A look at summer transfers

The transfers a side makes over the course of the summer can generally be seen as an indication of the current position of the club, but perhaps more important, of what their intentions are.

Plenty has been made of our summer transfers totalling the (easy headline grabbing) £100 million mark, but what that amount of money of course brings is quality. And with just over two weeks to go until the closing of the transfer window we may not be done.

Make no mistake, whilst vast amounts have been spent, it has been on players who not only improve the squad but who in the main will be key first-team players.

Of course this has not always been the case. Not even last summer, or in 2007 when Sven took the helm.

Below is a breakdown of the incoming transfers during the off-season from the past five years:

2005

Yasser Hussein, Darius Vassell, Andy Cole, Kiki Musampa.

2006

Joe Hart, Paul Dickov, Ousmane Dabo, Didi Hamman, Bernardo Corradi, Hatem Trabelsi, Andreas Isaksson, DaMarcus Beasley.

2007

Geovanni, Gelson Fernandes, Elano, Rolando Bianchi, Vedran Corluka, Javier Garrdio, Valeri Bojinov.

2008

Marcelo Trotta, Jo, Tal Ben Haim, Vincent Kompany, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Pablo Zabaleta, Glauber Berti, Robinho.

2009

Gareth Barry, Carlos Tevez, Stuart Taylor, Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure.

It really is interesting to see the year on year progress that has been made in terms of strengthening the squad.

2005, and to a lesser extent 2006 were the latter end of the Wardle regime, where good intentions aside, we were scratching around trying to attract players after the money ran out following Kevin Keegan's spending.

Free transfers and loan signings were the order of the day then until the (relative) riches of Thaksin through to the open chequebook of ADUG.

Even when Sven arrived and hastily assembled a new side, the players were by and large unknown - products of his extensive network of contacts. Looking back, the number who have stayed the course are few and far between.

Looking at the signings Hughes has made this summer and they fit a definite profile. Premier League experience, a certain mentality and at an age where they can (and are expected to) get better.

What will be interesting is if 2009/10 is a succesful season, with European qualification and the profile of the club raised further, what will the comparison look like this time next year?