Top 10 Premier League transfers 2017-18
first two league home games.
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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 took remedial action during the close season, most notably forking out £52 million to make France left-back Benjamin Mendy the game’s most expensive defender.
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Liverpool smashed their transfer record to sign highly regarded Guinea midfielder Naby Keita from RB Leipzig, but he will not arrive until next year.
Liverpool are believed to have paid Keita’s £48 million release clause, as well as an additional premium.
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France striker Alexandre 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-year-old, who needed less than two minutes to find the net on his league debut against Leicester City.
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The second of Manchester City’s three new full-backs (the other being Brazilian Danilo), Kyle Walker arrived from Spurs after Dani Alves opted to join Paris Saint-Germain over rejoining forces with Guardiola.
England’s first-choice number two, Walker had a home debut to forget as he was sent off in City’s 1-1 draw with Everton.
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Portuguese playmaker Bernado 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 23-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.
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The third player to have left Monaco for England, France midfielder Tiémoué Bakayoko will make Chelsea’s midfield an even more intimidating prospect.
Tall and technically accomplished, the former Rennes player will provide a redoubtable physical presence alongside the buzzing N’Golo Kante.
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 29-year-old Serbia international has already proved a useful counterweight for the forward runs of last year’s star signing, Paul Pogba.
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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 24-yearold Brazilian Ederson Moraes, who became the world’s second most expensive goalkeeper after Gianluigi Buffon.
* denotes fee as reported by British media. AFP