Premier League – Deadline Day Roundup

 

The Premier League has spent a record £1.175 billion in this summers transfer window, with a whooping £170 million spent by Premier League clubs on Wednesdays deadline day alone. With many people involved in football in disbelief at the fact that clubs don’t do their business early and end up panic buying on the last day – ultimately paying over the odds. Yet every transfer window sees the same rush to add to their squad to achieve the objectives they have set. On transfer deadline day, in the Premier League, there were 16 new arrivals, and 12 departures.

Take Tottenham’s pursuit of Moussa Sissoko for instance. Before deadline day there had been little interest from Spurs to match Newcastle United’s £30 million asking price and no bid made. This all changed early on Wednesday. Newcastle rejected a first bid of £16 million for the France international midfielder, and with Sissoko seemingly on his way to Everton in a £30 million deal, Tottenham pounced. They increased their bid to the £30 million asking price – a price they were unwilling to pay just a few hours earlier. Sissoko joined Tottenham from Newcastle United late on Wednesday night for £30 million. The 27-year-old became the North London clubs fifth summer signing after their capture of another midfielder in Kevin N’koudou from Marseille for £11 million earlier in the day. The deal for N’Koudou had been close to completion for a while, with the player having been training with Tottenham for the past week. These deals follow the signings of forward Vincent Janssen from AZ Alkmaar for £18.5 million and Victor Wanyama from Southampton for £11 million. This caps off a rather efficient transfer window for Tottenham. The north London club have added quality players to the squad that came so near to the title last year.

Across London, Chelsea were another Premier League side making huge moves in the transfer market on Wednesday’s transfer deadline day. After bringing in young Belgium striker Michy Batshuayi from Marseille for £33 million in the middle of July, Antonio Conte then decided to raid the Premier League Champions Leicester for one of their star men N’Golo Kante in a £30 million deal. A signing many pundits and football experts say ‘is the signing of the window’ with his world class defensive ability already shining at Chelsea. That wasn’t the end off the spending for the London club. When looking for defensive reinforcements they found left-back Marcos Alonso, formerly of Bolton, and former blue, David Luiz. The 25-year-old Alonso returned to the Premier League after spells at Bolton and Sunderland in a £23 million move. This acquisition should finally see Cesar Azpilicueta play in his preferred position of right back. Meanwhile, David Luiz returns to the club he left in 2014 for PSG. He joined Chelsea after a fee of around £34 million was agreed between the two clubs. In his first spell at the club, the Brazil international made 143 appearances, helping Chelsea win their first ever Champions League title in 2012 as well as an FA Cup and the Europa League in 2013. On the whole, the transfer window proved to be good for Chelsea. The only disappointments being the knock backs on first choice defenders. Both Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli and Alessia Romagnoli were too expensive, meaning they had to resort to plan B or even plan C in resigning David Luiz. Antonio Conte was able to freshen some positions up with the additions to the squad of Kante, Batshuayi, Luiz and Alonso after the disastrous last season.

The Pep Guardiola era at Manchester City is firmly taking shape with it being ‘his way or the highway’. This was demonstrated none more so than on Wednesdays transfer deadline day. There was four loans moves out of the club by first team players. First of all, England number one Joe Hart signed for Italian side Torino on loan for the rest of the season. This comes after Guardiola made it abundantly clear that he didn’t believe the 29-year-old could prefer the ‘sweeper keeper’ role he wanted. Next out the door was Wilfried Bony who joined fellow Premier League side Stoke on a season-long loan deal. Since joining the Manchester club in 2015 from Swansea for £28 million he’s made a mere 15 league starts and has more recently been another player who has been frozen out by the new boss. French duo Samir Nasri and Eliaquim Mangala were the last two first team players to leave the club on season long-loans joining Sevilla and Valencia respectively. Since the start of pre season it had seemed as if Nasri would soon be departing, especially when Guardiola didn’t allow the 29-year-old to train with the main group. This came after he was perceived to had returned overweight after the summer break. Midfielder Nasri and defender Mangala were finally offloaded in the afternoon on Wednesday after weeks of Manchester City looking for possible suitors. Both were seem surplus to requirements for a starting place after the summers captures of John Stones from Everton for £47 million and Nolito from Celta Vigo for £13 million. When looking at the additions Manchester City have made this summer you have to be impressed. Nolito represents good value for money for £13 million, particularly considering he has a good footballing brain and chips in with goals as he already has this season. While, John Stones has the ability to learn and progress under Guardiola’s guidance into a top quality defender. Then you take into account that they have got a large amount of first team players off their wage structure. They have done well this summer and will look to be challenging for the title.

The third biggest deal of this summers transfer deadline day was the Premier League champions Leicester signing Islam Slimani. A club-record £29 million was paid by Leicester City to bring the Algeria international forward to the King Power from Sporting Lisbon. The prolific striker who scored 27 goals for the Portuguese side last season joins fellow striker Ahmed Musa in joining the club this summer. In addition, Nampalys Mendy was the champions third signing after being brought in to replace N’Golo Kante. The defensive midfielder came in the door behind goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler and defender Luis Hernandez. More importantly for Leicester City, they managed to keep hold off most of their key players if their title winning squad. Leicester players Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, Danny Drinkwater, Wes Morgan, Kasper Schmeichel. Marc Albrighton and Danny Simpson have all penned new deals in the last few weeks.

Two clubs that are among the favourites for relegation, Burnley and Sunderland, also strengthened their squads on Wednesday. Burnley brought in Jeff Hendrick from Derby for £10.5 million – a club record fee. The 24-year-old moved to the newly promoted side after making 214 appearances for the Rams in five seasons. The deal beat Burnley’s previous record signing of Steven Defour, who made the move from Anderlecht for £8 million earlier this month. Meanwhile, Sunderland decided to splash the cash on midfielder Didier Ndong from Lorient for £13.6 million. The 22-year-old Gabon international signed a five-year deal at the Stadium of Light after 18 months at the French club. Ndong’s fee was the highest Sunderland has paid upfront for a player. It meant they became the 13^th Premier League club to break their transfer record this summer. The others include Manchester United signing Paul Pogba for £89.3 million, Tottenham signing Moussa Sissoko for £30 million and Crystal Palace signing Christian Benteke for £27 million.

All in all its been an exuberant window to say the least, with the record fees and the amount of money spent in this period. Some exciting additions have been made to the twenty top flight sides as another roller coaster season plans to excite over the next nine or so months.