Manchester City were the most active club on transfer deadline day as Pep Guardiola trimmed his squad, yesterday.
Goalkeeper Joe Hart, striker Wilfried Bony, playmaker Samir Nasri and defender Eliaquim Mangala left the Etihad Stadium in season-long loan moves to Torino, Stoke, Sevilla and Valencia respectively.
Away from City, another high-profile loan move was completed with Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere joining Bournemouth on loan as he was told he can leave the Emirates to kickstart his career after two injury-hit campaigns.
Crystal Palace were thought to be leading the chase for Wilshere’s services at one point as Roma and Milan were also reported to have entered the race.
Premier League clubs had broken through the billion-pound mark in this transfer window, according to figures from Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, and the spending continued last night.
Champions Leicester agreed a club record fee – around £34m – for Sporting Lisbon striker Islam Slimani and Tottenham were pursuing Newcastle midfielder Moussa Sissoko, although an initial bid of £16m was rejected.
Sunderland paid a club record £13.6m for Gabon midfielder Didier Ndong from Lorient while Middlesbrough announced the signing of winger Adama Traore from Aston Villa on a four-year deal.
Burnley also broken their transfer record – although the fee was undisclosed – to sign Ireland midfielder Jeff Hendrick from Derby.
Bony was not the only player heading to Stoke with the club also signing Porto defender Bruno Martins Indi on a season-long and Derby goalkeeper Lee Grant until the end of December. Philipp Wollscheid headed out the door to join Wolfsburg on loan.
Gokhan Inler left Leicester for Besiktas and Serge Gnabry swapped Arsenal for Werder Bremen.
Bournemouth’s Rhoys Wiggins and Lukas Jutkiewicz, of Burnley, both joined Birmingham in temporary deals and Everton forward Shani Tarashaj joined Eintracht Frankfurt on a season-long loan.
Late Tuesday, Arsenal signed Germany’s 2014 World Cup-winning defender Shkodran Mustafi a few hours after completing the transfer of Spanish striker Lucas Perez.
No financial details were disclosed but British media said yesterday the fee for Mustafi was £35 million.
Mustafi has been at Valencia for the past two seasons while Perez joined Deportivo in August 2015.
Mustafi, 24, began his career at Everton’s academy before moving on to Sampdoria.