Chelsea's summer-long pursuit of defensive reinforcements prompted an
outlay close to £60m on transfer deadline day, with the eye-catching
return of David Luiz from Paris Saint-Germain complementing Marcos
Alonso's arrival from Fiorentina.
Antonio Conte, exasperated at seeing
interest in players such as Napoli's Kalidou
Koulibaly and Alessio Romagnoli of Milan
rejected, gave the green light to the return
of David Luiz for £34m, with further fees
due in future, after it emerged the Brazil
international had become unsettled at PSG. The centre-half was
expecting to find himself demoted behind his compatriots Marquinhos
and Thiago Silva at Parc des Princes and, two years after departing for
France in a deal potentially worth £50m, he made clear his desire to
return to London.
The 29-year-old has signed a three-year contract at Stamford Bridge,
where he claimed the FA Cup, Champions League and Europa League
during a three-and-a-half-year spell under the stewardships of Carlo
Ancelotti, André Villas-Boas, Roberto Di Matteo, Rafael Benítez and
José Mourinho.
There had initially been reluctance among some members of the
hierarchy at Chelsea to bring David Luiz back to the club, with PSG
sounded out over Marquinhos and a possible loan move for Aymen
Abdennour at Valencia also explored, but Conte, so desperate to add to
his options and frustrated in the Italian market, eventually expressed a
willingness to restore the Brazilian to the ranks. That prompted a formal
approach to PSG.
The centre-half has always been a favourite with the Chelsea owner,
Roman Abramovich, and played 143 times for the club in that first spell.
Chelsea received encouragement from the player this week and,
eventually, from the Parisian club, after an offer worth £30m had been
knocked back. The player's agent, Kia Joorabchian, has worked closely
with Chelsea in the past on other deals – not least over Ramires, Alex,
Kenedy, Oscar and Matt Miazga – in partnership with Giuliano
Bertolucci – with agreement eventually reached with PSG for the
improved fee late on Wednesday afternoon.
There is an acceptance David Luiz's defending can be erratic at times but
his performance, despite carrying an injury, in the 2012 Champions
League final against Bayern Munich has marked him out as a significant
figure in Chelsea's recent past, with his reputation not damaged by his
eagerness to celebrate scoring against Chelsea for PSG in the Champions
League in 2015 . He is experienced, knows the Premier League and his
presence would allow Conte to explore the possibility of playing three
centre-halves, a system he utilised at Juventus and with Italy. The
Brazilian's charisma and influence off the pitch have been missed over
the past two years.
Alonso, a left-back, has signed a five-year contract after Chelsea reached
agreement with Fiorentina over a £23m move for the former Bolton
Wanderers and Sunderland defender. The Italian's arrival takes Chelsea's
spending on left-backs to around £57m since Ashley Cole departed in the
summer of 2014, albeit with some of that money recouped when Filipe
Luís returned to Atlético Madrid.
"I'm very happy: it's a step up in my career and I think this is the perfect
place for me to continue developing," Alonso said. "It's time for me to
win some titles. It was an easy decision to make when I heard the club
were interested. My family and close friends know Chelsea is the club I
have dreamed about playing for, so I'm really excited about the challenge
and I'm looking forward to working with my new team-mates."
Chelsea, who rejected an inquiry for Milan
as to the availability of Cesc Fàbregas, have
also continued to clear players from the
fringes of the club, with Juan Cuadrado
completing a return to Juventus, where he
spent last season, on a three-year loan with
an option to buy. The intricacies of the deal
will effectively see the Colombia forward join for an annual fee of €5m
(£4.25m) with Juve having the option to buy him permanently but also
obliged to complete a deal for €25m, minus the loan fees already paid, if
certain clauses are triggered by appearances. A further fee of €4m would
be applicable dependent on the club's success with Cuadrado in their
ranks.
Christian Atsu has joined Newcastle, Jake Clarke-Salter and Charlie
Colkett have moved to Bristol Rovers, Islam Feruz to Royal Mouscron,
Cristian Cuevas to Sint-Truidense, Miazga to Vitesse Arnhem and
Kenneth Omeruo has moved to Alanyaspor, all on season-long loan
moves. It takes the number of players to have left on loan this summer to
Thursday, 1 September 2016
Premier League spending hit £1.165 billion after deadline day - Deloitte
Deals on transfer deadline day took Premier League
spending to a record £1.165 billion ($1.53bn), according to a
BBC report using figures from Deloitte.
Wednesday saw a number of switches made before the
close of the transfer window, with Chelsea among the big
spenders with their re-signing of defender David Luiz from
Paris Saint-Germain for a reported £35 million ($46.02m).
Chelsea also signed left-back Marcos Alonso from Fiorentina
in a deal reportedly worth £23m ($30.24m), while Tottenham
Hotspur completed a late move for Moussa Sissoko from
Newcastle United for £30m ($39.44m).
PL #DeadlineDay spending: £150m+
PL summer spending: A record £1.165bn
Wow... https://t.co/arLlAPAD0C pic.twitter.com/OgXzKQ5BJI
- BBC Sport (@BBCSport) September 1, 2016
Premier League champions Leicester City, meanwhile,
brought in Algeria striker Islam Slimani from Sporting
Lisbon, with sources close to the club telling ESPN FC that
the fee for the 28-year-old was €35 million, which would be
a club record for the Foxes.
The moves saw Premier League sides spend more than
£155m ($203.76m) on deadline day, adding to the £1bn
($1.3bn) spent already -- with 13 teams breaking their
transfer records -- which made it a fourth successive
summer that a new record has been set for top-flight
spending in England.
In 2015, the Premier League announced a 70 percent
increase in the value of its British television rights for the
2016-19 seasons with Sky and BT paying a combined
£5.136bn ($7.8bn) to show games.
That agreement has swelled the money available for clubs to
spend, with Manchester United's signing of Paul Pogba from
Juventus for £89.3m ($117.41m) setting a new world-record.
"As has been the case for a number of years now, the
increases in broadcast revenue, with the 2016-17 season
being the first of the new broadcast deal cycle, is the
principal driver of this spending power," Dan Jones, a
partner at financial analyst Deloitte, said.
spending to a record £1.165 billion ($1.53bn), according to a
BBC report using figures from Deloitte.
Wednesday saw a number of switches made before the
close of the transfer window, with Chelsea among the big
spenders with their re-signing of defender David Luiz from
Paris Saint-Germain for a reported £35 million ($46.02m).
Chelsea also signed left-back Marcos Alonso from Fiorentina
in a deal reportedly worth £23m ($30.24m), while Tottenham
Hotspur completed a late move for Moussa Sissoko from
Newcastle United for £30m ($39.44m).
PL #DeadlineDay spending: £150m+
PL summer spending: A record £1.165bn
Wow... https://t.co/arLlAPAD0C pic.twitter.com/OgXzKQ5BJI
- BBC Sport (@BBCSport) September 1, 2016
Premier League champions Leicester City, meanwhile,
brought in Algeria striker Islam Slimani from Sporting
Lisbon, with sources close to the club telling ESPN FC that
the fee for the 28-year-old was €35 million, which would be
a club record for the Foxes.
The moves saw Premier League sides spend more than
£155m ($203.76m) on deadline day, adding to the £1bn
($1.3bn) spent already -- with 13 teams breaking their
transfer records -- which made it a fourth successive
summer that a new record has been set for top-flight
spending in England.
In 2015, the Premier League announced a 70 percent
increase in the value of its British television rights for the
2016-19 seasons with Sky and BT paying a combined
£5.136bn ($7.8bn) to show games.
That agreement has swelled the money available for clubs to
spend, with Manchester United's signing of Paul Pogba from
Juventus for £89.3m ($117.41m) setting a new world-record.
"As has been the case for a number of years now, the
increases in broadcast revenue, with the 2016-17 season
being the first of the new broadcast deal cycle, is the
principal driver of this spending power," Dan Jones, a
partner at financial analyst Deloitte, said.
Sam Allardyce: an emblem of England’s footballing nuclear disarmament Marina Hyde
A s Theresa May has been at pains to stress: Allardyce means
Allardyce. There will be no backsliding, no attempts to weasel out of
the full implications of the Football Association's decision, however
unhappy or depressed with it some people may be. The FA clearly
signalled its intentions with Big Sam's appointment to the big job, and
his predictable tendency to lump along with the status quo must be
delivered upon. Indeed, following the naming of his first squad for
Sunday's World Cup qualifier against Slovakia, that task appears to
already be well under way. Wayne Rooney remains captain, in the No10
role. Furthermore, both Rooney and Allardyce – and the kindly
Manchester United boss, José Mourinho, – believe United's Marcus
Rashford will be much happier in the Under-21s.
These days, we know that any England
manager is essentially managing decline.
That was clear with the appointment of Roy
Hodgson over Harry Redknapp. With Harry,
there would have been hope. Totally
misplaced hope – but hope nonetheless.
And we can't be doing with hope as far as
the England football team are concerned. As the John Cleese character in
Clockwise so rightly observes: "It's not the despair … I can stand the
despair. It's the hope."
There was no such baggage with Roy. It made perfect sense that he had
previously managed Switzerland, a nation with whom we would do well
to accept footballing parity. The Hodgson appointment, I reflected at the
time, was a timely acceptance that England belonged in the twilight
home of international football (we had long belonged in the twilight
home of international politics). We'd had a good innings, but it was high
time to have a rug tucked round our knees and settle down to a nice game
of draughts with Switzerland.
If appointing Hodgson was the equivalent of voluntarily giving up our
seat on the UN security council on the basis that we obviously hadn't
been a world power for yonks, Allardyce seemed to be the perfect
continuity successor. The Big Sam appointment was the equivalent of
saying: "Yes, we finally accept that we wouldn't be allowed to use our
nuclear weapons unless the Americans ordered us to, and that is why we
are unilaterally disarming." I had a lot of time for it.
Unfortunately, there seems to be some raging against the dying of the
light in the more obscure reaches of the Wembley executive suite. This
time last year, we learned that 100 FA staff were to lose their jobs in a
restructuring and reprioritising exercise. The FA chief executive, Martin
Glenn, spoke of "the ultimate ambition of resourcing our elite England
teams to give them the best chance of success at tournaments". Strong
words, and almost decipherable.
Perhaps more flesh has now been put on their bones by Allardyce, who
used his press conference this week to reveal the existence of an
intriguing-sounding FA department. Its job: sourcing foreign players
who might be eligible to play for England. "We have a department to
look at the whole situation," he declared, "in all areas for every [age
range] international team." All the other sports do it, he said, and all the
other countries. "We all know the shortage of English players in the
Premier League," Allardyce observed. "I think it is only 31%. If those
don't play on a regular basis and there is another option then, surely, if
we are going to win something and that player is of the calibre to force
his way into the side, we give him an opportunity."
Aha. Having tried the foreign manager approach, we will be now trialling
the foreign player approach. At some level, you have to admire the front
of the FA, which has spent years whingeing about the problem of the
shortage of English players in the Premier League. Still, if you can't beat
'em, join 'em.
Even so, I can't help thinking there could be
no more auto-satirical department at this
stage of Britain's post-imperial journey
than one dedicated to confecting
Englishmen. Ironywise, it ranks alongside
Nigel Farage's solution to the problem of
Britain not having any qualified trade negotiators to handle Brexit. "I'm
told we haven't got the skills," Nigel conceded. " So let's headhunt them.
Let's get them from Singapore, from Asia …" Or, you know … Europe?
They've got loads there.
Whether they've got any talented youngsters who'd rather play for us
than some other European country is unclear – perhaps, like Adnan
Januzaj, they'd rather play for Belgium or even Kosovo. It's almost as if
people no longer take as gospel the words of cuddly old Cecil Rhodes:
"Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first
prize in the lottery of life." Remember that you are an Englishman, and
will consequently go out in the last 16. You might want to try Iceland or
something instead.
Anyway, Big Sam is pretty sure that it won't matter so much when the
pretend English chap propels us to triumph. "It's a very difficult, very
delicate subject. I'll have to see if I actually do it one day how it's
perceived across the nation. If the player goes out and scores the winner,
will it be quite that bad?"
Answers to the FA's department of international outreach, please.
Allardyce. There will be no backsliding, no attempts to weasel out of
the full implications of the Football Association's decision, however
unhappy or depressed with it some people may be. The FA clearly
signalled its intentions with Big Sam's appointment to the big job, and
his predictable tendency to lump along with the status quo must be
delivered upon. Indeed, following the naming of his first squad for
Sunday's World Cup qualifier against Slovakia, that task appears to
already be well under way. Wayne Rooney remains captain, in the No10
role. Furthermore, both Rooney and Allardyce – and the kindly
Manchester United boss, José Mourinho, – believe United's Marcus
Rashford will be much happier in the Under-21s.
These days, we know that any England
manager is essentially managing decline.
That was clear with the appointment of Roy
Hodgson over Harry Redknapp. With Harry,
there would have been hope. Totally
misplaced hope – but hope nonetheless.
And we can't be doing with hope as far as
the England football team are concerned. As the John Cleese character in
Clockwise so rightly observes: "It's not the despair … I can stand the
despair. It's the hope."
There was no such baggage with Roy. It made perfect sense that he had
previously managed Switzerland, a nation with whom we would do well
to accept footballing parity. The Hodgson appointment, I reflected at the
time, was a timely acceptance that England belonged in the twilight
home of international football (we had long belonged in the twilight
home of international politics). We'd had a good innings, but it was high
time to have a rug tucked round our knees and settle down to a nice game
of draughts with Switzerland.
If appointing Hodgson was the equivalent of voluntarily giving up our
seat on the UN security council on the basis that we obviously hadn't
been a world power for yonks, Allardyce seemed to be the perfect
continuity successor. The Big Sam appointment was the equivalent of
saying: "Yes, we finally accept that we wouldn't be allowed to use our
nuclear weapons unless the Americans ordered us to, and that is why we
are unilaterally disarming." I had a lot of time for it.
Unfortunately, there seems to be some raging against the dying of the
light in the more obscure reaches of the Wembley executive suite. This
time last year, we learned that 100 FA staff were to lose their jobs in a
restructuring and reprioritising exercise. The FA chief executive, Martin
Glenn, spoke of "the ultimate ambition of resourcing our elite England
teams to give them the best chance of success at tournaments". Strong
words, and almost decipherable.
Perhaps more flesh has now been put on their bones by Allardyce, who
used his press conference this week to reveal the existence of an
intriguing-sounding FA department. Its job: sourcing foreign players
who might be eligible to play for England. "We have a department to
look at the whole situation," he declared, "in all areas for every [age
range] international team." All the other sports do it, he said, and all the
other countries. "We all know the shortage of English players in the
Premier League," Allardyce observed. "I think it is only 31%. If those
don't play on a regular basis and there is another option then, surely, if
we are going to win something and that player is of the calibre to force
his way into the side, we give him an opportunity."
Aha. Having tried the foreign manager approach, we will be now trialling
the foreign player approach. At some level, you have to admire the front
of the FA, which has spent years whingeing about the problem of the
shortage of English players in the Premier League. Still, if you can't beat
'em, join 'em.
Even so, I can't help thinking there could be
no more auto-satirical department at this
stage of Britain's post-imperial journey
than one dedicated to confecting
Englishmen. Ironywise, it ranks alongside
Nigel Farage's solution to the problem of
Britain not having any qualified trade negotiators to handle Brexit. "I'm
told we haven't got the skills," Nigel conceded. " So let's headhunt them.
Let's get them from Singapore, from Asia …" Or, you know … Europe?
They've got loads there.
Whether they've got any talented youngsters who'd rather play for us
than some other European country is unclear – perhaps, like Adnan
Januzaj, they'd rather play for Belgium or even Kosovo. It's almost as if
people no longer take as gospel the words of cuddly old Cecil Rhodes:
"Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first
prize in the lottery of life." Remember that you are an Englishman, and
will consequently go out in the last 16. You might want to try Iceland or
something instead.
Anyway, Big Sam is pretty sure that it won't matter so much when the
pretend English chap propels us to triumph. "It's a very difficult, very
delicate subject. I'll have to see if I actually do it one day how it's
perceived across the nation. If the player goes out and scores the winner,
will it be quite that bad?"
Answers to the FA's department of international outreach, please.
Tottenham gazump Everton and land Moussa Sissoko for £30m
Moussa Sissoko became a £30m Tottenham Hotspur player late on
Wednesday night after Newcastle United's long game of brinksmanship
concluded with an audacious hijacking of Everton's bid to sign the
France midfielder.
On Tuesday evening Newcastle believed that, with Mike Ashley, the
club's owner, holding out for at least £30m, Sissoko would be going
nowhere but 24 hours later the player had signed a five-year contract at
White Hart Lane.
It left Everton, who, after meeting the
asking price, believed a deal was all but
rubber-stamped, furious and Rafael
Benítez's Championship side holding a
£31m profit from a transfer window in
which they signed 12 players.
Although Benítez would ideally have retained the 27-year-old former
Toulouse midfielder, who cost Newcastle only £1.8m, to bolster his
team's attempt to win promotion back to the Premier League at the first
attempt, he accepted Sissoko did not want to play second-tier football.
A price of £35m was set for a midfielder who sometimes underperformed
as Newcastle were relegated but impressed for France at Euro 2016.
Although Real Madrid, Internazionale, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund,
Spurs, Everton, Crystal Palace and West Bromwich expressed interest, no
one offered more than £15m until Wednesday.
Even then, Spurs initially only raised their bid marginally, to £16m and
then £18m. On international duty with France, Sissoko had been given
permission to leave Clairefontaine to fly to London at 9am but as the
hours passed and the impasse continued it seemed he would be going
nowhere after all.
Then, as afternoon turned to evening,
Everton dramatically upped their offer,
meeting the £30m valuation. A medical was
booked and a private jet hired to transport
the midfielder to Merseyside only for
consternation to be provoked at Goodison
Park when Sissoko, who had always hankered after Champions League
football, failed to board the flight.
Jolted into action by the realisation that Newcastle had failed to blink
first and they were in real danger of missing out on a key transfer target,
Spurs equalled Everton's offer. All that remained was for the midfielder
to inform the latter club he would not be joining them after all, pass a
medical and, on the brink of 11pm, pose for pictures in a Tottenham
shirt.
Wednesday night after Newcastle United's long game of brinksmanship
concluded with an audacious hijacking of Everton's bid to sign the
France midfielder.
On Tuesday evening Newcastle believed that, with Mike Ashley, the
club's owner, holding out for at least £30m, Sissoko would be going
nowhere but 24 hours later the player had signed a five-year contract at
White Hart Lane.
It left Everton, who, after meeting the
asking price, believed a deal was all but
rubber-stamped, furious and Rafael
Benítez's Championship side holding a
£31m profit from a transfer window in
which they signed 12 players.
Although Benítez would ideally have retained the 27-year-old former
Toulouse midfielder, who cost Newcastle only £1.8m, to bolster his
team's attempt to win promotion back to the Premier League at the first
attempt, he accepted Sissoko did not want to play second-tier football.
A price of £35m was set for a midfielder who sometimes underperformed
as Newcastle were relegated but impressed for France at Euro 2016.
Although Real Madrid, Internazionale, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund,
Spurs, Everton, Crystal Palace and West Bromwich expressed interest, no
one offered more than £15m until Wednesday.
Even then, Spurs initially only raised their bid marginally, to £16m and
then £18m. On international duty with France, Sissoko had been given
permission to leave Clairefontaine to fly to London at 9am but as the
hours passed and the impasse continued it seemed he would be going
nowhere after all.
Then, as afternoon turned to evening,
Everton dramatically upped their offer,
meeting the £30m valuation. A medical was
booked and a private jet hired to transport
the midfielder to Merseyside only for
consternation to be provoked at Goodison
Park when Sissoko, who had always hankered after Champions League
football, failed to board the flight.
Jolted into action by the realisation that Newcastle had failed to blink
first and they were in real danger of missing out on a key transfer target,
Spurs equalled Everton's offer. All that remained was for the midfielder
to inform the latter club he would not be joining them after all, pass a
medical and, on the brink of 11pm, pose for pictures in a Tottenham
shirt.
Carlo Ancelotti predicts Premier League, La Liga, Ligue 1 and Serie A champions and Golden Boot winners
Carlo Ancelotti has managed in all the top leagues across
Europe and the Italian took some time off his busy
schedule to predict who will win La Liga, Premier League,
Ligue 1 and Serie A and who will be the top scorer in each
of those leagues.
This year's La Liga title race promises to go down to the
wire with both Real Madrid and Barcelona looking very
strong. Speaking to Rai productions, Ancelotti analysed
Europe's major leagues and gave his predictions.
"In Spain, it is going to be difficult, but I think after several
years of not winning it, Real Madrid will return to win
the league and Cristiano will end as the top scorer."
Real Madrid last won the league in 2011/12 season under
Jose Mourinho, and have since then fallen short of their
great rivals Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in the title race.
However, Ancelotti has backed his former club to outsmart
Barcelona and Atletico in the title race.
In Serie A, unsurprisingly, Ancelotti chose Juventus as
favourites to claim an incredible 6th straight Scudetto title.
Although the Turin giants have lost Pogba to Manchester
United this summer, they have strenghtened their squad
considerably with the arrival of players like Gonzalo
Higuain, Miralem Pjanic and Dani Alves. Ancelotti picked
Higuain to live up to his prize tag and finish as Serie A's
top scorer.
Ligue 1, he picked Paris Saint Germain to blow away the
competition like last season. The Ligue 1 champs might
have lost to Monaco before the international break, but the
Italian believes that PSG have too much quality in their
squad to miss out on the Ligue 1 title. He also picked
Cavani to win the Golden boot in France. The Uruguayan
has been in woeful form at the start of the season, but
Ancelotti expects him to soon rediscover his goalscoring
form.
Ancelotti seemed hesitant to put his neck out and predict a
winner in the Premier League, but he eventually went for
Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, although he believed
Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be top scorer. Both the
Manchester sides along with Chelsea have got off to perfect
starts winning 3 out of 3 and it will indeed be interesting to
see who comes out on top in the Premier League this
season.
Europe and the Italian took some time off his busy
schedule to predict who will win La Liga, Premier League,
Ligue 1 and Serie A and who will be the top scorer in each
of those leagues.
This year's La Liga title race promises to go down to the
wire with both Real Madrid and Barcelona looking very
strong. Speaking to Rai productions, Ancelotti analysed
Europe's major leagues and gave his predictions.
"In Spain, it is going to be difficult, but I think after several
years of not winning it, Real Madrid will return to win
the league and Cristiano will end as the top scorer."
Real Madrid last won the league in 2011/12 season under
Jose Mourinho, and have since then fallen short of their
great rivals Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in the title race.
However, Ancelotti has backed his former club to outsmart
Barcelona and Atletico in the title race.
In Serie A, unsurprisingly, Ancelotti chose Juventus as
favourites to claim an incredible 6th straight Scudetto title.
Although the Turin giants have lost Pogba to Manchester
United this summer, they have strenghtened their squad
considerably with the arrival of players like Gonzalo
Higuain, Miralem Pjanic and Dani Alves. Ancelotti picked
Higuain to live up to his prize tag and finish as Serie A's
top scorer.
Ligue 1, he picked Paris Saint Germain to blow away the
competition like last season. The Ligue 1 champs might
have lost to Monaco before the international break, but the
Italian believes that PSG have too much quality in their
squad to miss out on the Ligue 1 title. He also picked
Cavani to win the Golden boot in France. The Uruguayan
has been in woeful form at the start of the season, but
Ancelotti expects him to soon rediscover his goalscoring
form.
Ancelotti seemed hesitant to put his neck out and predict a
winner in the Premier League, but he eventually went for
Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, although he believed
Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be top scorer. Both the
Manchester sides along with Chelsea have got off to perfect
starts winning 3 out of 3 and it will indeed be interesting to
see who comes out on top in the Premier League this
season.
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