Premier League signings of the season: Forest, Bournemouth duos make top 10; one ‘Big Six’ player

Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth are two success stories of the 2024/25 Premier League and they both have a pair in our ranking of the best signings of the season.

There is only one signing from the so-called Big Six, which helps explain why two of them are 13th and 14th and another couple are underperforming.

Top 10 Premier League signings of the season

10) Kepa Arrizabalaga (Chelsea to Bournemouth, loan)
The timing is not great considering Kepa has conceded a penalty in two consecutive Premier League matches, but we won’t be blinded. Anyway, Kepa would not be Kepa without a couple of clangers here and there.

Upgrading in goal was a clear priority for Andoni Iraola in the summer and he landed himself a cost-effective addition in Chelsea’s Kepa, who remains the most expensive goalkeeper of all time. While he has not nearly justified that label, the Spaniard has been quietly going about his business this season and is a big reason why Bournemouth are pushing for Champions League football.

He has a respectable five clean sheets this season and has made 73 saves in total. Not only that, but according to the PSxG minus goals allowed metric, Kepa is the seventh-best goalkeeper in the league.

9) Ismaila Sarr (Marseille to Crystal Palace, £12.5m)
It was a slow start at Palace for ex-Watford winger Ismaila Sarr, who returned to the Premier League after a disappointing year at Marseille, scoring five and assisting five in 35 appearances for the French side.

Palace’s woeful start to the campaign coincided with Sarr’s overall form but when he picked up, the side did as a whole. His first goal contribution came in a draw at Aston Villa which sparked a five-match unbeaten run.

Perhaps Sarr is just the flavour of the month having scored a match-winner against Ipswich and two against Villa in his last two appearances, but we would like to think that is not the case.

Replacing Michael Olise was a near-impossible task and there were definitely some teething problems having decided the man for the job was Sarr, who is a very different winger to the Bayern Munich summer signing. Olise is a wonderful, intricate playmaker who loves to cut inside; Sarr is more direct, quick and probably a greater nuisance in the box.

8) Lucas Bergvall (Djurgarden to Tottenham Hotspur, £8.5m)
Spurs have got themselves a gem in young Lucas Bergvall, beating FC Barcelona to his signature – and for only £8.5million.

Swedish teen Bergvall is one of the most promising midfielders in Europe and is one of very few Spurs players who have been available all season, which Ange Postecoglou will be very grateful for. He could probably chip in with more goals and assists but his statistics are just fine for a 19-year-old Premier League debutant.

Not only is Bergvall is a technically gifted player, but he has a bit of grit to his game as well. He is not afraid to get stuck in, as Liverpool fans are fully aware of.

7) Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Manchester United to West Ham, £15m)
The Aaron Wan-Bissaka narrative is shifting. He has gone from being deemed nothing more than a defensive full-back incapable of contributing going forward, to a defensively sound full-back with some tricks up his sleeve and a decent end product.

West Ham needed to sign a new right-back ahead of the 2024/25 season and smashed it out the park with the £15million acquisition of Wan-Bissaka.

There were always questions over his ability at Manchester United, especially after costing £50million but with no transfer fee or miserable work environment holding him back, the uncapped Englishman has been one of the best full-backs in the Premier League this season. Realistically, he has only had one poor game in a West Ham shirt and that came against Chelsea last month.

6) Elliot Anderson (Newcastle United to Nottingham Forest, £35m)
There were huge PSR question marks over this deal, though few wondered whether or not Nottingham Forest were getting a good player. The fee and logistics did come under the microscope after Forest and Newcastle agreed to a back-scratching exercise, with Greek goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos moving the other way for a reported £20million, essentially meaning Anderson only cost £15m.

Now that the PSR elephant in the room has been addressed, we can focus on Anderson’s performances on the pitch, which have massively contributed towards Nottingham Forest being third in the Premier League with ten games left.

Scoring goals is a weakness but thankfully for Anderson, he has Chris Wood, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Anthony Elanga and Morgan Gibbs-White in front of him. Those four have more Premier League goal involvements than Manchester City’s front four, which includes Erling Haaland and reigning PFA Player of the Year Phil Foden.

What Anderson lacks in goals, he more than makes up for with his energy and ability to win duels in the middle of the park. He has formed a very nice partnership with Nico Dominguez and has defensive numbers to put him in the same company as Moises Caicedo, Bruno Guimaraes, Declan Rice and other elite Premier League midfielders.

MORE: PSR deals dominate list of five transfers with £80m of unaccounted value

5) Dean Huijsen (Juventus to Bournemouth, £12.6m)
Juventus have given us a great example of how not to transfer window. They sold promising centre-back Dean Huijsen to Bournemouth for pennies only to make him a transfer target months later. There is no doubt that Juve fumbled badly but an Old Lady’s loss is Bournemouth and Iraola’s gain.

It has taken no time at all for Huijsen to adapt to the Premier League and establish himself as one of the best young defenders in the division. Bournemouth have bloody nailed it with their defensive recruitment, adding Huijson, 19, to a back four including Illia Zabarnyi, 22, and Milos Kerkez, 21.

Having invested around £48million on all three, the Cherries trio are now worth more than that individually.

The highlight of Huijsen’s season will be scoring at Old Trafford in a 3-0 win but there have been several standout performances from the young Spaniard in his first year in England.

4) Maxence Lacroix (Wolfsburg to Crystal Palace, £18m)
Replacing Joachim Andersen looked like being another daunting task but Crystal Palace have nailed it with the signing of Maxence Lacroix – the player with the most last-man tackles in the 2024/25 Premier League.

Many football fans only knew Lacroix as that fast defender on FIFA, with no honest expectations of him being a good defender in real life, let alone shining in the Premier League. Those doubts from the gamers of the world are long gone, if they are so inclined to watch actual football.

Not only does Lacroix have a league-high five last-man tackles this season (that’s his pace becoming a real-life factor), but he has made 44 interceptions (joint-fourth) and 149 clearances (fourth).

3) Iliman Ndiaye (Marseille to Everton, £15m)
Everton rarely make good signings, which probably holds some weight in Iliman Ndiaye’s ranking.

Ndiaye was Everton’s only hope until David Moyes replaced Sean Dyche and turned their form around, which is even more impressive considering the former Sheffield United forward has missed the last four matches with a knee injury.

The Toffees have not lost in the Premier League since Moyes’ first match against Aston Villa, drawing and winning four apiece. On the flip side, they are winless in three, with three of their victories under Moyes coming with Ndiaye in the starting line-up and on the scoresheet. He is a huge player for Everton and could be the man who propels them to a top-half finish, which would have been a hilarious statement to make two months ago.

2) Liam Delap (Manchester City to Ipswich Town, £15.3m)
Fair play to Ipswich, who have smashed it with the signing of Liam Delap. Unfortunately for Ipswich, he is good, but not good enough to single-handedly keep them in the top flight.

Kieran McKenna’s men are destined for a swift return to the Championship but Delap is someone who will not be going down with them. Manchester United and Arsenal could do a lot worse, while some other top-half sides will surely be in contention for the ex-Man City striker’s signature.

Delap – who turned 22 last month – has a very decent ten goals in 27 Premier League matches. For around £15million, Ipswich get an A+ from us.

1) Nikola Milenkovic (Fiorentina to Nottingham Forest, £12m)
Nottingham Forest are a team transformed and the summer signing of Nikola Milenkovic has played a gargantuan part in that. Forest are where they are in the Premier League thanks to Nuno Espirito Santo’s system and having players that suit it perfectly, but individually, Milenkovic has been a standout performer next to centre-back partner Murillo.

The level of consistency shown by the physical Serbian defender should not be understated and while Forest have had games where they have shipped in four and five goals, he has barely put a foot wrong, which is all the more impressive when you remember it’s his first year in the Premier League.

There were some serious transfer links to other Premier League clubs over the last three years, namely West Ham, and there were not many of us who knew what to think when Milenkovic finally made the move. But nobody will have predicted this from him or Forest – who are dreaming of Champions League football.

READ NOW: Premier League winners and losers: Liverpool, Spurs, Brighton, Silva, Moyes, Arsenal and more…