Football writer Alex Keble picks out some of the recent signings who could feature for their new clubs in the Premier League for the first time, and explains why fans should be excited to see them in action.
Arsenal - Piero Hincapie
Hincapie, who can play left-back and centre-back, started 28 Bundesliga matches for Bayer Leverkusen last season, suggesting he is a more than adequate back-up for the Gunners.
An injury to William Saliba means Hincapie might be thrown in at the deep end against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Aston Villa - Jadon Sancho and Harvey Elliott
Sancho’s career has stalled for a while now, but for the first time since his Borussia Dortmund days, the loan signing from Manchester United now has a manager who wants him to get on the ball with space in front of him - Villa boss Unai Emery.
Between 2018 and 2021, Sancho contributed 78 goals and assists in 92 Bundesliga matches. There’s still a player in there.
Elliott is an astute signing who adds guile in the No 10 space, something Villa have lacked now that opponents double up on Morgan Rogers.
Elliot excelled on scraps while at Liverpool, ranking 19th in the 2024/25 Premier League for goal contributions per 90 (0.73, minimum 10 matches). If he can do that over a season, that’s 15 to 20 goals or assists.
AFC Bournemouth - Veljko Milosavljevic
The 6ft 4in, 18-year-old centre-back Milosavljevic might be one for the future, although after losing so many defenders this summer, Bournemouth are hoping he can adapt quickly to the Premier League.
Certainly nothing has fazed him so far. Milosavljevic has played for Red Star Belgrade since he was 16, and left the club as their most expensive sale ever.
Brentford - Reiss Nelson
Nelson has had serious injury problems recently, missing the second half of the last campaign while being on a season-long loan from Arsenal to Fulham.
But when he does play, his impact is huge. In the FBRef statistic of "shot-creating action", only Bruno Fernandes, Kevin De Bruyne and Bukayo Saka ranked higher than Nelson’s 5.73 per 90 (minimum 450 minutes).
Brighton & Hove Albion - Charalampos Kostoulas
Brighton always seem to need a striker but never more so than now, after the sale of Joao Pedro.
They have been slow to introduce 18-year-old giant Kostoulas, although he did come off the bench in the EFL Cup victory over Oxford United.
Only Man Utd have underperformed their Expected Goals (xG) by a greater margin than Brighton’s 3.1 this season. Kostoulas will be hoping to correct that.
Burnley - Florentino Luis
Burnley have brought in a destroyer in midfield, someone who can help them to break up play like Joao Palhinha has done down the years.
Florentino Luis, signed from Benfica, has been doing that in Portugal for some time. He averaged 6.12 tackles and interceptions per league game last season. Only two Premier League players averaged more in 2024/25.
Chelsea - Alejandro Garnacho
Garnacho has enormous raw talent but Ruben Amorim could not fit him into his Man Utd side. However, there is plenty of time for Garnacho to be successful, having just turned 21 and with a fresh start at Chelsea.
The Argentinian winger will need to improve his output, however, to keep Pedro Neto out of the team. Garnacho contributed 24 goals or assists in 91 Premier League matches for United.
Crystal Palace - Christantus Uche
Palace have been keen to replace some of the attacking energy of Eberechi Eze and 22-year-old forward Uche could be just what they need.
He scored and assisted in the first match of the new LaLiga campaign for Getafe this season, having also scored on his professional debut a year earlier.
Fast starts come naturally to Uche. Palace's match against Sunderland at Selhurst Park this weekend is an opportunity to continue that.
Everton - Tyler Dibling
One of the most exciting young players in the Premier League last season has joined a new-look Everton front line that could be very entertaining.
It’s pleasing that Dibling looks and plays like a mini-version of Jack Grealish, his new team-mate on the opposite wing for Everton.
Fulham - Kevin
For a while now, Fulham have needed an injection of energy and invention out wide.
Breaking the club record to sign Kevin from Shakhtar Donetsk is a big moment.
The 22-year-old, who contributed eight goal involvements in 24 league matches last season (one in three), will be expected to try and help Fulham get their first win of the season against Leeds United on Saturday.
Liverpool - Alexander Isak
Having broken the British transfer record to sign him, Liverpool are ready to give Isak his debut – and all eyes are on how Arne Slot fits him into the side.
He trained with his new team-mates for the first time on Wednesday, two days after gaining his first match minutes of the season as a substitute for Sweden.
Watch Isak scoring three goals in training
Isak in action 🎯#TeamPixel | #Ad pic.twitter.com/0h6ujzgyUx
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) September 10, 2025
Isak scored 23 Premier League goals last season, coming second in the Golden Boot standings to his new team-mate Mohamed Salah.
Together, these two could get off to an explosive start at Burnley.
Manchester City - Gianluigi Donnarumma
Following the high-profile error made by James Trafford against Tottenham Hotspur, Man City decided to bring in a new goalkeeper, but the arrival of one of the few superstar No 1s around is not a guarantee of success.
Pep Guardiola wants someone reliable, but he also needs someone confident with the ball at his feet, and Donnarumma has been error-prone in this regard at Paris Saint-Germain.
That being said, he conceded just 20 goals from a post-shot xG of 30.4 in Ligue 1 last season, an enormous over-performance.
Man Utd - Senne Lammens
The pressure of being a Man Utd No 1 has taken down many a player over the years, which is why there is extra scrutiny on how a 23-year-old, with no experience outside Belgium, gets on in the Manchester derby this weekend.
Lammens is an excellent shot-stopper. In the Belgian Pro League last season, he conceded 30 goals from a post-shot xG of 44.5 (excluding own goals), putting him second overall across Europe’s top 10 leagues for goals prevented (14.5).
With his feet, there are some questions, mainly because he simply doesn’t face the kind of pressure in Belgium – literally and figuratively – as he will do in the Premier League.
Newcastle - Yoane Wissa and Nick Woltemade
You can’t directly replace someone as good as Isak, but the next best thing is to replace him with two players.
Wissa has proven Premier League experience, scoring 19 goals in the top flight for Brentford last season, while Woltemade scored 12 times in 17 Bundesliga matches for Stuttgart.
Which one gets the nod this weekend, at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers, will potentially tell us whom Eddie Howe sees as his first-choice striker.
Nottingham Forest - Oleksandr Zinchenko
Ange Postecoglou’s appointment has dramatically shaken things up at the City Ground, and given Nuno Espirito Santo’s reported disappointment with the transfers made, we can assume the new manager approves of the direction taken under Edu, Forest's head of global football.
Of the potential debutants, the most intriguing is loan signing Zinchenko, purely because he is very experienced inverting into midfield from left-back.
Postecoglou’s teams typically have two inverted full-backs. If Zinchenko plays, and if he inverts, then we can assume Ange-ball is back.
Tottenham Hotspur - Randal Kolo Muani and Xavi Simons
Thomas Frank welcomes two of the most exciting forwards in Europe to Spurs, transforming their attack.
Muani scored nine goals in 13 matches on loan at Juventus in the second half of last season, showing why PSG paid £70 million for him two years ago.
It looks as though he is ready to be the goalscoring No 9 Spurs have been seeking since Harry Kane left.
Xavi Simons (below, left) is another player who racks up superb numbers, hitting 0.67 goals or assists per 90 for RB Leipzig last season. He could play a starring role in James Maddison’s absence.
Sunderland - Lutsharel Geertruida
There is fanfare around the signing of Ajax striker Brian Brobbey, who scored 18 goals in the Eredivisie in the season before last, but a more important signing is the loan of Dutch right-back Geertruida (pictured below in action for parent club RB Leipzig).
Both of Burnley’s goals in their 2-0 victory came down Sunderland’s right, while right-back Trai Hume also made an error for a disallowed goal.
In the 2-1 victory over Brentford, Hume was outjumped by Igor Thiago for the Bees’ goal.
Sunderland needed to strengthen that area of their defence – and they have done so very well.
Wolverhampton Wanderers - Tolu Arokodare
Wolves managed to hang on to Jorgen Strand Larsen in the summer window but nevertheless signed a new striker, and it will be intriguing to see if Arokodare gets minutes this weekend.
In Belgium's Pro League A, he scored 17 goals in 30 matches for Genk in 2024/25, doubling his best-ever return.
This should be a breakthrough year – but only if he can get into the Wolves team ahead of Larsen.