The unusualness of this summer transfer window hasn’t stopped the Premier League clubs from spending big in a small yet busy 10-day window. The Premier League clubs have been the busiest of them all, spending £400m before the transfer window officially closed on June 10, just six days before it opens again.
The expanded FIFA Club World Cup, which begins on Sunday, 15 June, saw the transfer window divided into two parts to allow the clubs to sign players for the 32-team tournament.
Once the tournament begins on Sunday, the window will open again on Monday, 16 June, before finally closing on Monday, 1 September for Premier League, EFL and Scottish Premiership clubs.
The window was split into two parts due to the FIFA rules, which state transfer windows cannot last more than 16 weeks in a calendar year.
As we inch closer to the Club World Cup and subsequently the second part of the transfer window, let’s check the early movers and biggest spenders in the first part of the window.
Early movers and biggest spenders
Manchester City and Chelsea will represent the Premier League at the Club World Cup in the United States, and the two EPL giants, unsurprisingly, have made the early moves to strengthen their squads for the mega-club event.
Fresh from winning the UEFA Conference League title, Chelsea have spent more than any other club so far, splurging £89.5m to sign Liam Delap (£30m), Dario Essugo (£18.5m) and Mamadou Sarr (£12m). Estevao Willian (£29m) has also joined the Blues after agreeing to a move a year ago.
City have been busy too, adding new faces to the squad with signings of Wolves left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri for £31m, Chelsea goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli for an undisclosed fee and attacking midfielder Rayan Cherki from Lyon for an initial fee of £30.45m.
Despite enduring their worst season in the Premier League era, Manchester United have made the most expensive move yet, splashing £62.5m on Wolves forward Matheus Cunha.
That eye-watering deal has already surpassed the biggest fee in the Premier League last summer, when Spurs paid an initial £55m on Dominic Solanke from Bournemouth.
Real make statement signings after drawing blank in La Liga
While there have been plenty of incomings in England, there has been an outgoing that has caught the eye of the fans and experts. Bournemouth’s highly-rated centre-half Dean Huijsen was lured by European Giants Real Madrid, who signed the Spain international for £50m after triggering his release clause.
Huijsen has as many as seven offers on the table, including Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Newcastle, but the prospect of playing at Bernabeu was too tempting to resist.
Real also spent several million euros to prepone the signing of Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold so he could play the Club World Cup.
The Reds were quick to replace Alexander-Arnold with Dutch full-back Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen, while the Bundesliga club acquired the services of goalkeeper Mark Flekken from Brentford. The Bees replaced the Dutch custodian with Liverpool keeper Caoimhin Kelleher.
Sunderland lost Bellingham to Dortmund but made the most of the money they recieved, breaking their own transfer record ahead of their Premier League return by signing French midfielder Enzo le Fee for £19m following his loan spell from Roma.
As we inch closer to the Club World Cup and subsequently the second part of the transfer window, let’s check the early movers and biggest spenders in the first part of the window. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
