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At the end of June, when England were still staggering through the opening half of Euro 2024, the Premier League’s transfer market was awoken from its early summer slumber. A sudden rush of transfer agreements were struck before football’s financial year was out, with those seemingly in danger of a profit and sustainability rules (PSR) breach combining to ease one another’s anxiety before the June 30 cut-off point. Advertisement Plenty found willing trade partners. Aston Villa exchanged players with Everton, Juventus and Chelsea, who in turn found there was business to be done with Leicester City. Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest, meanwhile, struck their own mutually beneficial deals to boost profit margins for the 2023-24 season. Eleven transfers were completed between those seven clubs, eventually running to a combined £223million ($292m). Such was the cynicism of rivals that the Premier League was prompted to write to all 20 clubs to clarify its rules over fair market value in a world of PSR battles. There has been no suggestion that those regulations were broken but the first month of a new season has done little to dispel the suspicion that those deals of late June had motives beyond the strengthening of a squad. Just two of the 11 players have started a league game for their new club and another three have already been loaned out. The Athletic looks at the early fortunes of those bought and sold to help with PSR concerns. A penny for Lewis Dobbin’s thoughts at the season’s first juncture. The 21-year-old forward had been on the fringes of the Everton first team last term, gaining Premier League experience with the club he had spent over a decade developing. Then came unexpected word that he was being sold to Aston Villa for £9million, with Tim Iroegbunam moving in the opposite direction for the same fee. It was the trade that began a Premier League pattern, banking useful and immediate profits for Everton and Villa, whose heavy historic losses had placed them at risk of breaching PSR. Dobbin, though, is no further forward in his career. Despite joining a club participating in the Champions League, his season will be spent on loan with West Bromwich Albion in the Championship. Dobbin might need to stay patient with West Brom, too. His four Championship appearances have come from the bench, with just 38 on-pitch league minutes in the opening month to go with a start in the 2-1 defeat to Fleetwood Town in the Carabao Cup. The early indications are that Everton got the more attractive deal. Iroegbunam, 21, has started all three Premier League games in a trying first month for Everton, as well as the Carabao Cup win over Doncaster Rovers, where he netted his first goal. The midfielder has shown ample promise and early indications from August would suggest he has a prominent role to play with Everton. Advertisement Dobbin was not the only long-term signing made by Villa towards the end of June. Unai Emery also chose to loan out another two of his additions, Samuel Iling-Junior and Enzo Barrenechea. The pair were signed from Juventus for a combined sum of £18. 6million, a day after the Italian side had paid just over £42m to bring in Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz. Iling-Junior, who came up through Chelsea’s academy, failed to make the matchday squad in Villa’s opening two Premier League games before being loaned to Serie A club Bologna last week. Barrenechea was also sent out to Europe. The Argentine defensive midfielder will spend the season with Valencia in La Liga but has not played any competitive football since completing another loan with Frosinone last term. Villa, in effect, paid £27. 6million for three youngsters who Emery did not see in his short-term plans. Perhaps the 2024-25 season will bring an altered outlook but much will depend on performances out on loan. Selling Douglas Luiz, a key figure in the team that finished fourth in the Premier League last season, stung Villa but his departure was considered unavoidable by a club who had overstretched spending in pursuit of progress. Douglas Luiz has also been a slow starter with Juventus. The Brazilian has come off the bench in their opening three Serie A games. Villa’s other notable business before their unofficial transfer window deadline came with Chelsea, who had reported losses of £360million in their last three years of available accounts. No club in the world recouped as much money as Chelsea did through player sales this summer (£166million). The number of academy graduates sold guided the best route towards PSR compliance. Ian Maatsen’s sale was among the most beneficial departures. He starred on loan with Borussia Dortmund last season and was sold for £37. 5million to Villa. He has not started for his new club but has made three appearances off the bench as he looks to dislodge Lucas Digne, Villa’s first-choice left-back. Advertisement Moving the other way when Maatsen joined Villa was Omari Kellyman, an 18-year-old who was sold to Chelsea for £19million on the back of just two Premier League appearances. Kellyman cost Villa £600, 000 from Derby County’s academy in 2022. That buy, giving Villa a handsome return to book in their accounts, was considered a long-term investment by Chelsea, who will amortise the transfer outlay across five years. Kellyman, who turns 19 this month, did not join Chelsea’s U. S. tour due to injury and is expected to be sidelined until November with a hamstring complaint. Another of Chelsea’s summer investments was Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, bought from Leicester City for £30million. Dewsbury-Hall’s close links to Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, who he worked with successfully at the King Power Stadium, diluted cynicism — but the transfer’s timing, allowing Leicester to book pure profit in their attempts to be PSR compliant, caused surprise once it was agreed another component would be added to the business. Leicester, it was confirmed on July 7, would pay up to £5million for Michael Golding, an 18-year-old midfielder from Chelsea’s academy. Golding, capped for England’s under-16s, -17s and -18s, is yet to feature for Leicester, while Dewsbury-Hall’s only starts for Chelsea have come in Conference League qualifiers. Perhaps the most unexpected transfers agreed in late June involved Newcastle and Nottingham Forest. Newcastle sold Elliot Anderson to Forest for £35million, with goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos going the opposite way for roughly £20million. Anderson’s bright start to life with Forest has seen the 21-year-old start the last three games, deepening the sense of regret felt by Eddie Howe. The Newcastle boss has not been afraid to voice his frustration at selling Anderson and Yankuba Minteh, who joined Brighton & Hove Albion for £30million. “Elliot was very sad for us because he was a player we loved, ” Howe told BBC Radio Newcastle. “Through PSR, the club has been forced into a decision. ” It was widely accepted selling Anderson and Minteh was necessary for Newcastle to avoid a points deduction for breaching PSR and the money from both is thought to have eased concerns at St James’ Park. Advertisement The same could apply to Forest once they had struck an agreement to sell Vlachodimos to Newcastle. That was announced as an “undisclosed sum” but The Athletic reported it was a sale worth £20million for a goalkeeper considered surplus to requirements at The City Ground. That Vlachodimos’ lowly status appears unchanged after a move to Newcastle only adds to the curious nature of the transfer. The Greece international, signed from Benfica for £6. 8million, finds himself behind Nick Pope and Martin Dubravka in the pecking order. John Ruddy has also arrived as another goalkeeping rival. With first-team prospects seemingly non-existent, last week The Athletic reported Vlachodimos could make a loan move away from Newcastle for this season. The length of contract signed by Vlachodimos was another aspect of the deal that went undisclosed but the £20million fee can be amortised over the number of years it stretches. Four years, in effect, would see only £5m shown on Newcastle’s latest balance sheets, which would also have the £35m of pure profit from the sale of academy graduate Anderson. It was a transfer Howe saw as being “forced” upon Newcastle, a timely deal of convenience and a means to an end. The start of the season, with so few of those players traded making an impact, only entrenches the point. (Top photos: Getty Images) Get all-access to exclusive stories. Subscribe to The Athletic for in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. Try a week on us.