Three months of speculation, gossip and newspaper title-tattle ended Friday. Here's a round-up of the movers and shakers.

Best free transfer – Andriy Voronin
After numerous spending sprees that would put most WAGS to shame, Chelsea and Newcastle led the Bosman way this year with some quality squad additions. Steve Sidwell, Claudio Pizarro and Tal Ben-Haim will certainly give the Londoners some much-needed depth. Whilst for the Geordies, (a fit) Mark Viduka and Geremi are proven Premier League performers. However, the overall winner is Liverpool’s Andriy Voronin. Rafa Benitez has signed an intelligent and creative striker at his peak who has already managed to score some invaluable goals.

2. Best lower league signing(s) – Fulham
With many managers believing that buying lower league players is too risky, Lawrie Sanchez has seemingly bucked this trend and put all his faith into picking up some quality Championship performers. Diomansy Kamara and David Healy can certainly score goals at this level as they have shown with West Bromwich Albion and Northern Ireland respectively. Lee Cook and Chris Baird are perhaps more of a risk, but have definite potential.

'With last year’s squad relations less harmonious than an X Factor reject, Hammers fans must be wondering if it was a good idea to unite Kieron Dyer, Craig Bellamy and Lee Bowyer at Upton Park'


3. Hidden treasure – Eduardo Da Silva
Speculation on Thierry Henry’s replacement was as frenzied as any football news over the summer. Once again however, Arsene Wenger seemed to be one step ahead as he swooped in for the talented Croatian, much to the surprise of many pundits. With a fantastic goal record for his previous club and country, Da Silva could well end up being a snip at £7.5m.

4. Youth signing – Gareth Bale
With the likes of Ryan Babel, Anderson and Nani purchased for a combined £40m, the hunt for young talent has increased notably in recent years. Spurs continued their impressive talent spotting with some astute buys in the form of Kevin Prince Boateng, Adel Taarabt, Younes Kaboul, Danny Rose and Gareth Bale, the latter arguably Man of the Match on debut against Manchester United last weekend.

5. Transfer shocker – Hossam Ghaly
Not content with ruining his reputation at Spurs, Ghaly managed to scupper any chances of a move to Birmingham or anywhere else for that matter. His well-documented petulance may well have caused irreparable damage to his career as no other clubs came in for the Egyptian.

6. Last-minute buy – Curtis Davies
Hardly renowned for his big spending, Martin O’Neill finally got his man after weeks of seemingly ineffectual haggling. If Davies performs as expected on loan, he can be picked up permanently by Aston Villa for the ‘knock-down’ price of £9m next summer.

7. Transfer trouble – West Ham United
With last year’s squad relations less harmonious than an X Factor reject, Hammers fans must be wondering if it was a good idea to unite Kieron Dyer, Craig Bellamy and Lee Bowyer at Upton Park. Injuries to Dyer and Julien Faubert may convince Sheffield United fans that karma does indeed exist.

8. Much ado about nothing – Jermain Defoe
The lazy journalist’s target of choice in every transfer period, Defoe is supposed to have been leaving Spurs every season for the last four years. And with his contract running out, this isn’t a story that is likely to die out soon.

9. Worst overall transfer window – Middlesbrough
With 60 per cent of their league goals coming from Mark Viduka and Aiyegbeni Yakubu, Boro fans must be wondering where the goals are going to come from this year. Jeremie Aliadiere and Tuncay Sanli are creative and skilfull providers but hardly prolific goal-scorers and Mido is a talent but Gareth Southgate faces an uphill battle keeping him fit and motivated.

10. Best overall transfer window – Manchester City
Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Spurs may have had the most high-profile summers but in terms of improvement, the blue side of Manchester has to be applauded. Yes, the money supplied may come from a questionable source but that’s a matter for the FA to embarrass themselves with. Big money signings Elano, Valeri Bojinov and Rolando Bianchi are players that Stuart Pearce could only have dreamed of signing.

11. Worst overall signing – Titus Bramble
Although I always try to stay clear of bandwagons, I just can’t seem to avoid jumping onto this one. On the one hand, you have to admire Bramble's ability to keep getting signed in the Premier League, on the other you have to gravely fear for the wellbeing of any team he plays for.

12. Best overall signing – Florent Malouda
Fernando Torres, Carlos Tevez and Owen Hargreaves narrowly missed out on this final award. As talented as he is, Torres may struggle to become the clinical finisher that Liverpool require and Tevez may end up being too similar in style to Wayne Rooney (although two Rooneys can’t be a bad thing). Owen Hargreaves will certainly improve United, especially in Europe in the defensive midfield role and Nani and Anderson are indisputable talents for the future. However, this season Malouda is my tip as his previous history with Didier Drogba could well be the key to bringing glory back to Stamford Bridge.

Who would be in your list under each category? Post a comment below or submit an article to Sportingo.