Manchester United, Barcelona won the transfer windows; Chelsea, Tottenham the biggest losers

When it comes to sports, this is the circle of life. The biggest clubs spend big on other teams' burgeoning stars so they can win trophies, or at least signal to their fans that they're trying to. Others make a living off of those transfer fees, happily sending their stars to said clubs so they can procure their next round of stars (and eventually send those guys away too).

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Of course, big transfer spending doesn't correlate as well to success as it perhaps should -- over the past year, we've seen some crystal clear examples of how inefficient this market remains -- but whatever your strategy, if you nail a given set of windows, it can transform your club. Just ask Napoli and Chelsea.

Napoli brought in more money from transfer fees than they spent last summer and, in effect, used the proceeds from the exit of veteran defender Kalidou Koulibaly to Chelsea (€38 million) to add what are now regarded as two of the best players in Europe -- winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (€11.5m) and defender Kim Min-jae (€18.1m). That helped transform them into a squad capable of running away with the Serie A title, which they did. Chelsea, meanwhile, became addicted to writing checks instead of actually building a team, spent more than €600m on talent acquisitions, and might end up with their worst Premier League finish in 29 years.

The 2022-23 season is almost in the books, and the engine of the next transfer season is revving up loudly in the background. Now is a good time to reflect. Who actually benefited from spending big? Who nailed a thriftier approach?

To look at this past year's winners and losers, let's break teams into four quadrants: two good and two bad. Among the teams in Europe's Big Five leagues, who spent big (in terms of transfer fee balance) and who didn't? Who actually got better and who didn't?

Obviously, the transfer fee is only one of two numbers that matter -- the other being the salaries that teams are paying -- and not every move is made to pay off immediately. Plenty of clubs build for the future. But with the urgency and non-stop nature of the Transfer Industrial Complex, looking at immediate returns is relevant, especially considering how one great or terrible window can define your fortune for years to come.

(Note: All transfer figures come from Transfermarkt.)

Big spending, big improvement

Newcastle United

Spending: €185.4m
Biggest arrivals: FW Alexander Isak (Real Sociedad, €70m), MF Anthony Gordon (Everton, €45.6m), DF Sven Botman (Lille, €37m)
Income: €13.3m
Biggest exits: MF Jonjo Shelvey (Nottingham Forest, €6.5m)
Balance: -€172.1m
Change in performance: +0.59 points per game (to 1.89, third place)

Before adding Isak in late August, Newcastle's spending had basically been that of the average Premier League team despite the general wealth of their new Saudi Arabia-backed owners. And even now, you can't really say they have been outspending the field. Regardless, Isak and other newcomers such as Botman and goalkeeper Nick Pope have been key to Newcastle's rise from 11th place in 2021-22 to Champions League qualification in 2022-23.

Barcelona

Spending: €158m
Biggest arrivals: FW Raphinha (Leeds United, €58m), DF Jules Kounde (Sevilla, €50m), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich, €45m)
Income: €39.5m
Biggest exits: MF Philippe Coutinho (Aston Villa, €20m), FW Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Chelsea, €12m)
Balance: -€118.5m
Change: +0.51 points per game (to 2.43, first place)

Pulling the various financial levers to raise funds amid their immense debt certainly didn't help Barcelona avoid another dud in European competitions, but it made a massive difference domestically. In 2021-22, they recorded their lowest LaLiga points total in 18 years; in 2022-23, newcomers Lewandowski and Raphinha combined for 42 goals and assists, Kounde helped to completely transform the defense and Barca rolled to an easy league title.

Manchester United

Spending: €243.3m
Biggest arrivals: FW Antony (Ajax, €95m), MF Casemiro (Real Madrid, €70m), DF Lisandro Martinez (Ajax, €57.4m)
Income: €13.3m
Biggest exits: MF Andreas Pereira (Fulham, €9.5m)
Balance: -€230.0m
Change: +0.39 points per game (to 1.92, fourth place)

The transfers themselves were a mixed bag this season -- Casemiro was transformative and Martinez quickly became a defensive stalwart, only for Antony to deliver just four goals and two assists despite his huge transfer fee -- but there's no question that the team took a step forward this season under new manager Erik ten Hag. United have already topped last season's point total by 11 and still have two matches left.

Arsenal

Spending: €192.4m
Biggest arrivals: FW Gabriel Jesus (Man City, €53.2m), DF Oleksandr Zinchenko (Man City, €35m), MF Fabio Vieira (Porto, €35m)
Income: €23.8m
Biggest exits: MF Matteo Guendouzi (Marseille, €11m)
Balance: -€168.6m
Change: +0.37 points per game (to 2.19, second place)

Arsenal lured Jesus and Zinchenko from Manchester to London and, combined with further development from an exciting young roster core, it paid off. The Gunners still didn't have enough juice to maintain a title push for nine full months, but after finishing 24 points behind Manchester City last season, they'll likely finish only eight to 10 points behind this time around. They'll also play in the Champions League next season for the first time since 2016-17.

Marseille

Spending: €115.4m
Biggest arrivals: FW Vitinha (Braga, €32m), GK Pau Lopez (Roma, €12m), MF Matteo Guendouzi (Arsenal, €11m)
Income: €37.5m
Biggest exits: MF Gerson (Flamengo, €15m), DF Duje Caleta-Car (Southampton, €8m)
Balance: -€77.9m
Change: +0.16 points per game (to 2.03, third place)

After last season's second-place finish, Marseille tried, on a couple of occasions, to make the most of the newfound Champions League cash and close the gap on PSG. They'd already spent big before adding Vitinha in late January, and it has sort of paid off. After finishing with 71 points last season, they're up to 73 with two games to play, but they've also fallen into third place behind a surging Lens

Big spending, big regression

Chelsea

Spending: €611.5m
Biggest arrivals: MF Enzo Fernandez (Benfica, €121m), DF Wesley Fofana (Leicester City, €80.4m), DF/MF Mykhailo Mudryk (Shakhtar Donetsk, €70m), DF Marc Cucurella (Brighton, €65.3m), Raheem Sterling (Man City, €56.2m)
Income: €67.8m
Biggest exits: FW Timo Werner (RB Leipzig, €20m), DF Emerson (West Ham, €15.4m), MF Jorginho (Arsenal, €11.3m)
Balance: -€543.7m
Change: -0.76 points per game (to 1.19, 12th place)

One of Europe's biggest collapses came from Europe's biggest-spending team. Chelsea attempted win-now signings (Koulibaly, Sterling) in July and August, then win-later youth signings (Fernandez, Mudryk and many others) in January. Maybe they will indeed win later, but their 2022-23 campaign has been an absolute disaster.

The big spending has put them on the verge of potential financial fair play issues -- something a lack of Champions League revenue could further complicate -- but if recent transfer rumors turn out to be true, their solution to this season's problems appears to be ... more big spending. It could work out well for the teams depositing their big checks, anyway.

West Ham

Spending: €194m
Biggest arrivals: MF Lucas Paqueta (Lyon, €43m), FW Gianluca Scamacca (Sassuolo, €36m, DF Nayef Aguerd (Rennes, €35m)
Income: €21.6m
Biggest exits: DF Issa Diop (Fulham, €17.8m)
Balance: -€172.4m
Change: -0.40 points per game (to 1.08, 14th place)

It has turned out to be a pretty good bad season for the Hammers, who have reached the final of the Europa Conference League -- a win would give them their first European trophy since the 1965 Cup Winners' Cup -- and have rallied to 14th place in the Premier League after flirting with relegation. That has distracted from the fact that, aside from perhaps Paqueta and Aguerd, most of the team's newcomers have failed to make any significant impact in 2022-23 and, at best, West Ham will finish with 13 fewer points than they had last season.

Southampton

Spending: €143.7m
Biggest arrivals: FW Kamaldeen Sulemana (Rennes, €25m), FW Paul Onuachu (Genk, €18m), GK Gavin Bazunu (Man City, €14m), MF Carlos Alcaraz (Racing Club, €13.7m)
Income: €5.5m
Biggest exits: MF Oriol Romeu (Girona, €5.5m)
Balance: -€138.2m
Change: -0.41 points per game (to 0.65, last place)

After back-to-back 15th place finishes in the Premier League, one of the most successful developmental clubs in Europe attempted to solve their problems by signing players instead of letting them go in 2022-23. The result: a pair of increasingly desperate managerial changes and a last-place finish.