Five players who went for too much money this summer

It has been a slightly strange transfer window in the Premier League this summer. A lot of deals were on hold during the World Cup, and this has led to a slightly mad rush in the last couple of weeks, with for the first time, the window shutting before the league campaign gets underway.

Over a billion pounds has been spent in this window, with eight clubs breaking their transfer records. These included Chelsea, who spent £72 million on Kepa Arrizabalaga, Manchester City, who paid £60 million for Riyad Mahrez, and West Ham, after they signed Felipe Anderson from Lazio for a fee over £30 million.

There have been some very interesting pieces of business. Liverpool moved early in the window, spending big on Naby Keita, Fabinho and Alisson, as well as signing Xherdan Shaqiri from Stoke. Things were slightly different at Manchester United, who despite a frantic search in the last week of the window, missed out on a new centre back.

There were contrasting emotions for the two North London clubs. Arsenal began their transition under Unai Emery, bringing in five senior players, with the likes of Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere leaving the Emirates. It was a tough few months down the road at Tottenham though, who became the first team not to sign a player in the summer transfer window since its introduction in 2003.

There were some massive transfer fees during the summer window, but here are five players who teams overspent on.

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#1 Richarlison (Watford to Everton)

Everton paid a club record fee to bring Richardson to the club

For the first couple of months last season, Richarlison looked like he had the potential to be a £50 million player at some point in the future. However, after November, he didn’t score a single goal, and looked well off the pace at Vicarage Road. He continued to be a regular threat for Watford, but he wasn’t the player he was at the start of the season, and it was a contributing factor to Watford’s drop in form in the second half of the season.

It is clear that Richarlison has all the talents to succeed at Everton, but he hasn’t proved that he can do it over a sustained period of time. This is a massive risk for Everton, and proves they perhaps haven’t learned from last summer, where they splashed the cash on a lot of players, and it didn’t work out. He has been signed based on what Marco Silva saw of him in his time managing Watford, but it is a massive, possibly unnecessary, risk that they have taken.

#2 Kepa Arrizabalaga (Athletic Bilbao to Chelsea)

Chelsea have made Kepa the world's most expensive goalkeeper

One of the big questions of the transfer window was who Chelsea would sign to replace Thibaut Courtois, who seemed certain to move to Real Madrid before that move was confirmed on deadline day. In the end that man was Kepa Arrizabalaga, a man Chelsea spent £71 million on, a club record fee, and a world record amount spent on a goalkeeper, beating the amount paid by Liverpool for Alisson just a couple of weeks previously.

Kepa has the potential to be an excellent goalkeeper, but £71 million is a massive amount of money, especially for someone so young moving to the Premier League, where we have seen so many players struggle to adapt to the physicality. We saw David de Gea struggle when he moved to England, and it could be the same for Kepa. There will also be scrutiny around his every move, especially after such a large fee. It is a lot of pressure to deal with.

#3 Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City to Manchester City)

Mahrez had four successful Premier League seasons with Leicester

In the era of greatly inflated transfer fees, this doesn’t look too bad at £60 million. However, the issue for Manchester City is that they have paid their record fee for a man who isn’t better than what they have already got. We saw last season the incredible arsenal of talent City had in attacking areas, and Mahrez will really struggle to break into the starting XI.

It would be a massive shock to see Pep Guardiola’s first choice midfield three of David Silva, Fernandinho and Kevin de Bruyne change, given that the three were superb last season. The two wingers, Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane excelled under Guardiola’s management, and they look like they can only get better. Mahrez does add depth to City’s squad, but he isn’t good enough to replace any of those men, so he may be used in a more rotational role, but he is unlikely to be used in the more important matches.

#4 Yerry Mina (Barcelona to Everton)

Mina scored four times at this summer's World Cup

Looking at the World Cup, Mina looked like a decent player. He scored three goals for Colombia in Russia, the most by any defender at the tournament. £30 million is a lot of money to pay for a player who has played just five league games in Europe since his £10 million move to Barcelona in January though. He started four of those, and one of them was the 5-4 defeat to Levante.

Mina did have a decent World Cup with Colombia, but defensively he sometimes looked a little bit unsure, and although he was a threat in the opposition box, he had some difficulties in his own. Everton needed to invest in a centre back this summer after some shocking defensive displays last season, and both Ramiro Funes Mori and Ashley Williams leaving Goodison Park. Mina may not be the answer though, so it will be interesting to see how he gets on.

#5 Andriy Yarmolenko (Borussia Dortmund to West Ham)

Yarmolenko spent just one season at Dortmund

Five years ago, £17.5 million for Yarmolenko would have been a bit of a bargain. However, the Ukrainian winger is a much different player to what he was a few years ago, and he hasn’t quite fulfilled his potential. Having spent much of his career in Ukraine with Dynamo Kiev, he moved to Borussia Dortmund last season, but having made just 18 Bundesliga appearances last season, he has moved on to West Ham.

He still has the quality to be a good player, but West Ham have taken on a man who has come off perhaps his worst season in professional football, down to injuries and poor form. There have also been questions asked about his temperament in the past, and that is an area West Ham have suffered in the past. Some may see it as cheap, but a question worth asking in that regard, is why are Dortmund so willing to sell?