Top 10 transfers that defined football in 2025
Transfers from one club to another is a very common practise in football. While some players make an instant impact at a club, some take time to gel in the new system. Most often we have seen that a single transfer can have a massive impact, helping their team to improve their results, save a bottom-placed club from relegation and sometimes even lead them to big trophies – becoming that final piece of the puzzle that completes the picture.
The stats mentioned below have been taken from transfrmrkt.com, fbref.com and StatMuse
Here we take a look at Top 10 Transfers that defined football in 2025 –
10. Vangelis Pavlidis (AZ Alkmaar to SL Benfica)
SL Benfica’s Greek centre-forward had a superb debut season for the club, joining in the summer of 2024 from Dutch club AZ Alkmaar. The Greek forward scored 15 goals and bagged 5 assists in 18 League games in 2025. He was also mighty impressive in the UEFA Champions League and scored 6 goals and provided 2 assists in 6 UCL games that Benfica played in 2025. His most notable performance came in the home game against Spanish champions Barcelona where he scored a hattrick, causing mayhem in the Barca backline every time he went forward.
He has again started the 2025/26 season with a bang, already having bagged 5 goals and 2 assists in 8 League games. Even though Benfica didn’t win the Liga Portugal, Pavlidis had a major role to play in the title-race where Benfica ran CP Sporting really close and only lost the title by two points.
Pavlidis has proved to be a shrewd recruitment from the Portuguese club and showcased his skills and talent not just in the new league but also against Europe’s elite in the UCL.
9. Dean Huijsen (Juventus to Bournemouth to Real Madrid)
Dean Huijsen joined the Cherries from Juventus ahead of the 2024/25 season and such was his impact on the Bournemouth team and the league that he started to attract massive interest from top clubs in Liverpool, Chelsea and Real Madrid. The Spanish CB preferred a move to Real Madrid and joined them ahead of the 2025/26 season.
The 20-year-old Spanish Centre-back impressed one and all with his defending and ball-playing abilities. He kept six clean sheets in the 18 matches he played for Bournemouth in all competitions in 2025. He isn’t just a superb defender though, his ball playing abilities are exceptional as well. He can find long passes and line-breaking passes and made a massive difference for the Cherries as they were superb against the top sides in the league. His progressive passes, shot-creating actions, interceptions, tackles and clearances per 90 in the last season were one of the best as compared to other defenders in Europe.
He has also made a decent start for Real Madrid in the 2025/26 season with the Spanish club leading the way in LaLiga, currently sitting pretty at the top of the table.
8. Mikel Merino (Real Sociedad to Arsenal)
Mikel Merino joined the Gunners from Real Sociedad ahead of the 2024/25 season. The Central Midfielder was even deployed as a centre-forward by Mikel Arteta due to Arsenal’s injury crisis and the Spanish midfielder came clutch on several occasions.
Since the beginning of 2025, Merino scored some vital goals for Arsenal. The Spanish midfielder got 6 goals and 2 assists in 20 league games. He performed superbly in the UCL as well, scoring two goals and bagging three assists. Thanks to his performances in front of goal, Arsenal got out of a lot of problems and ended the season in second place, qualifying for the UCL yet again and also reached the semi-finals of the UCL this year. His performances for the National Team have been inspiring too, scoring 4 goals in two World Cup qualification games.
Mikel Arteta continues to trust him in the new season and his consistent performances have resulted in Arsenal being top of the table after covering a five-point gap in the Premier League.
7. Mika Biereth (Sturm Graz to AS Monaco)
22-year-old Danish striker Mika Beireth has been another phenomenal transfer story this year. Beireth joined Ligue 1 club AS Monaco in the 2025 winter transfer window and instantly hit the ground running for the Monegasque club.
Beireth who had been brilliant for Sturm Graz in the first half of the season was spotted by Monaco and they secured his signing in January itself which proved to be a master stroke for the French club.
In 26 Ligue 1 appearances, Beireth returned with superb numbers of 13 goals and 2 assists, ensuring a third-place finish and UCL qualification for Monaco. The 22-year-old scored three hat-tricks alone in the month of February. Beireth scored 13 goals in just 16 appearances, ending as the top 8th scorer after having played less than half the games than the other forwards.
Beireth has definitely made a mark in Ligue 1 and has certainly proven to be a defining transfer move for not just AS Monaco but also football in general.
6. Serhou Guirassy (VfB Stuttgart to Borussia Dortmund)
Guinean striker Serhou Guirassy marked an impressive debut for Borussia Dortmund after signing for the Bundesliga club ahead of the 2024/25 season.
Since the start of the year, Guirassy has pulled off phenomenal numbers having scored 15 goals and getting 2 assists in 19 Bundesliga appearances. He also ended up as the top-scorer in the UCL, Guirassy scored 7 goals and bagged 3 assists in UCL games in 2025. He was second only to Harry Kane in the Bundesliga’s top scorers list and was also part of the Bundesliga Team of the Season (TOTS).
Guirassy made a massive difference to Dortmund making UCL qualification, ending in the Top 4 places in the league. In addition, he was instrumental in their UCL campaign as well, helping them to reach the quarter-finals where they narrowly lost to Barcelona but not before giving them a scare in the second-leg.
He has continued his exceptional form into the new season as well with 9 G/A in 8 appearances for the German club.
Guirassy has proved to be a top-class recruitment for Dortmund and even being 29-years-old, he is not showing any signs of slowing down. Guirassy has certainly proven to be a defining transfer move for not just Dortmund but also European football.
5. Julián Alvarez (Manchester City to Atlético de Madrid)
Treble winner with Manchester City, Copa America and World Cup winner with Argentina, Julián Alvarez has already completed football.
However, due to the lack of regular game-time in the Man City team, he decided to move to Spanish club Atlético de Madrid ahead of the 2024/25 season. There was a lot of noise about his transfer fee being exorbitant but the 25-year-old Argentinian shut up all his doubters within a few months and is now regarded as one of the best centre-forwards in Europe.
He had a phenomenal season at Atletico Madrid in 2025 with the Argentinian scoring 10 goals in 19 league games, got another 2 goals and 2 assists in the Copa Del Rey taking them to the Semi-finals and bagging 3 goals and an assist in 4 UCL games.
His form has continued in the same manner in the 2025/26 season, already having scored 7 goals and bagging 3 assists in the first nine games of the season.
Even though the Colcheneros struggled with form and didn’t win any trophies, Alvarez was their top performer and also one of the best performers in LaLiga this year.
While it’s difficult to transition from one team to another, it’s even more difficult when it’s a new league but Alvarez has proven to be worth every single penny of that £81m transfer fee that Atleti paid to Manchester City.
4. Scott McTominay (Manchester United to SSC Napoli)
From struggling in the bottom half of the PL table with Manchester United to becoming a Serie A champion with Napoli, Scott McTominay’s redemption story in a span of one season has been inspirational to say the least.
Unwanted at Man United, McTominay joined coach Antonio Conte at the Partenopei in the summer of 2024 and what a signing he turned out to be. Not just in the first half of the season, but his performances at the turn of the year made everyone take notice as he was vital to Napoli winning the Scudetto on the last day of the season.
McTominay outperformed every other midfielder in the Serie A with 9 goals and 3 assists in 19 league games in 2025. Such was his impact on the league that he was voted as the Serie A player of the season and also the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the league at the end of the season.
He is playing a vital role for Conte’s Napoli team in the 2025/26 season as well as the Neapolitan club sits top of the table with five wins and a loss in their first six league games.
3. Michael Olise (Crystal Palace to Bayern Munich)
With a lot of Premier League clubs like Manchester City and Liverpool interested in the young winger, Olise preferred to make a move to the Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich ahead of the 2024/25 season and he has proven to be an absolutely superb signing for Die Roten.
He made crucial contributions in the second half of the season with important goals and assists. In 19 league games, he scored 7 goals and provided 11 assists to help his team regain the 2024/25 Bundesliga title after Bayer Leverkusen had taken it last season. He also helped his team reach the UCL quarter-finals. On the national team front, Olise helped his team to a third-place finish in the UEFA Nations League with a goal in the third-place playoffs as well.
He hasn’t disappointed in the new season either and is already proving to be more than a handful with 5 goals and 6 assists in 10 appearances for the Bundesliga giants. Olise has definitely proven to be a defining signing for Bayern Munich as he is the complete package that any team would want in a winger. While everyone had witnessed his talent in the Premier League as well but he has just exploded at Bayern Munich and has proven to be a massive signing for them while also winning the Bayern Munich Player of the Season and the Bundesliga Rookie of the Season award, ending the 2024/25 season with a staggering 43 G/A in 55 appearances for the Bavarians.
2. Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain to Real Madrid)
The most high-profile signing that happened in the summer of 2024 was that of French forward Kylian Mbappé on a free transfer after his contract with PSG expired.
Mbappé was seen as that last piece of the puzzle to make Los Blancos unbeatable. However, the beginning wasn’t as smooth but with the club struggling for form with injuries galore, Mbappé made a vital impact, coming clutch and scoring important goals, and kept his team in the title-race. From the beginning of 2025, Mbappé has been in phenomenal form, scoring 21 goals in 15 league games. He also scored 5 goals in 8 UCL appearances in 2025, helping his team to the quarter-finals. Even though Real Madrid ended up without major trophies and didn’t perform well as a collective, Mbappé ended with a tally of 44 goals and 5 assists in 59 appearances in his debut season – making his numbers even more unbelievable.
He has started the 2025/26 season with a bang, already having scored 5 goals in two UCL matches and 9 goals + 2 assists in 8 league games for Real Madrid.
Mbappé is without a doubt, one of the most exciting forwards in world football and his transfer to Real Madrid was a long dramatic saga that ended last season when he joined them and yet again proved to the world that it doesn’t matter which league or club he moves to, he will always be the top performer.
1. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (SSC Napoli to Paris Saint-Germain)
Some signings can come in and make a difference but with some signings you instantly know that they will make a season defining change and that is what happened to PSG after the January signing of Georgian winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in 2025.
PSG weren’t struggling in the domestic tournaments but UCL was a different story. Having not won the UCL ever, the Parisian club were placed 15th in the league phase table with 4 wins, a draw and 3 losses after 8 games and had to play two extra playoff fixtures to gain qualification to the knock-outs and the signing of Kvaratskhelia made a massive impact on the team. Since he joined in January, PSG went on to win the UCL final with him scoring 3 goals and providing two assists in 8 UCL games, also scoring a goal in the final. He helped PSG achieve an unprecedented Continental Treble, winning the French Ligue 1, UEFA Champions League and the French Cup in the 2024/25 season. He also had 7 G/A in 14 Ligue 1 appearances. Kvaratskhelia may not have scored a huge number of goals, but his impact on the wings can’t be understated. He was a constant threat from the left wing and created a lot of chances for PSG. He had a total of 10 big chances created for PSG in all competitions since his arrival.
Though he has been a little underwhelming in the new season, he is undoubtedly one of the top wingers in football right now and has proven to be a defining signing everywhere he has played, be it for Napoli in the Serie A or for PSG in Ligue 1. Kvaratskhelia ranks top of the pile in the football defining signings in 2025 for being the final piece of the puzzle that clicked for PSG to finally secure that elusive success in Europe’s elite competition that they failed to win even with superstars like Mbappé, Neymar Jr. and Lionel Messi in the team.
