Premier League summer transfer: £1.41 billion, some laugh, some worry

Yesterday (August 8), the Premier League closed the transfer window, during the summer, English teams made a total of 101 shopping contracts. On the last day alone, 17 contracts were completed to "close" the summer transfer window.

Tottenham and Arsenal spend big

First of all, it must be mentioned that even though the window for buying is closed after August 8, English football teams still have the right to sell their players because Serie A (Italy) and La Liga (Spain) will still be buying and selling until August 23 and September 2 respectively.

After the triumph of English football last season, it seems that the owners are more generous. Accordingly, Premier League teams participated in the transfer market with a total of 1.41 billion pounds, the second highest spending in history, only behind the 2017 season (1.43 billion pounds).

Most notably, Spurs, whose notoriously stingy chairman Daniel Levy has finally dipped into his pockets after 18 months without signing a player, needing a new 62,000-capacity stadium and reaching the Champions League final.

Arsenal FC broke the bank to buy Ivory Coast winger Nicolas Pepe from Lille FC (France) for 72 million pounds. Club photo.

After the record signing of French midfielder Tanguy Ndombele, the signings of Lo Celso and Sessegnon are expected to add depth to Tottenham's squad. Argentine midfielder Lo Celso joins Tottenham on a season-long loan from Real Betis with an option to leave next summer. 19-year-old midfielder Sessegnon, an England Under-21 international, joins Spurs from Fulham on a six-year deal worth £25m, which could rise by a further £5m depending on his form.

To patch up a defense that had conceded 51 goals in the Premier League, preventing them from qualifying for the Champions League for the third consecutive year, Arsenal brought in left-back Tierney for £25 million from Celtic. Arsenal then went on to “steal” star centre-back Luiz from Chelsea for just £8 million. Thus, Arsenal now has 6 new players in all 3 lines. Most notably Nicolas Pepe and Dani Ceballos.

Arsenal have officially confirmed that they have bought Pepe from Lillie for £72 million. With this price, the Ivorian player has become the most expensive contract in the history of the Emirates Stadium team. Previously, the Gunners sold striker Iwobi to Everton for 30.4 million euros.

Liverpool, Man City indifferent

The reigning English champions, Man City, have not added any significant players. Notably, among the new recruits they have brought in are midfielder Rodri and defender Joao Cancelo. Coach Pep Guardiola said he is satisfied with the players he has and that Man City's squad is actually too different from the rest of England.

European champions Liverpool have also been relatively quiet in the summer transfer window this year. New recruits include Sepp van den Berg (PEC Zwolle) - £1.3 million, Harvey Elliott (Fulham) - undisclosed transfer fee, Adrian (free). It seems that Liverpool believe in the depth of their squad and are indifferent to the transfer market this year.

MU and Chelsea fans are worried

The Premier League has spent £1.41bn on transfers. Photo: Marca

MU fans are worried because after MU sold striker Lukaku to Inter Milan for 65 million euros, coach Solskjaer could not bring any names to Old Trafford in the attack. Before that, they let Ander Herrera leave for free to PSG. MU spent 180 million pounds on shopping but executive vice president Ed Woodward, who is responsible for buying and selling players for MU, has received a lot of criticism on forums and social networks because of that.

Legend Frank Lampard took over from Sarri after Chelsea sold star Eden Hazard, the soul of the team since 2012. Their defense also said goodbye to veteran center-back David Luiz and captain Gary Cahill. Of course, Mateo Kovacic (Real Madrid) for £50 million is not a bad player, but finding a place at Chelsea in Frank Lampard's rebuilding process is not easy.