Soccer
Premier League sets new transfer spending record after late flurry of deals
The Premier League set a new record for transfer spending as the window closed with a flurry of deals.
More than half of the top flight’s clubs broke their transfer records in a summer window featuring four of the most expensive ever signings.
The final two days of the window pushed summer spending significantly beyond last season’s record of £3.14billion, with confirmed figures exceeding £3.3billion.
First Liverpool spent an initial £106million, potentially rising to £123m, on Paris St Germain winger Bradley Barcola, then City paired Elliot Anderson with another nine-figure midfielder in former Chelsea star Enzo Fernandez – whose £125m move matched the British record set 12 months ago by Barcola’s new team-mate Alexander Isak.
Earlier in the summer, England internationals Anderson and Morgan Rogers joined Manchester City for £116m and Chelsea for £117m, respectively.
Sandro Tonali’s move from Newcastle to Tottenham has the potential to become a fifth £100m-plus deal this summer, with the initial £92.5m marking the second time Spurs had broken their club record as it came hot on the heels of Mateus Fernandes’ £85m arrival from West Ham.
Savio’s £75m switch from City slotted in third on Spurs’ all-time list, with manager Roberto De Zerbi admitting “The transfer market is crazy” – reflecting a league-wide summer of spending.
Eleven clubs in all have broken their transfer records, six of them on more than one occasion.
Coventry have done so four times over, signing Aurele Amenda for an initial £15.4m before Loum Tchaouna became their first ever £20m signing, Carl Rushworth made his loan move permanent for a £22.5m fee and Caleb Yirenkyi nudged the record up to £23.1m.
Three clubs broke their transfer records to sign goalkeepers, with James Trafford costing Leeds £40m while, like Rushworth, Konstantinos Tsolakis’ move to Hull was overtaken by Nobel Mendy’s £22m arrival.
Aston Villa and Ipswich are the other clubs to break their respective records twice while Mamadou Sangare (Brentford), Luka Vuskovic (Brighton) and Liam Delap (Nottingham Forest) were all £40m-plus club-record buys.
There have been nine moves worth an initial £75m or more – a list completed by City and Arsenal midfielders Ayyoub Bouaddi and Bruno Guimaraes – plus £65m moves for Carlos Baleba to Manchester United and Nicolas Jackson to Aston Villa.
On the other side of the balance sheet, Newcastle raised over £235m from the three sales of Tonali, Guimaraes and Anthony Gordon while Villa banked £50m-plus fees for Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins in addition to Rogers’ Chelsea move.
