September 1 – English Premier League clubs forked out more than £155 million on transfer deadline day as summer window spending reached an eye-watering record £1.165 billion.
Teams had already spent a combined £1.005 billion, shattering last year’s record £870 million, and pushed that way further fuelled by the bumper £5.1 billion three-year television deal that started this season.
Thirteen top-flight teams broke their own transfer records.
“As has been the case for a number of years now, the increases in broadcast revenue, with the 2016-17 season being the first of the new broadcast deal cycle, is the principal driver of this spending power,” said Dan Jones, a partner at financial analyst Deloitte.
The most eye-catching transfer was Chelsea re-signing defender David Luiz from Paris St Germain for £34 million while Premier League champions Leicester City broke their transfer record for striker Islam Slimani and Tottenham Hotspur did likewise in clinching the signing of French international Moussa Sissoko from Newcastle at the 11th hour for a whopping £30 million, scuppering a counter-bid from Everton.
Chelsea also completed the signing of Spanish left back Marcos Alonso from Fiorentina for £24 million, making them the Premier League’s biggest spenders on the final day.
Whether these sums will ultimately prove value for money, only time will tell.
Manchester City, who together with Chelsea and Manchester United have been the biggest spenders during the summer, had a deadline day clean out of their squad after Pep Guardiola sent out England goalkeeper Joe Hart, Wilfried Bony, Samir Nasri and Eliaquim Mangala on season-long loans. Yaya Toure, last season’s captain and the club’s talisman in previous seasons, is staying put though has not featured regularly so far in Guardiola’s plans and may not even be named in the Champions League squad as City have too many overseas players. He should just creep into the Premier League squad as some of the overseas players count as under 21s.
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