The Reds' outrageous outlay has made plenty of headlines, but how did their summer compare to some of the most sensational windows of all time?

Every once in a while, one club comes along and blows everyone else out of the water in the transfer market. In the summer of 2025, it was Liverpool's turn, with many hailing their window as an all-timer after a mindboggling £446 million ($597m) spend.

Already the reigning Premier League champions, Arne Slots' Reds have consolidated in a big way, strengthening across the board and breaking the British transfer record on two separate occasions to seemingly guarantee another title tilt and a significant challenge in the Champions League.

But how does the Merseysiders' truly remarkable summer compare to some of the most sensational transfer windows pulled off by a single club? Below, GOAL ranks the most memorable of all time…

Getty Images Sport10Chelsea (2003)

The early 2000s witnessed the dawn of clubs splashing out huge sums on multiple players in a single window, and Chelsea were at the forefront of that movement after their takeover by Russian-Israeli billionaire Roman Ambramovich in July 2003.

While it's the summer of 2004 that's best remembered as key figures such as Didier Drogba, Petr Cech, Ricardo Carvalho and Arjen Robben arrived, the first window under Abramovich a year prior laid the foundations and stunned the football world, as the Blues spent more than £150m on the likes of Hernan Crespo, Joe Cole, Juan Sebastian Veron and Claude Makelele, who were among new faces at Stamford Bridge.

AdvertisementGetty Images9Manchester City (2009)

Manchester City had already made waves by seeing off competition from Chelsea to sign Robinho from Real Madrid on deadline day in 2008, but new owner Sheikh Mansour went even bigger the following summer. Amid a flurry of other business, City pulled off two stunning deals in the space of four days to leave their rivals fuming.

First, they sensationally convinced Carlos Tevez to reject a permanent transfer to Manchester United and cross the derby divide, reportedly paying the Argentine's advisors a massive £25.5m sum to make the deal happen. Then, Emmanuel Adebayor was snatched from Arsenal for another £25m.

The flames of the Manchester rivalry were famously stoked as the Tevez transfer was announced with a sky blue 'Welcome to Manchester' billboard in the city, while Adebayor infamously ran the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the travelling Arsenal fans after scoring against the Gunners in September that year.

Getty Images8Barcelona (2017)

For reasons we'll get into a bit later, Barcelona had money to burn in the summer of 2017 – and burn it they did. In search of attacking reinforcements, Barca obliterated their transfer record to sign then-20-year-old Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund, shelling out an eye-watering €148m (£135.5m/$173m).

Elsewhere, the Blaugrana also spent big on ill-advised deals for ex-Tottenham flop Paulinho – who was 29 and plying his trade in China at the time – as well as Nelson Semedo and Gerard Deulofeu. Dembele eventually came good after a very slow burn at Camp Nou, but albeit sensational, this will still be reflected upon as one of the worst transfer windows in the history of the sport overall, with the panic-driven splurging contributing to Barcelona's current financial woes.

AFP7Al-Hilal (2023)

The advent of the Saudi Pro League's sudden emergence as a force in the global transfer market, Al-Hilal's 2023 summer window was nothing short of remarkable as the Gulf State's sovereign Public Investment Fund bankrolled a net spend of £302m on eight new signings to put the rest of the world on notice.

The influx of talent was, of course, headlined by the ill-fated €90m (£77m/$99m) arrival of Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain, while he was joined by the likes of Ruben Neves, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Malcom, as a host of big names were lured by the riches on offer in Saudi Arabia. Although they would inevitably go on to win the league, Al-Hilal made a huge loss on Neymar, whose contract was terminated after an injury-plagued 18 months.