CHELSEA were the biggest spenders on transfer deadline day as they splashed over £50 million to bring defender David Luiz back to the club from Paris St Germain two years after selling him the French champions for £50m.
Antonio Conte also raided Serie A to sign £23m left-back Marcos Alonso from Fiorentina as he strengthened his defence with his side making it three wins from three so far this season in the Premiership.
Tottenham landed French international midfielder Moussa Sissoko late last night. Everton had agreed a fee believed to be £30m but Tottenham matched the bid at 10pm with just an hour remaining of the transfer window. Everton did manage to tie up a loan deal for West Ham striker Enner Valencia.
Premiership champions Leicester City smashed their transfer record to acquire the services of striker Islam Slimani from Sporting Lisbon for an initial fee of just over £25m while Tottenham eventually sealed the signature of Marseille winger Georges-Kevin Nkoudou with Clinton N’Jie going the other direction on a season-long loan.
Despite spending across the entire transfer window for Premiership clubs sailing way past the £1 billion mark for the first time, a number of the main moves came in the loan market. Manchester City were the busiest of all the big clubs in terms of players going out the door with four big names leaving on season-long loan deals.
Arsenal’s England international midfielder Jack Wilshere turned down the overtures of a host of clubs including Roma, AC Milan and Crystal Palace to join Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth for the season.
England number one Joe Hart, who moved down the pecking order at the Etihad with the arrival of Barcelona keeper Claudio Bravo earlier this week, moved to Serie A side Torino. Winger Samir Nasri and defender Eliaquim Mangala pitched up in La Liga with Sevilla and Valencia respectively, while striker Wilfried Bony moved on loan to Stoke City.
Former Liverpool defender Alvaro Arbeloa sealed a return to English football after he signed for Slaven Bilic’s West Ham on a free transfer after his release from Real Madrid, while David Moyes shelled out £13.6 million for Lorient midfielder Didier Ndong and also secured Belgium international defender Jason Denayer on loan from Manchester City.
With regards to Irish players on the move on deadline day, the biggest transfer of the lot involved Derby midfielder Jeff Hendrick making the switch to the Premiership with Burnley.
The 24-year-old Dubliner, who impressed on the international stage with Martin O’Neill’s men at Euro 2016, moved for a Burnley club record fee, believed to be £10.5 million.
Meanwhile, with the arrival of Wilshere at Bournemouth, Eunan O’Kane secured a permanent deal with Championship side Leeds.
The Derry midfielder made over 100 appearances for The Cherries since moving from Torquay United in 2012 the Republic of Ireland international has agreed a two-year deal at Elland Road. Aidan McGeady, who was most recently on loan at Sheffield Wednesday from parent club Everton, also moved to Preston North End on loan yesterday.
Northern Ireland international Jamie Ward has completed a season-long loan at Burton Albion from Nottingham Forest. However, Ward’s international team-mate Kyle Lafferty’s expected move from Norwich City to fellow Championship side Cardiff hit the buffers as the Bluebirds turned their attentions to West Brom’s Rickie Lambert.
Reading and Palermo, the Italian side who sold Lafferty to the Canaries two years ago, also failed to sign Lafferty late last night. Lafferty’s namesake and fellow Northern Ireland international Daniel completed a loan move from Burnley to Sheffield United.
