A busy summer transfer window concluded with an equally hectic deadline day on Friday as some of Europe’s biggest clubs made some major moves in the nick of time.
Manchester United was perhaps the busiest team of all, signing four players over the course of the day: goalkeeper Altay Bayindir, defenders Sergio Reguilon and Jonny Evans and midfielder Sofyan Amrabat. Reguilon and Evans in particular address a need for United in defense after Luke Shaw and Raphael Varane recently picked up injuries.
Other English clubs had notable but less intense days. Manchester City ended their business early by signing Matheus Nunes from Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur locked in Cole Palmer and Brennan Johnson, respectively.
Paris Saint-Germain also made headlines by signing Bradley Barcola from Lyon for $54 million, and barely got a deal over the line with Randal Kolo Muani. The club agreed a deal with Eintracht Frankfurt weeks ago but the agreement was nearly canceled because Hugo Ekitike was unwilling to leave the French capital. The parties smoothed things over just in time, though.
Things did not go as smoothly for Bayern Munich, though, who missed out on Joao Palhinha, Trevoh Chalobah, and Armel Bella-Ketchup on deadline day. Bayern ran out of time to land Chalobah and Bella-Ketchup with the window closing in Germany hours before it did elsewhere. The Palhinha deal, though, was nearly done — the player completed his medical and took photos in a Bayern shirt, but with Fulham unable to secure a replacement in time, the deal was called off at the very last minute.
Barcelona managed to complete moves for their two main targets with loans for both Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix getting finished at the very last minute, while earlier in the day they completed the loan of Ansu Fati to Brighton and Hove Albion.
Ultimately though, the biggest deal of the day may have been the one that didn’t happen. Liverpool turned down a gigantic offer for Mohamed Salah from Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad. The deal, for north of $125 million was the latest salvo in an effort by Saudi Arabia to scoop up as many big names as possible this summer. While turning Al-Ittihad down, Liverpool did manage to make a move of their own, landing Ryan Gracenberch from Bayern Munich, despite that fact that Bayern so spectacularly face-planted while trying to bring in his replacement.
