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Teams are often advised to build from a position of strength, but which players rank among the greatest signings ever made by reigning Premier League champions?

Arsenal have sent out a strong message this summer by signing Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle United. After ending the club's 22-year wait for a league title in 2026, the North London side have brought in one of the Premier League's standout box-to-box midfielders.

After the marquee arrival of Guimaraes, we revisited some of the best Premier League signings completed by defending champions.

Manchester United ended a 26-year wait for a top-flight title when they won the first-ever Premier League crown in 1992/93. Sir Alex Ferguson made just one addition to his title-winning squad that summer, smashing the British transfer record to bring in Roy Keane from relegated Nottingham Forest.

The Irish midfielder justified the fee many times over, going on to become one of the most influential captains and players of the Premier League era. During 12 years at Old Trafford, Keane won seven Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the Champions League.

Manchester United marked a third straight Premier League title in 2001 by breaking the British transfer record twice in the same summer.

The first of those transfers brought Ruud van Nistelrooy to the club from PSV Eindhoven, a year after a serious knee injury had stopped his move to Old Trafford.

Van Nistelrooy was named PFA Player of the Year in his first season after scoring 36 goals in 49 matches in all competitions. Across five seasons, the Dutchman scored 150 goals in only 219 appearances for United, winning the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup.

Fellow record signing Juan Sebastien Veron did not make anything like the same impact...

Manchester United moved quickly to sign the dazzling attacker who had tormented them, after Sporting Lisbon teenager Cristiano Ronaldo stole the show in a 2003 pre-season friendly between the sides.

The champions agreed a £12m deal for the winger after his destructive display, the beginning of a rise that would eventually establish Ronaldo as one of football's all-time greats.

"The first game that I played against Manchester United was an unbelievable game. It was the perfect night, the perfect night," Ronaldo said in 2016.

"After the game some of my team-mates said: 'Listen, you're going to go to Manchester, trust me!'

"Sir Alex Ferguson was there, and [they said] he wants to speak with you. I go to the dressing room, he introduced me to the players For me, I was a little bit shy. And Sir Alex Ferguson said to me: 'Listen, I want you now.'

"Everything came so fast, and two days after I speak to the coach and they take me to England, and I was in Manchester, and I signed."

Ronaldo spent six seasons in the Premier League, scoring 118 goals in 298 matches. He was named PFA Player of the Year in 2007 and 2008, with the latter year also bringing him his first Ballon d'Or after a 42-goal season for the Premier League and Champions League winners.

Ronaldo left for Real Madrid in 2009 for a world-record £80m, bringing to a close one of the finest transfers of the Premier League era.

Chelsea challenged Arsenal for the tag of London's biggest club after Roman Abramovich's takeover in the early noughties. Back-to-back Premier League titles for the Blues were followed by a move for Ashley Cole from the Gunners in 2006.

An agreement was reached on transfer deadline day that took Cole to Stamford Bridge for £5m plus William Gallas. Over eight seasons at Chelsea, Cole won eight major trophies and strengthened his claim as arguably the best left-back of the Premier League era.

Manchester City landed the most sought-after player in European football when they signed Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund.

The Norwegian put pen to paper and instantly lifted the Premier League champions to another level. In his first season, Haaland scored a Premier League record 36 goals, and 52 in all competitions, as the Cityzens completed a treble of the league, FA Cup and Champions League.

He has barely slowed down since then, scoring 162 goals in only 198 games for the club.