

Ed Woodward

What on earth has Manchester United’s chief executive been doing this summer? He was made to look foolish by Sergio Ramos’ successful attempts to secure a new deal at Real Madrid and was embarrassed again when he failed to land Pedro ahead of Chelsea.

All of that pales into insignificance when posited against the farce that saw David de Gea’s proposed move to Real Madrid fall through in the early hours of yesterday morning though, not to mention the £36m fee paid for Anthony Martial, a player who was available for half that price earlier in the summer.

Arsenal

Another transfer window; another failure by Arsenal to sign the players they need. In all of Europe’s top eight leagues, Arsenal are the only team not to have signed a single outfield player this summer.

Petr Cech’s arrival from Chelsea was an astute piece of business, but the window closed with Arsenal still crying out for a centre-half, a dominant defensive midfielder and a proven centre-forward. Will Arsene Wenger ever learn?

Saido Berahino

The West Brom midfielder did everything to try to force through a move to Tottenham, but Baggies chairman Jeremy Peace remained adamant that he would not be selling, even when Spurs offered a deal worth £21m.

Berahino took to social media yesterday afternoon to claim he would not be playing for Peace ever again, and there will have to be some serious smoothing of the waters if he is to return to action in a West Brom shirt this season.

Jose Mourinho

The Chelsea boss has been making a series of coded messages in the first few weeks of the season, and is clearly unhappy with the state of his squad.

Will yesterday’s business have appeased him? It’s unlikely. Chelsea signed Papy Djilobodji from Nantes and Michael Hector from Reading, but missed out on John Stones. They might be the reigning champions, but Mourinho is going to have to work wonders if they are to overhaul Manchester City.