Top 10 Premier League transfers of 2017-18
LONDON: Ahead of Arsenal’s home game with Leicester City in the curtain-raiser to the new Premier League season tomorrow, AFP Sport selects the 10 biggest transfers of the close season:
Romelu Lukaku
Everton to Manchester United; £75 million After four increasingly prolific seasons at Everton, Belgium striker Lukaku has been given another shot at the big time with Manchester United. Lukaku, 24, has been brought in to replace Zlatan Ibrahimovic and will hope to do a better job of impressing manager Jose Mourinho than he managed during their time together at Chelsea.
Alvaro Morata
Real Madrid (ESP) to Chelsea; £58 million With Diego Costa having been very publicly frozen out by manager Antonio Conte, Chelsea broke their transfer record to sign 24-year-old Spain striker Morata. He made an inauspicious start to his Chelsea career by squandering his spot-kick in a Community Shield penalty shootout loss to Arsenal.
Benjamin Mendy
Monaco (FRA) to Manchester City; £52 million Saddled with an ageing group of full-backs, Pep Guardiola found it difficult to play the kind of thrusting football he loves in his maiden campaign as Manchester City manager. He has taken remedial action during the close season, most notably forking out £52 million to make France left-back Mendy the game’s most expensive defender.
Alexandre Lacazette
Lyon (FRA) to Arsenal; £46.5 million rising to £52.6 million
France striker Lacazette had been poised to join Atletico Madrid, only for the Court of Arbitration for Sport to uphold a transfer ban against the Spanish club. Arsenal stepped in, breaking their transfer record to sign the 26-yearold, who was the top-scoring Frenchman in Ligue 1 in each of the last three seasons.
Kyle Walker
Tottenham Hotspur to Manchester City; £45 million
The second of Manchester City’s three new full-backs (the other being Brazilian Danilo), Walker arrived from Spurs after Dani Alves opted to join Paris Saint-Germain over rejoining forces with Guardiola. Walker’s flying raids down the right flank for Tottenham have turned him into England’s first-choice number two.
Bernardo Silva
Monaco (FRA) to Manchester City; £43 million Portuguese playmaker Silva pitched up at City after his 11 goals and 12 assists inspired Monaco to Ligue 1 glory and a place in the Champions League semi-finals. The 22-year-old is expected to line up on the right flank for City, as he did at Monaco, but is likely to have been earmarked as the long-term successor to his namesake David Silva.
Tiemoue Bakayoko
Monaco (FRA) to Chelsea; £40 million The third player to have left Monaco for England, France midfielder Bakayoko will make Chelsea’s midfield an even more intimidating prospect. Tall and muscular, the former Rennes player will provide a redoubtable physical presence alongside the buzzing N’Golo Kante.
Nemanja Matic
Chelsea to Manchester United; £40 million Deemed surplus to requirements at Chelsea following Bakayoko’s arrival, Matic moved to United to link up with Mourinho, who previously brought him back to Chelsea from Benfica in 2014. A stylish but steely holding midfielder, the 28-year-old Serbia international will provide a counterweight for the forward runs of last year’s star signing, Paul Pogba.
Ederson
Benfica (POR) to Manchester City; £35 million The goalkeeping situation gave Guardiola constant problems during his first season at the Etihad Stadium, with Claudio Bravo proving an inadequate replacement for Joe Hart, who was loaned out to Torino. Guardiola moved to remedy the problem by signing 23-year-old Brazilian Ederson, who became the world’s second most expensive goalkeeper after Gianluigi Buffon.
Mohamed Salah
Roma (ITA) to Liverpool; £34 million A bright light in a gloomy transfer window for Liverpool. Egyptian winger Salah did not get a look-in during his previous spell with Chelsea, but he excelled in Serie A with Fiorentina and Roma, scoring 35 goals in 81 games. denotes fee as reported by British media. —AFP