Managing every Premier League 25/26 team in Football Manager

Ladies and gents, I’ve done it. It’s taken me countless hours, but I’ve finally completed the entire transfer window for every single club set to play in the Premier League in 2025/26.

At this point, you might be thinking: How have you done this? Football Manager 2025 didn’t even get released… the game’s completely out of date now.

Well, I downloaded an incredible custom database from Passion4FM – his Football Manager 2025–26 League Update Database (which is available now, by the way) – and proceeded to manage every Premier League club.

I assigned each team what I believe to be a realistic budget, taking PSR into account, and then pushed my wheeler-dealing skills to the absolute limit. I also researched the positions each side needed to strengthen this summer, based on their manager’s preferred tactics, so the transfers feel as true-to-life as possible.

So, let’s go through each club. Examining their ins, outs, and what their dream XI could look like at the start of the season… if I’ve nailed this window correctly.

Note: I don’t claim to have encyclopaedic knowledge of every Premier League squad, so there may be the odd mistake. Please go easy on me, my brain is fried from the sheer volume of transfers I’ve negotiated.

Arsenal

Transfers in

• Rafael Leao – £120m
• Viktor Gyokeres – £50m
• Martin Zubimendi – £50m
• Dominik Livakovic – £15m
• Ferland Mendy – £25m

Total – £160m

Transfers out

• Oleksandr Zinchenko to Dortmund – £40m
• Albert Sambi Lokonga to Sevilla – £15m
• Nuno Tavares to Lazio – £8m
• Jorginho to Flamengo – Free
• Kieran Tierney to Celtic – Free

Total – £63m

Dream XI at the end: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Rice, Zubimendi, Odegaard, Saka, Leao, Gyokeres

Aston Villa

Transfers in

• Ousmane Diomande – £40m
• Karim Konate – £16.5m
• Nicolas Seiwald – £35m
• Marco Asensio – £44m
• Andriy Lunin – £15m

Total – £150.5m

Transfers out

• Emiliano Martinez to Manchester United – £45m
• Boubacar Kamara to Tottenham – £37m
• Robin Olsen to Malmo – free
• Phillipe Coutinho to Vasco de Gama – free

Total – £82m

Dream XI at the end: Lunin, Digne, Torres, Diomande, Cash, Onana, Seiwald, Rogers, Tielemans, Asensio, Watkins

Bournemouth

Transfers in

• Strahinja Pavlovic – £30m
• Alban Lafont – £11m
• Abakar Sylla – £25m
• Oliver Boscagli – £6.75m
• Semih Kilcisoy – £8.5m
• Kyle Walker-Peters – £16.5m
• Carl Rushworth – £7m

Total – £97.75m

Transfers out

• Milos Kerkez to Liverpool – £37m
• Dean Huijsen to Real Madrid – £50m
• Philip Billing to Napoli – £7.5m

Total – £94.5m

Dream XI at the end: Lafont, Boscagli, Senesi, Pavlovic, Walker-Peters, Adams, Cook, Semenyo, Christie, Kluivert, Evanilson

Brentford

Transfers in

• Caoimhin Kelleher – £18m
• Alistair Johnston – £13.25m
• Joris Chotard – £19.25m
• Nicolas Capaldo – £8.75m
• Badredine Bouanani – £12.5m
• Andrea Pinamonti – £19.5m

Total – £91.25m

Transfers out

• Bryan Mbuemo to Manchester United – £50m
• Mads Roerslev to Leeds United – £15m

TOTAL – £65m

Dream XI at the end: Kelleher, Hickey, Van den Berg, Pinnock, Johnston, Norgaard, Jensen, Capaldo, Schade, Wissa, Pinamonti

Brighton

Transfers in

• Kiliann Sildillia – £34.5m
• Oscar Bobb – £40m
• Samu Omorodion – £30m
• Domenico Berardi – £32m

Total – £136.5m

Transfers out

• Julio Enciso to West Ham – £30m
• Carl Rushworth to Bournemouth – £7m

Total – £37m

Dream XI at the end: Verbruggen, Estupinan, Van Hecke, Sildillia, Wieffer, Baleba, Bobb, Mitoma, Berardi, Omorodion, Rutter

Burnley

Transfers in

• Victor Kristiansen – £30m
• Lucas Tousart – £7.5m
• Tom Davies – £11.25m
• Marcus Edwards – £8.5m
• Andreas Schjelderup – £17m
• Gavin Bazunu – £20m
• Danny Ings – £4m
• Bashir Humphreys – £6m
• Jaidon Anthony – Free
• Zian Flemming – Free

Total – £104.25m

Transfers out

• James Trafford to Newcastle – £25m

Total – £25m

Dream XI at the end: Bazunu, Kristiansen, Esteve, Egan-Riley, Roberts, Cullen, Tousart, Edwards, Mejbri, Schjelderup, Ings

Chelsea

Transfers in

• Yeremy Pino – £69m
• Alex Grimaldo – £60m
• Benjamin Sesko – £43m
• Jadon Sancho – £25m

Total – £197m

Transfers out

• Christopher Nkunku to RB Leipzig – £40m
• Kepa to Real Madrid – £20m
• Raheem Sterling to Al-Ettifaq – £20m
• Bashir Humphrys to Burnley – £6m

Total – £86m

Dream XI at the end: Sanchez, Grimaldo, Badiashile, Chalobah, James, Caicedo, Fernandez, Sancho, Palmer, Pino, Sesko

Crystal Palace

Transfers in

• Nico Elvedi – £8.5m
• Leif Davis – £18m
• James McAtee – £20m
• Arda Guler – £25m

Total – £71.5m

Transfers out

• Ebere Eze to Al-Ittihad – £30m

Total – £30m

Dream XI at the end: Henderson, Guehi, Elvedi, Lacroix, Munoz, Davis, Doucoure, Wharton, McAtee, Sarr, Mateta

Everton

Transfers in

• Willian Pacho – £40m
• Emanuel Emegha – £18m
• Reo Hatate – £15.5m
• Ricardo Pereira – £16.5m
• Isi Palazon – £15m
• Mohamed Diomande – £15m

Total – £80m

Transfers out

• None

Dream XI at the end: Pickford, Mykolenko, Branthwaite, Willian Pacho, Pereira, Diomande, Garner, McNeil, Hatate, Palazon, Emegha

Fulham

Transfers in

• Beraldo – £23m
• Matteo Pessina – £15m
• Joakim Maehle – £15m
• Everton Cebolinha – £15m
• Josh Sargent – £9.5m

Total – £77.5m

Transfers out

• Issa Diop to Leeds – £20m
• Rodrigo Muniz to Leeds – £15m

Total – £35m

Dream XI at the end: Leno, Robinson, Beraldo, Andersen, Castagne, Lukic, Pessina, Everton Cebolinha, Smith Rowe, Iwobi, Sargent

Leeds

Transfers in

• Andy Diouf – £30.5m
• Issa Diop – £20m
• Tommaso Baldanzi – £19.75m
• Manor Solomon – £15m
• Ridvan Yilmaz – £16.25m
• Rodrigo Muniz – £15m
• Nick Pope – £10m
• Mads Roerslev – £15m

Total – £141.5m

Transfers out

• Junior Firpo – Free
• Jack Harrison to Ipswich – £10m
• Illan Meslier to Reims – £10m

Total – £20m

Dream XI at the end: Pope, Bogle, Rodon, Diop, Yilmaz, Ampadu, Diouf, James, Baldanzi, Solomon, Muniz

Liverpool

Transfers in

• Jeremie Frimpong – £34.5m
• Milos Kerkez – £37m
• Florian Wirtz – £100m
• Arnaud Kalimuendo – £56m
• Tanguy Nianzou – £60m
• Anthony Gordon – £80m

Total – £367.5m

Transfers out

• Luis Diaz to Barcelona – £71m
• Darwin Nunez to Al-Ahli – £60m
• Trent to Real Madrid – £10m
• Federico Chiesa to Atletico Madrid – £15m

Total – £156m

Dream XI at the end: Alisson, Kerkez, Konate, VVD, Frimpong, Mac Allister, Szobozslai, Gravenberch, Salah, Gordon, Wirtz

Manchester City

Transfers in

• Rodrygo – £80m
• Marcos Llorente – £70m
• Tijjani Reijnders – £46m
• Morgan Gibbs-White – £30m
• Rayan Ait-Nouri – £35m
• Rayan Cherki – £40m

Total – £301m

Transfers out

• Oscar Bobb to Brighton – £40m
• James McAtee to Crystal Palace – £20m

Manchester United

Transfers in

• Matheus Cunha – £60m
• Bryan Mbuemo – £50m
• Emiliano Martinez – £45m
• Pedro Goncalves – £60m
• Piero Hincapie – £72m

Total – £287m

Transfers out

• Marcus Rashford to Barcelona – £40m
• Alejandro Garnacho to Napoli – £50m
• Bruno Fernandes to Al-Hilal – £100m
• Rasmus Hojlund to Inter Milan – £35m

Total – £225m

Dream XI at the end: Martinez, Hincapie, De Ligt, Martinez, Shaw, Mazraoui, Goncalves, Mount, Diallo, Cunha, Mbuemo

Newcastle United

Transfers in

• Mohammed Kudus – £65m
• Jack Grealish – £40m
• James Trafford – £25m
• Victor Boniface – £45m
• Vanderson – £17.25m

Total – £192.25m

Transfers out

• Anthony Gordon to Liverpool – £80m
• Nick Pope to Leeds – £10m

Total – £90m

Dream XI at the end: Trafford, Hall, Botman, Schar, Vanderson, Guimaraes, Joelinton Tonali, Kudus, Grealish, Isak

Nottingham Forest

Transfers in

• Martin Baturina – £20m
• Roony Bardghji – £16.5m
• Shaqueel van Persie – £10m

Total – £46.5m

Transfers out

• Morgan Gibbs-White to Manchester City – £30m

Total – £30m

Dream XI at the end: Sels, Williams, Milenkovic, Murillo, Aina, Anderson, Dominguez, Elanga, Baturina, Hudson-Odoi, Wood

Sunderland

Transfers in

• Pedrinho – £30m
• Djed Spence – £15m
• Enzo Le Fee – £15m
• Milan van Ewijk – £10m
• Haji Wright – £10m
• Harry Souttar – £10.75m
• Jordan Henderson – £3.5m

Total – £94.25m

Transfers out

• Jobe Bellingham to Borussia Dortmund – £30m

Total – £30m

Dream XI at the end: Patterson, Hume, Mepham, Souttar, Milan van Ewijk, Henderson, O’Nien, Le Fee, Pedrinho, Spence, Wright

Tottenham Hotspur

Transfers in

• Karim Adeyemi – £60m
• Antonio Silva – £50m
• Ander Barrenetxea – £50m
• Boubacar Kamara – £37m
• Juan Foyth – £22m
• Caio Henrique – £25m
• Angel Gomes – £26m

Total – £270m

Transfers out

• Cristian Romero to Atletico Madrid – £55m
• Heung-Min Son to Al-Nassr – £40m
• Yves Bissouma to Al-Ittihad – £45m
• Djed Spence to Sunderland – £15m
• Manor Solomon to Leeds – £15m

Total – £170m

Dream XI at the end: Vicario, Porro, Silva, Van de Ven, Udogie, Bentancur, Kamara, Kulusevski, Maddison, Barrenetxea, Adeyemi

West Ham

Transfers in

• Maurits Kjaergaard – £50m
• Julio Enciso – £30m
• Thomas Lemar – £22m
• Josip Sutalo – £23m

Total – £125m

Transfers out

• Mohamed Kudus to Newcastle – £65m
• Danny Ings to Burnley – £4m

Total – £69m

Dream XI at the end: Fabianski, Kilman, Todibo, Kilman, Sutalo, Lemar, Wan-Bissaka, James Ward Prowse, Paqueta, Kjaergaard, Fullkrug

Wolves

Transfers in

• Sergio Arribas – £37m
• Abdou Diallo – £19m
• Owen Wijndal – £15m
• Mika Marmol – £22m
• Daizen Maeda – £12.5m
• Patson Daka – £10.75m

Total – £116.25m

Transfers out

• Matheus Nunes to Manchester United – £60m
• Rayan Ait-Nouri to Manchester City – £35m

Total – £95m

Dream XI at the end: Jose Sa, Toti, Marmol, Diallo, Semedal, Wijndal, Joao Gomes, Andre, Arribas, Sarabia, Strand Larsen

Final Thoughts

So, over £3 billion spent and some monumental transfers made.

Fans of every Premier League club: are you happy with the business I’ve done for your team? I’m sure a few of you will end up Googling some of these signings – but I promise, they’re all pretty decent, even if you’ve never heard of them.

Personally, I’m fairly chuffed with how realistic the window feels overall… though I’ll hold my hands up, I’ve probably got a few dream XIs wrong along the way.

Whatever you think, drop your thoughts in the comments. Whether it’s praise, outrage, or confusion, I want to hear it.