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EPL Transfer Window Shuts Summer 2025; when the Premier League flexed its financial muscle and feasted on European football like never before. For the first time ever, 20 sides from the English top flight outspent the other 78 teams in the Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Serie A and La Liga in transfer fees this summer, almost tripling the investment of the nearest competition with a total outlay of just over £3. 1billion ($4. 17bn). Advertisement Most of the game’s glamorous names were only heading one way, but there were still plenty of intriguing transfers across the continent, many of whom with potential to help their new clubs spin a healthy profit when the big spenders come calling in a year or two. As the dust finally begins to settle, The Athletic’s Thom Harris picks out 10 promising data-led signings that may have slipped under your radar. Starting in the Premier League, and while heads were understandably turned towards the mega deals at the top of the food chain, Brighton were going about their business in typically understated fashion. Such is their commitment to data-driven recruitment and future profitability, that 27-year-old Olivier Boscagli arrives as the second-oldest player the club have signed in the last five years. But with record appearance-maker Lewis Dunk approaching his mid-thirties, manager Fabian Hurzeler will likely call upon the leadership qualities and experience of Boscagli to lighten the load in defence this season, the outfield player with the most minutes played across PSV’s two title-winning campaigns. A commanding yet composed central defender, Boscagli stands out for his ability on the ball. The Frenchman is left-footed, comfortable under pressure close to his own goal, and particularly effective when he can squeeze up and help his team to dominate territory, able to break down deep defensive blocks with fizzed passes into forwards and lofted balls over the top. According to Skill Corner, he completed 473 line-breaking passes in the Eredivisie last season, 100 clear of any other player in the division. That’s all well and good for the division’s most possession-dominant side, but Boscagli’s incisive distribution made a real mark, providing six assists from centre-back. In the clip below, for example, he splits NEC Nijmegen in half with a whipped pass into Guus Til, who goes on to win a penalty, providing an assist for the same player barely five minutes later. Brighton have looked particularly slick under Hurzeler when they are able to invite the press and play neatly through it, and Boscagli can help with that kind of attack, too. Advertisement He starts the sweeping move below against Heerenveen with a ball into Ismael Saibari, before helping to launch a quick break with a crisp first-time pass to Luuk de Jong, who lays the ball off to an on-rushing teammate with a neat flick. With bags of experience, at peak age, and possessing the kind of technical ability we’ve come to expect from a Brighton centre-back, a free transfer looks like a textbook Seagulls swoop. Baena is hardly a hidden gem, racking up nine goals and 23 assists across the last two seasons for Champions League-bound Villarreal. That said, it’s worth highlighting just how good he has been since his career took off in 2023-24, a player with the creative talent and clarity of thought in the final third to level up Atletico Madrid’s attacking play. The raw numbers are excellent, a busy midfielder with the defensive bite to match. But it’s the variety to his playmaking that makes Baena stand out, the La Liga player with the most chances created in total, but also, specifically, from set pieces, open-play crosses and through balls since the start of last season. Baena has also created the most goals from cut-backs in that time period, while laying on five pre-assists — the pass before the assist — often just as crucial in prying open a defensive structure as the killer ball itself. Keeping the 24-year-old quiet is no mean feat. Against teams who like to sit deep, Baena’s crossing ability comes to the fore, able to pack plenty of whip and venom into his deliveries from wide areas. Here he is picking out Ayoze Perez in the middle for a late winner at Real Valladolid, with all 11 opposition players behind the ball. He provided new teammate Alexander Sorloth with five assists when they played together two seasons back, two of those towering headers after tantalising balls into the box. Asiste Baena, anota Ayoze. Da igual cuando leas esto. #Real Valladolid Villarreal | #La Liga Highlights pic. twitter. com/fu FXr6xl ED — Villarreal CF (@Villarreal CF) October 29, 2024 In more open encounters, Baena’s mix of defensive tenacity and ability to weight a through pass makes him a potent weapon on the counter. He slipped through a perfect ball for Arnaut Danjuma away at Sevilla, and split Osasuna open twice with pinpoint slide-rule passes in as many games. Advertisement Here he is against Real Madrid, defending diligently on the left side of Villarreal’s 4-4-2 to intercept, before scampering inside and whipping a reverse pass into overlapping full-back Sergi Cardona to create a clear chance on the break. You get the picture; Baena can do a bit of everything, the kind of creative player who can drag a team up the pitch by himself with an insistence on forward-thinking football. His Atletico career has started with disruption and injury, but he is sure to be a long-term hit. Remember him? Arguably the breakout star of the 2022 World Cup, Azzedine Ounahi captured the imagination of millions as Morocco became the first African side to make it all the way to the semi-finals. Plying his trade for French side Angers — rock-bottom of Ligue 1 at the time — a 22-year-old Ounahi came from nowhere to boss the midfield alongside Sofyan Amrabat, bringing technical quality and endless energy to a historic tournament run. A look to his estimated transfer valuation, as recorded by Transfermarkt below, shows just how dramatically Ounahi’s stock rose after seven memorable games in Qatar. Things didn’t quite work out for the Moroccan at Marseille, the player himself citing injuries, off-field issues and a lack of hard work on the training ground, but Ounahi looks to have rediscovered some of his magic on loan at Panathanaikos. An elusive dribbler with a slender frame and an eye for a defence-splitting pass, he can bring creativity and defensive snap in equal balance on his day. “Madre mia… he can really play, ” said current PSG head coach Luis Enrique after Ounahi starred in a 3-0 penalty shootout win over his Spain team. “He didn’t stop running, he must be exhausted. ” This is the kind of floaty, fleet-footed invention that his new club were drawn in by, skipping through the midfield before weighting a perfect through ball for Tete to latch onto inside the box. Girona desperately needed a strong end to the transfer window after a dismal start to the La Liga season, bottom of the table after three straight defeats and 10 goals conceded. Their deadline day dealings have at least provided some hope. Advertisement Ounahi’s addition is probably the riskiest of them all, but one that could pay off if his imagination can flicker even half as brightly as it did in Qatar. There are few better seals of approval for a young forward than a successful spell at Union Saint-Gilloise, partly owned by the driving force behind Brighton’s data revolution, Tony Bloom. The newly crowned Belgian champions have seen the likes of Victor Boniface, Kaoru Mitoma and Simon Adingra pass through their ranks in recent years, while Mohamed Amoura and Deniz Undav continue to earn rave reviews in the Bundesliga after big moves away. Franjo Ivanovic is the latest No 9 off the production line, plucked from Croatian football to form a lethal partnership with Promise David and fire the capital side to their first top-flight title in 90 years. A stocky striker with a mean turn of pace, Ivanovic is a well-rounded centre-forward who catches the eye in the box and loves to run in behind. He strikes through the ball cleanly on either foot — hitting seven goals with his right and five with his left from open play last season — and works hard to make passes stick with his back to goal, often looking to anticipate pressure and escape with quick feet to nick the ball away. Ivanovic’s physical attributes make him a strong ball-carrier too, picking up possession against Club Brugge inside his own half in the clip below, before barging towards goal and beaming the ball into the bottom left corner. He was the striker with the most take-ons and carries into the final third in the Pro League last term, outlining his proficiency at driving his team up the pitch. Benfica feels an ideal step up for the 21-year-old, already having opened his league account against Tondela on Matchday three. Ivanovic will share the striker’s minutes with the experienced Vangelis Pavlidis, but his high-energy, bustling approach will give Bruno Lage precious variety up top as they look to wrestle back their Portuguese crown. From a big-money sale to a shrewd recruit, Union invested a small portion of the Ivanovic money further back in the team, parting with just €4. 3m to bring the division’s most intriguing holding midfielder to Brussels. Advertisement Adem Zorgane has long been a statistical anomaly in Belgian football, his incredible passing numbers belying his position at the heart of a distinctly mid-table side. Last season, he completed 382 progressive passes according to FBref — 124 more than any other player in the division — while he created 24. 1 per cent of Charleroi’s chances, also the highest proportion in the league, from a roaming, deep-lying role. As we can see from the visualisation below, detailing where he often moved the ball through the opposition, Zorgane likes to drift out to the left to help progress play, but is skilled at pushing the ball through the lines in congested central areas and finding teammates in dangerous pockets of space. He is a burly midfielder, able to take care of himself in defensive duels and bounce between challenges with the ball at his feet. The chance to transfer that quality in possession to a more dominant team is an exciting prospect, and Zorgane has wasted no time in establishing himself as Union’s elusive tempo-setter, already assisting two goals for his new club. There have been flashes of imagination and technical ability, including this neat flick to send Kevin Rodriguez in on goal against Standard Liege. Zorgane strides across the pitch with the confidence of a man who always believes that he is the best on it. With the opportunity to showcase his skills in the Champions League this season, don’t be surprised to see a big European club fall for his flair some time soon. It’s been a summer of change at Leipzig. After a disappointing seventh-place finish in the Bundesliga, all of Benjamin Sesko, Lois Openda and Xavi Simons secured high-profile moves away, having scored almost 63 per cent of their league goals between the three of them last campaign. Managing director Marcel Schafer has taken some risks in an attempt to build an exciting new attack, none more fascinating than a €20m punt on 18-year-old winger Yan Diomande. The Ivorian was playing academy football in Florida until late last year — only making his debut in professional football for La Liga side Leganes at the end of March — but barely 500 minutes in the Spanish top flight were enough to convince Leipzig to make their move. It’s obvious what they see in Diomande, one of those fleet-footed, slippery wingers who never tires of running at defenders. We’re dealing with a smaller sample size, but only Lamine Yamal and Chidera Ejuke completed more take-ons per 90 minutes last season, while Vinicius Junior was the only player to carry the ball more frequently into the box. Advertisement La Liga sides quickly figured out that Diomande was a problem, but even doubling up wasn’t always enough, his slight figure allowing him to slalom through challenges and wriggle out of improbable situations. A look at his player dashboard away to Villarreal, when he almost single-handedly carried the attack from a left-wing-back role, shows just how relentless he can be with the ball, also putting in a shift out of possession with 19 defensive actions down his flank. Diomande has already looked lively in his early outings for his new club, scoring a sensational goal in a pre-season friendly against Toulouse that left three defenders scratching their heads. Here he is in the Bundesliga against Heidenheim, receiving the ball out wide and driving past two players, before darting inside and linking up with Assan Ouedraogo, sending the resulting shot just wide. Fellow recruit Johan Bakayoko brings high-speed dribbling and an eye for goal on the opposite flank, while new strikers Conrad Harder and Romulo — both strong, powerful and quick to race in behind — promise to upkeep Leipzig’s trademark transitional style. Inexperience, but excitement; Diomande and co could be a thrilling watch. Everyone loves a skilful dribbler, so here’s another one, also born in 2006, and with (almost) the same first name. Jan Virgili has even less top-flight experience than Diomande — four minutes to be exact — but his short time on the pitch for his new club Mallorca has already caused fireworks. Not only did he provoke a yellow card for Eder Militao with his very first touch, speeding past the Brazilian with a trademark, tip-tapping run, his introduction provoked a furious reaction from 37-year-old teammate Dani Rodriguez, upset at the “lack of respect” shown to him by manager Jagoba Arrasate after leaving him on the bench. Potential awkwardness aside, Virgili’s potential is sky-high. Barcelona have included a sizeable sell-on clause in the €3. 5m deal, and reserve the right of first refusal when the player makes his next move, indicative of the regard in which they hold the player. Advertisement After a stellar season for the club’s under-19s, Virgili really started to turn heads with his transformative 40-minute cameo for his country, scoring and assisting in a crazy 6-5 win over Germany at the Under-19 European Championship. Within minutes, the tricky winger rattled the crossbar with a curling shot, ran 50 yards with the ball and had a shot saved by the keeper, before poking the ball through his legs with another driving run from the flanks. Deep into extra time, it was Virgili’s pass, drop of the shoulder and through ball that assisted Pablo Garcia for the dramatic late winner, his energy and speed of thought in tight spaces turning the game on its head. Rodriguez hasn’t helped by shifting the spotlight onto such young shoulders, but Virgili’s profile is eye-catching, a rapid winger with the speed of thought to tie defenders in knots. Like Take Kubo and Lee Kang-in before him, he will hope that Mallorca can provide an exciting first step. One way to deal with the departure of a key player is to find another who does many of the same things just as well. That seems to have been the simple logic behind Bournemouth’s move for flying full-back Adrien Truffert, one of the few left-backs in Europe who can compete with the athleticism and intense off-ball running that Milos Kerkez brought to Andoni Iraola’s side. According to Skill Corner, only Crystal Palace’s Daniel Munoz covered more distance at 20km/h or more among full-backs in the top five leagues last season, while Truffert was one of only two players, along with Real Madrid’s Fran Garcia, to complete over 200 combined underlapping and overlapping runs. He largely played with freedom from a wing-back role in France but the point still stands; Truffert will bring much the same adventurousness and hard-running to the role. There have already been glimpses of the 23-year-old’s creativity down the left flank, whipping in a lovely ball for Antoine Semenyo after a powerful run early on against Liverpool in Bournemouth’s opening game of the season. But Truffert’s appetite for covering the hard yards doesn’t stop at channel runs — as we can see from the pizza charts below, he makes plenty of support runs, is happy to drop deep and likes to get on the end of crosses, holding the potential to bring more variety to Bournemouth’s fast-paced build-up. Andoni Iraola lost some big defensive names over the summer, but Truffert’s arrival, along with centre-back Bafode Diakite, ensures that their physical, front-footed approach retains a solid base. The only goalkeeper on our list, Senegal international Yehvann Diouf was statistically the best shot-stopper in Europe’s top five leagues last season. Advertisement Based on the quality of on-target shots that the 25-year-old faced, taking into account the placement of shots within the goal frame and the angle from which they were taken, the average goalkeeper would have been expected to concede close to 62 goals at relegated Reims, but only 47 found their way past Diouf. He also performed significantly above expectation in 2022-23, early signs that his over-performance can be sustained over time. A one-vs-one specialist, Diouf is a tall keeper with a commanding presence at the back, having captained Reims on occasion throughout his six years at the club. He was incredibly busy as they eventually went down, with only four goalkeepers making more saves across Europe, breaking the Ligue 1 record for a single game with 14 stops and a clean sheet in a heroic late-season display at Lens. ? @yehvann ? ? 14 arrêts soit le plus haut total dans un match de championnat depuis 2006/07 ? ! ? @Stade De Reims @Gainde Yi pic. twitter. com/w Bgk7hg Z2h — Ligue 1 Mc Donald's (@Ligue1) April 14, 2025 Diouf’s distribution has been tested in early outings for new side Nice. He was a goalkeeper who frequently went long in the thick of a relegation battle at Reims but a move up the table to a Europa League club provides a new challenge, and an opportunity to see if his promising shot-stopping numbers can continue with tough tests on the continent to come. Still so young in goalkeeper years, keep an eye out in the years to come. Time for one last audacious, highly technical, north African midfielder to get excited about. Badredine Bouanani has all the style you could ever want from your creative winger turned No 10. Still just 20 years old, Bouanani made a big impression with his limited minutes in Ligue 1, the inspiration behind a shock 3-1 win for Nice away to European champions Paris Saint-Germain with two assists. His first, this deft outside-of-the-boot pass through for Morgan Sanson, helped to illustrate the danger he can bring from more central spaces on the break. As a winger, Bouanani loves to chop onto his onto his stronger left foot and get a shot away, seemingly always able to find his way inside with a quick piece of skill or a subtle drop of the shoulder to make the space. Advertisement His crossing technique from deeper areas can be dangerous when he has time to pick out a runner, notably finding Gaetan Laborde with a whipped ball to the back post against Rennes, dropping perfectly in the path of the centre-forward to side-foot home. Stuttgart promise an exciting brand of possession football for Bouanani, finishing second under Sebastian Hoeness in 2023-24, before lifting the DFB-Pokal last campaign. Although they lost Enzo Millot in that role behind the striker, the chance to link up with the similarly skilful Bilal El Khanouss will be an attractive proposition for Bouanani, two players with all the ability to build an exciting connection fizzing with flair. (Top photos: Getty Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Thom Harris is a football data writer at The Athletic, with particular interest in data analysis and visualisation. Born and bred on the blue side of Manchester, he is also passionate about the Spanish game, having spent time working for Villarreal C. F in the past. Follow Thom on Twitter @Thom Harris_