Transfer deadline day: Record broken by late flurry but big deals fall through

 

PREMIER League clubs took their transfer deadline day spending to a record £210 million with a late flurry of deals but some of the highest-profile moves of the window failed to materialise.
Despite top-flight clubs’ total summer outlay reaching £1.4 billion another record – Alexis Sanchez, Virgil van Dijk, Riyad Mahrez, Thomas Lemar, Diego Costa and Ross Barkley all remained at their clubs.
The deadline-day record – breaking last year’s £155 million mark – was only confirmed well after the 23:00 BST deadline.
Chelsea’s £35 million signing of Danny Drinkwater and Mamadou Sakho’s £26 million move to Crystal Palace were both announced after 01:00 BST.
Chelsea signed Davide Zappacosta, Spurs recruited Swansea striker Fernando Llorente for £15 million and the Welsh club replaced him with Wilfried Bony for £12 million – all after the window had closed.
Philippe Coutinho, the subject of a rejected £114 million bid from Barcelona earlier in August, remains a Liverpool player but could still move as the Spanish window does not close until 23:00 BST on Friday. Mahrez and Costa have also both been linked with moves to Spain, although the interest in those cases is less clear-cut.
The £1.4 billion spent by Premier League clubs this summer eclipsed the previous record of £1.165 billion and is almost £1 billion more than was paid out in transfer fees just five years ago, with clubs each spending an average of £71 million (up from £58 million in 2016).
Despite Manchester City’s failure to sign deadline-day targets Sanchez and West Brom defender Jonny Evans, Pep Guardiola’s side led the way – their £215 million outlay is the biggest by any club in any transfer window.
Six of the top 10 spending windows for individual clubs have come this summer, with Paris St-Germain (Neymar for £200 million) and Barcelona (Ousmane Dembele for up to £135.5 million) making the two biggest signings of all time. PSG have effectively committed to an additional £165.7 million outlay to turn Kylian Mbappe’s loan deal from Monaco into a permanent move.
The Premier League clubs’ ability to pay such vast sums is largely linked to the fact they are entering the second season of a three-year £5.136 billion TV deal.

(BBC)