Ranking £175.45m worth of summer signings by how desperately their clubs needs them

Ten summer signings have yet to make their debut; Manchester United are a little more desperate than Hull or Chelsea to make that happen.

Outfielders only, please. And all competitions, of course.

10) Oscar Zambrano (Hull, undisclosed)
Back with the Tigers 12 months after a prior loan spell in the Championship, Zambrano watched from the bench as Robinio Vaz and Christos Mouzakitis made their bows in the League Cup defeat to Sunderland.

Their defeat in that game represents quite the blow to his hopes of playing opportunities. Zambrano only made eight appearances for Hull in the Championship before being handed a year-long doping ban, and was omitted from their Premier League squad list for the first part of the season upon his return.

“They are still with us,” Sergej Jakirovic said of Zambrano and Kieran Dowell. “For me this is a very bad situation because you are training in sessions with us but you are not available. They know the situation, I spoke with them and unfortunately just 25 could be registered and that was my decision.”

9) Modou Keba Cisse (Aston Villa, £4.75m)
A signing announced as far back as July 2025, Cisse was allowed to stay in Austria – and win a league title as a regular starter – before joining a Villa side in transition

The 21-year-old was an unused substitute in the pulsating Super Cup defeat to PSG after being integrated in pre-season, but injury has sidelined him since.

Unai Emery is not apprehensive about blooding youth if the player in question suits his systems and structures better than a more seasoned option – Alejandro Garnacho is currently at the back of a queue for minutes headed by teenager George Hemmings – so Cisse will get his chance if he is up to it.

8) Femi Azeez (Brighton, £12.5m)
“Femi is obviously carrying a slight injury at the moment,” says Fabian Hurzeler. “With Femi, we have to wait this weekend, and hopefully he will be available for the next game.”

There is the slight issue of whether the recruit from Millwall can break into genuinely one of the best teams in Europe currently.

7) Emmanuel Emegha (Chelsea, £21.4m)
Probably won’t ever play, then be sold at an absurd profit anyway. Those tough, high-level, protracted negotiations with Strasbourg to agree a deal to sign their captain at the start of last season were all worth it to sit on a bench for a League Cup game against Luton.

Xabi Alonso blocked the usual loan exit in the summer, extolling Emegha’s “special qualities” but stressing that the younger fringe players “need to be patient” as “they will have opportunities”.

6) Ilyas Ansah (Hull, £12.8m)
Ansah rejected a World Cup call-up with Ghana in the summer, the Germany youth international wishing not to rush such a decision over his future. But when Acun Ilicali calls, you listen.

The Hull debut, however, will have to wait.

“Six weeks out, this is the minimum,” said Jakirovic. “It’s interesting because if we didn’t send him for a medical and he signed without one, he would play. They found some problems with his spine, I think.”

5) Leon Goretzka (Aston Villa, free)
It is curious, just how many new signings have promptly suffered debut-delaying setbacks.

Then again, as Goretzka said in explaining a “frustrating” likely month-long absence with a knee injury which also precluded him from making Jurgen Klopp’s first Germany squad: “Unfortunately, my body has reacted to the increased workload after my time away from the pitch.”

In short, Emery broke his new toy immediately. Villa allowed Goretzka some time off for Oktoberfest but have called him back to continue his rehabilitation during the interlull.

4) Christian Norgaard (Everton, £7m)
Would put very good money indeed on David Moyes using Norgaard as an auxiliary striker at some point this season. The Dane is officially injured but actually quietly loading clips of Marouane Fellaini’s chest control onto his internal database.

Premier League champion Norgaard should be available for unbeaten Everton after the international break. Which is quite the sentence.

3) Marco Palestra (Chelsea, £47m)
Proof that transfer fees in football no longer mean anything whatsoever, Chelsea overpaid for the most expensive Italian defender ever and have probably completely forgotten.

In fairness, the bloke has a quad injury and has been told by Alonso to take it “easy” as he works towards full fitness.

“If not Brentford, then Bournemouth for sure,” the manager said of Palestra’s debut hopes. He dodged a bullet in not making his bow under the Fright night lights at the Gtech, but will be targeting the winless Cherries at home.

2) Juan Riquelme Angulo (Sunderland, £5m)
One does not simply possess that name without being bloody brilliant.

1) Carlos Baleba (Manchester United, £65m)
There are more than a few eggs placed in the Baleba basket when it comes to addressing the myriad problems at Manchester United. It probably won’t be at left-back where his impact is felt most – even if help is absolutely needed there – but a decent midfielder with functioning legs ought to help somewhat.

Michael Carrick was willing to “wait and see” about Baleba’s condition before the international break, reserving a place on the bench for the Cameroonian to watch the Sunday afternoon stroll against Fulham.

It seems likely Baleba will go straight into the team with an absolute softball of Spurs at home on October 10.