and Joleon Lescott have revealed which club they think had the best transfer window after the deadline passed.
It was a busy period for clubs in ’s top-flight who spent a record £2.44bn on new players as the window closed at 11pm on Friday.
Chelsea were the biggest spenders and splashed out £434.5m – the most spent by any club during a transfer window in Premier League history.
The Blues smashed the British transfer record to sign Moises Caicedo from Brighton and also brought in Romeo Lavia, Christopher Nkunku, Cole Palmer, Axel Disasi, Nicolas Jackson, Lesley Ugochukwu, Robert Sanchez and Djordje Petrovic as well as Brazilian duo Deivid Washington and Angelo.
Manchester City were the second biggest spenders with £212.3m while Arsenal paid £208m for new players and Manchester United forked out £183.5m.
Arsenal signed Declan Rice from West Ham in a deal worth £105m and also brought in Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber while David Raya arrived on loan.
United’s new recruits include Rasmus Hojlund, Mason Mount, Andre Onana and Altay Bayindir while the club secured loan deals for Sofyan Amrabat and Sergio Reguilon and signed Jonny Evans on a free transfer.
Liverpool spent £165.4m on deals for Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endo.
Crouch and Lescott, though, agree that there is one club who has stood out the most with the summer business – Arsenal – while also highlighting positive windows for Tottenham and Nottingham Forest.
Asked which club had the best transfer window, Crouch said: ‘I think Arsenal is a good shout.
‘Losing Timber [to injury]… he looked great in the Community Shield and it looked like he was going to have a great season. That was obviously a big blow.
‘I think Tottenham have strengthened really well too. Defensively they look a lot stronger now. James Maddison is a great signing, so they have had a good window as well.’
Lescott added: ‘I would say Arsenal, in regards to which positions they needed to strengthen. Also Nottingham Forest. They were a lot more efficient this year. Last year they got a lot of players in, but this time around there was a better understanding of what they needed.’
