Premier League clubs spent well over £1bn on new signings
Thursday 9 August 2018 20:24, UK
The transfer window has shut with more than £1bn spent by Premier League clubs - but what were the stand-outs from a manic summer?
The summer transfer window of 2018 has slammed to an unusually premature close on the eve of the new Premier League season, with more than £1bn spent by top-flight clubs this summer for the third year in succession.
With a World Cup barging in on proceedings and keeping things quiet until mid-July, an intense month followed - with Liverpool splashing the cash, West Ham overhauling their squad, and Chelsea appointing a new manager just 27 days before the start of the new campaign.
It seems like a long time ago that Fabinho was unveiled as a Liverpool signing - before a ball had even been kicked in Russia - so look back with nostalgia at this summer's bumper transfer window with our diary.
Manuel Pellegrini returns to English football with West Ham only four years after winning the Premier League at the Etihad, following a week of speculation over whether he can thrash out personal terms with the club.
The Chilean's arrival suggests the Hammers mean business, with Pellegrini bringing an impressive CV with him to the London Stadium.
Questions over whether the club's board will continue that ambition in the transfer market are soon answered, with Jack Wilshere, Felipe Anderson - for a deal which could reach £42m - and Issa Diop soon joining the Manuel revolution.
Naby Keita's sizeable transfer to Anfield had already been confirmed a year ago, but Fabinho became the Reds' first addition of an expensive summer in late May, joining for £43.7m from Monaco.
The move came a little out of left-field, with Emre Can still on the books at Anfield but strongly linked with Juventus, a move he would later make at the end of his Liverpool contract.
Fabinho's transfer set in motion a chain of spending totalling close to £200m overall, and marked the first major transfer announcement of the summer.
After weeks, and weeks, and weeks of waiting for it to be confirmed, Marco Silva was announced as Everton manager, six months after they had first tried to prise him from Watford.
The Portuguese's stock is certainly lower than it was when the Toffees made their initial approach in November 2017 - but he is at least a more popular alternative than Sam Allardyce, sacked for what we'll call a "robust" style of play at the end of 2017/18.
Silva wasted little time attempting to win over any doubting fans, telling Sky Sports News: "What we want is to make our fans proud in what they are seeing every day. I know what they want, the expectations are really high, it is normal."
Little did Spurs know, a new deal for Harry Kane is as good as it would get for them in the summer - but tying down their captain to a new six-year deal, with Erik Lamela and Mauricio Pochettino also joining him in committing their futures to the club, is in itself significant.
However, even into August it seemed there would be no housewarming presents for the opening of the club's new ground - interestingly named the "Tottenham Hotspur Stadium" - with a reported bid for Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish, one of few players strongly linked to the club, rejected.
Rui Patricio surprised absolutely no-one by becoming the latest Portuguese player to arrive in Wolverhampton - with the one exception being the free transfer price tag (or lack of), after the goalkeeper tore up his contract with his former club Sporting.
But just as it looked too good to be true, it proved to be, and Wolves have since been quoted up to £48.5m, according to Sky sources. They also added more names, largely former loan players who had helped them get promoted, although one, Benik Afobe, moved on to Stoke for a £2m profit without playing a game before you could say "What's going on here then?"
Overall, it was a bright summer for Nuno Gomes' side, who now have seven Portuguese players in their first-team squad - the same number as FC Porto.
Having gone years wanting a dependable goalkeeper, a ball-winning midfielder and a truly reliable centre-back, Bernd Leno became the first major arrival of the summer at post-Wenger Arsenal, following Stefan Lichtsteiner's arrival earlier in June for Unai Emery's first signing.
Lucas Torreira and Sokratis Papastathopoulos - the latter not the most welcome arrival for commentators - followed new boss Emery to Emirates Stadium, filling in crucial positions which have been troublesome for the Gunners for years.
Manchester City had just missed out on Riyad Mahrez in January, even when the player went on a week-long strike from Leicester, but they got their man early enough in the window for a club-record fee of £60m.
Having splashed out so much on Kyle Walker, Danilo, Aymeric Laporte and Ederson last season, manager Pep Guardiola said that, having refreshed an ageing squad, he did not feel the need for more wholesale changes with the runaway Premier League champions.
Antonio Conte had had his Chelsea hold-all packed for weeks but even began pre-season training at Cobham before he was finally put out of his misery and fired by Roman Abramovich.
Maurizio Sarri, not Stamford Bridge's best-kept secret, soon arrived to end a rumour mill which had been in full swing for the duration of the World Cup.
He decided to speak Italian rather than English in his first press conference - but there was still plenty to learn from him, as Sky Sports News reporter Ian Bolton noted.
When Real Madrid cooled their interest in Roma goalkeeper Alisson, perhaps priced out of the running after being forced to cut back their spending in recent years, Liverpool jumped at the chance to bring Brazil's number one to Anfield - although Jurgen Klopp was forced to row back on comments he made in 2016 about preferring to avoid big transfer fees.
The 25-year-old became the most expensive goalkeeper in history - albeit only until Chelsea's late move for Kepa Arrizabalaga - and hopefully ended Liverpool's long search for a reliable number one.
Everton confirmed the signing of Richarlison late in the day through their official Twitter, after completing a £40m move for Silva's former protege at Watford. He would later score on his friendly debut - but the fact that goal came in a 4-1 defeat to Rennes took some of the shine off it.
On the other side of the country, Rafa Benitez made a plea to Newcastle owner Mike Ashley after their 2-2 pre-season draw with Hull City to spend some money in the transfer window, saying: "Is the current squad good enough for what we need? I don't think so."
Fulham made clear they have no intention to return to the Championship after four years away from the top flight by spending some big money - none bigger than Aleksandar Mitrovic, who finally returned to Craven Cottage for £27m after spending the second half of last season on loan with the Cottagers.
He joined Jean Michael Seri and Maxime Le Marchand as the club's major signings - with Alfie Mawson becoming number four days later to complete a fine summer of business for the west London side.
The touchpaper was very much lit as the shorter transfer window became more frantic in its final days, with the Sky Sports News yellow ticker working overtime to keep up.
Thibaut Courtois didn't turn up to Chelsea training 48 hours after his agent released a "come-and-get-me" plea to Real Madrid, Paul Pogba became the subject of a £45m plus two-player bid from Barcelona and Mike Ashley placated Rafa Benitez ever so slightly by bringing Salomon Rondon to Newcastle, albeit on loan.
By the penultimate day of the transfer window, it was clear that Courtois was getting his move to Real Madrid, with Chelsea making a sensational £71.6m move for Athletic Bilbao's Kepa Arrizabalaga to replace him.
The Spaniard, regarded as one of the best young goalkeepers in Europe, was unveiled a day after the move was confirmed, with Chelsea also clinching a loan deal for Madrid midfielder Mateo Kovacic.
Deadline Day began with familiar grumbles from Jose Mourinho, who said he was "not confident" of making any late signings in a press conference at Manchester United's Carrington training ground. His suspicions proved correct. United decided against bidding for Toby Alderweireld or Harry Maguire and failed with a late attempt to sign Diego Godin from Atletico Madrid, leaving them without a new centre-back.
There were no late incomings at Tottenham, either, making them the only Premier League team not to sign a single first-team player all summer, but there was a flurry of interesting Deadline Day deals elsewhere.
Everton gave their supporters plenty to smile about, bringing in Bernard from Shakhtar Donetsk and clinching deals for Barcelona duo Yerry Mina and Andre Gomes and Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma as Marco Silva significantly strengthened his squad.
There were even more new arrivals at newly-promoted Fulham. The Cottagers, who had already signed a host of new players earlier in the summer, completed a £30m move for Marseille midfielder Andre-Frank Anguissa, plus loan deals for Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Luciano Vietto and goalkeeper Sergio Rico, and a permanent move for Joe Bryan from Bristol City.
Elsewhere, Southampton sealed a dramatic late loan move for Liverpool's Danny Ings, while Wolves signed Belgian midfielder Leander Dendoncker from Anderlecht on a season-long loan which will be made permanent next summer.
Leicester agreed the signings of Caglar Soyoncu and Filip Benkovic, while Cardiff signed Victor Camarasa from Real Betis and West Ham signed former Aston Villa midfielder Carlos Sanchez from Fiorentina.
The deals kept coming in the hours after the deadline, too, with Jordan Ayew completing his move from Swansea to Crystal Palace and Brighton signing Martin Montoya from Valencia.
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