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 £3.14 billion ($4.23bn,) with confirmed figures exceeding £3.3b ($4.4bn.)
First Liverpool spent an initial £106 million ($144m,) potentially rising to £123m ($165m,) on Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola, then City paired Elliot Anderson with another nine-figure midfielder in former Chelsea star Enzo Fernández — whose £125m ($168m) move matched the British record set 12 months ago by Barcola’s new teammate Alexander Isak.
Earlier in the summer, England internationals Anderson and Morgan Rogers joined Manchester City for £116m ($156m) and Chelsea for £117m ($157m,) respectively.
Sandro Tonali’s move from Newcastle to Tottenham has the potential to become a fifth £100m-plus ($134.8m-plus) deal this summer, with the initial £92.5m ($124.6m) marking the second time Spurs had broken their club record as it came hot on the heels of Mateus Fernandes’ £85m ($114.5m) arrival from West Ham.
Savio’s £75m ($101m) 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 Aurèle Amenda for an initial £15.4m ($20.7m) before Loum Tchaouna became their first ever £20m ($26m) signing, Carl Rushworth made his loan move permanent for a £22.5m ($30.3m) fee and Caleb Yirenkyi nudged the record up to £23.1m ($31m.)
Three clubs broke their transfer records to sign goalkeepers, with James Trafford costing Leeds £40m ($53.9m) while, like Rushworth, Konstantinos Tsolakis’ move to Hull was overtaken by Nobel Mendy’s £22m ($29.6m) 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 ($53.9m-plus) club-record buys.
– Man City sign Enzo Fernández from Chelsea for joint-record fee
– Premier League transfers: Under-the-radar deals you missed – but need to know about
– Chelsea, Real Madrid win transfer window; Liverpool biggest losers
There have been nine moves worth an initial £75m ($101m) or more — a list completed by City and Arsenal midfielders Ayyoub Bouaddi and Bruno Guimarães — plus £65m ($87m) 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 ($316m) from the three sales of Tonali, Guimaraes and Anthony Gordon while Villa banked £50m-plus ($67m-plus) fees for Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins in addition to Rogers’ Chelsea.
