So, with the transfer window now finally closed, which clubs have had the best summer?

Well, as goes without saying, no team has had a perfect time of it (who ever does?): the vast majority of sides have either just about maintained balance or else had one scale-tipping signing or sale. Ironically, too, some of the biggest coups came from clubs with generally underwhelming summers.

So, based purely on their comings and goings since the end of the 2011-12 campaign and whether they've improved or declined in that time relative to their previous quality, we've ranked them all here.

Note: this is not a table forecasting how the league table will finish.

1) Chelsea Both a quantum leap made and a high quantity of gaps filled. Most importantly of all, after going six years without the creative players even Jose Mourinho's team seemed to lack, Chelsea made up for lost time by buying a load of them. In the league, we've already seen the lively effects of that. The only possible issues are in the centre and up front if Fernando Torres gets injured. Not perfect, then, but still the most productive window of all.

2) Tottenham Hotspur A big success in that Andre Villas-Boas finally got to undertake the overhaul he was never allowed at Chelsea, with some significant coups along the way – most obviously, Clint Dempsey. So, with a general make-up that looks much closer to his Porto team, we'll now get to see whether Villas-Boas really is a failure in English football. At the least, he'll get to do it on his own terms.

3) Everton A rare summer in which David Moyes made a series of signings, let alone just one. As such, despite balancing the books with the sale of Jack Rodwell, a period of progress.

4) Manchester City A window of subtle enhancements rather than emphatic statements. No, Roberto Mancini didn't get his number-one target of Daniele De Rossi so the evolution of his system may not be as extensive as he envisaged. Javi Garcia's technique, though, is an upgrade on Nigel De Jong while the likes of Rodwell and Maicon represent general fortification and freshening-up of an already-strong squad.

5) Newcastle United Not much movement but that itself is a major positive relative to teams of their status. Newcastle lost none of the players that lifted them to such levels last year. Furthermore, the overall depth has been improved with the likes of Vurnon Anita.

6) Manchester United Two out of three is not bad at all but is it enough? Alex Ferguson solved two important issues by finally introducing creative spark in Shinji Kagawa (who may end up the signing of the season) and a hugely necessary statement in Robin van Persie... but he still didn't settle central midfield. Time will tell, but the last piece never came.

7) Swansea Much has already been made of Michu, but Swansea generally maintained a good balance. Two significant sales were offset by shrewd purchases.

8) West Brom Integral players were held, improvements were brought in. A good summer.

9) Sunderland Holes were filled rather than high-profile signings made, with Danny Rose perfectly illustrating that at full-back. In all, a decent summer as Steven Fletcher will provide more goals and Adam Johnson a bit more dynamism.

10) Reading Brian McDermott has enjoyed a number of astute signings, not least the livewire Garath McCleary, the canny Danny Guthrie and the abrasive Pavel Pogrebnyak. It's not far off the textbook template for those promoted teams without huge amounts of cash.

11) QPR There can be no denying Mark Hughes has improved the overall quality, somewhat replicating his summer at Manchester City in 2009 if on a lower scale. The ultimate question, though, is whether he has also replicated QPR's problems from previous windows. Has he just signed de facto Premier League players on big wages, or is he building an actual team?

12) West Ham Sam Allardyce did exactly as he would have wished by enhancing quality without compromising his system. The introduction of Andy Carroll's sheer force is the ultimate representation of that.

13) Wigan Victor Moses aside, a rare summer for Wigan in that they didn't lose a glut of their core group. By contrast, Roberto Martinez made typically intriguing Wigan signings such as Arouna Kone

14) Arsenal For so long, it seemed Arsenal had finally learned the lessons of previous summers. Yes, they may have again lost their captain and a world-class player in Van Persie, but Arsene Wenger seemed to pre-empt that by bringing in a trio of forwards and arguably enhancing Arsenal by giving them more angles of attack. Then, however, Alex Song scuppered the plans. As a result, Arsenal look light in the middle. Wenger was insistent he'd make one or two more signings. He never got them.

15) Liverpool A lopsided window. Nuri Sahin is a superb signing and other good buys shouldn't be overlooked, but they are significantly offset by a lack of movement elsewhere – especially up front. The feeling remains that Brendan Rodgers hasn't quite brought in enough players suited to his system and goals may be a problem. Ultimately, Liverpool paid the real price for previous windows.

16) Fulham Clint Dempsey's goals seem to have been replaced but has Moussa Dembele's force? Plenty of movement but is there enough balance?

17) Stoke City A few years ago, Tony Pulis looked prepared to make Stoke evolve with signings like Tuncay Sanli. It didn't work out, though, and, since then, he seems to have regularly just reverted to type. This summer was no different with consolidation the general name of the game, right down to Charlie Adam likely being bought for his set-piece deliveries rather than his passing.

18) Southampton Secured a coup in Gaston Ramirez but, Nathaniel Clyne aside, Southampton don't seem to have brought in enough quality.

19) Aston Villa Despite some progressive purchases such as Karim El Ahmadi and Christian Benteke, Paul Lambert never got to make the genuine game-changing move he seemed to need, such as Dempsey. Much will depend on his ability to raise the level of lesser players, as he did at Norwich.

20) Norwich City You can see exactly what Chris Hughton is trying to do given that all of his signings of top-division experience came in defence. That, however, is the point. The team still looks like it has too many Championship players.

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