There were plenty of impressive displays from new Premier League signings this weekend. Here, we pick out six debutants who stood out.
On the opening weekend of the 2025-26 Premier League season, seven debutants in the competition scored a goal. Excluding the first season in 1992-93, that’s the joint most ever on a matchday in Premier League history alongside the opening round of fixtures in 2007-08. And we’ve still got one game in this season’s opening gameweek to play.
Of course, scoring on your debut doesn’t necessarily mean success is going to follow. Last time seven debutants scored on the same opening matchday of a campaign, it was a real mix of future success stories and eventual flops. It’s fair to say the 2007-08 cohort of Roque Santa Cruz, Rolando Bianchi, Geovanni, John Utaka, Olivier Kapo, Claudio Pizarro and Florent Malouda ultimately proved a mixed bag after initially promising so much (on their debuts, at least).
But there is still plenty to get excited about when it comes to the debutants we saw in action this weekend.
And those positive signs aren’t just limited to goals. There were more debutants for a new team who impressed without finding the net. Here’s a bit more detail on a few of the best from the weekend just gone.
Mohammed Kudus
He didn’t score and it wasn’t technically his Tottenham debut after an impressive outing in the European Super Cup defeat to PSG last week, but we’re including Mohammed Kudus here anyway because he deserves a mention following his first Premier League game in a Spurs shirt.
It’s remarkable how quickly the former West Ham man has become so integral to his new team. Every attacking move appears to go through him, and it’s already difficult to imagine how they would replace him if he were to get injured.
Against Burnley on Saturday, Kudus created five chances, the joint most both in the game and among all Premier League players this weekend. Three of those came in open play, and two led to goals for Richarlison. Kudus got more assists (two) than anyone else in the Premier League this weekend.
Burnley constantly doubled up on him such was the threat he carried, and that meant he attempted a relatively modest (for him) three dribbles, but it didn’t stop him affecting the game. Kudus attempted 10 crosses, six of which came in open play; both were the second-highest tallies in the Premier League after teammate Pedro Porro (12 and seven), and both of his assists came from crosses in open play.
Hugo Ekitiké
There has been a lot of change at Anfield this summer. Arne Slot handed debuts to four players against Bournemouth on Friday night, meaning this was the most Liverpool debutants in a game since the first match of 2015-16. It was also the most club debutants any reigning champion has named in their first starting XI of a new Premier League season in the competition’s history.
While Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Florian Wirtz all did well enough, the standout new arrival was Hugo Ekitiké, and by some distance.
The Frenchman was directly involved in both Liverpool goals for which he was on the pitch, scoring the opener and setting up Cody Gakpo for the second.
He was lively and threatening throughout, taking four shots in total worth 1.19 xG, which was more than seven of the 18 Premier League teams in action over the weekend could muster. He also did a very good job of the uglier centre-forward work, with only two players in the Premier League playing more lay-offs than him (four) over the weekend, and only two others winning more flick-ons (three).
He became only the second Liverpool player to both score and assist a goal on his Premier League debut, but perhaps ever so slightly ominously, the first was Darwin Núñez against Fulham in August 2022. Liverpool fans will be hopeful Ekitiké’s transfer works out slightly better.
Dan Ndoye
What better way for Anthony Elanga’s replacement to start life at Nottingham Forest than with a goal? That’s exactly what Dan Ndoye did on Sunday.
He guided an excellent header into the corner of the Brentford net just 42 minutes into his Premier League debut, in the process becoming the first Swiss player to score on his first game in the competition.
He had more touches in the opposition box than any other player in the game (six) despite having only 24 touches in his 79 minutes on the pitch. Among starting players who played more than 45 minutes, only teammate Chris Wood had fewer touches (16).
The numbers therefore suggest an efficiency to Ndoye’s game that should mean he fits right in with a Forest side who don’t need much of the ball to be effective and win games. They scored with three of their first seven shots of the season, and the former Bologna winger scored with his only effort.
Bryan Mbeumo
Everyone who watches the Premier League knows what Bryan Mbeumo can do. The question after his big-money move to Manchester United this summer was whether he could translate his achievements at Brentford to the more pressured environment of Old Trafford. The indications from Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Arsenal were positive.
Mbeumo had five shots, his most in a Premier League game since October 2023 vs Burnley (six), and his most without a goal since April 2022 vs Spurs (also five). His total was more than anyone else on the pitch and was topped by only three players across the entire top flight.
He also won possession five times, including twice in the final third, which was more than anyone else on either side. His totals of five pressures resulting in a turnover and three pressures in the final third resulting in a turnover were both the most in the game and also among the best in the Premier League.
Noah Sadiki
Sunderland were the busiest of the newly-promoted clubs in the transfer market this summer, and one of their incomings was Noah Sadiki from Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise for a reported fee of £15 million.
Sadiki was one of three players aged under 21 to start Sunderland’s in their 3-0 win over West Ham, and the 20-year-old had a fine debut, working tirelessly in midfield to support his teammates.
No player on the pitch covered more ground than he did (11.01km), while his total of 284 intensive runs (above 17 km/h) was also the highest of any player in his side. In addition, he topped the match rankings for tackles and interceptions combined (5).
In total, 13 Sunderland players made their Premier League debut against West Ham – the last team with more in a single match were Reading (14) in August 2006.
With Eliezer Mayenda, Dan Ballard and Wilson Isidor scoring, they also became the first team to have three players score on their Premier League debut in the same match since Reading in that same August 2006 fixture (Dave Kitson, Steve Sidwell and Leroy Lita).
Tijjani Reijnders
Tijjani Reijnders enjoyed an excellent Premier League debut for Manchester City in their 4-0 win over Wolves on Saturday.
The Dutchman became the first player to score and assist on his Premier League debut while playing for City since Sergio Agüero in August 2011. Considering his performance at Molineux on MD 1, it may come as a shock that it was only the second time in 179 top-flight appearances in his career that he’s both scored and assisted in the same game.
Only Erling Haaland had more shots or more touches in the opposition box against Wolves than Reijnders (three shots, five touches in the box), while only Nico González made more successful passes in the final third than him (20). Looking specifically at passes made between the lines, Reijnders (five) played more than any other player on the pitch.
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