TRANSFER WINNERS AND LOSERS
After the deadline for Premier League clubs to strengthen their squads for the upcoming season passed on Thursday, AFP Sport looks at who enjoyed the best and worst of the transfer window
• IN their quest to end a 29year wait to win the title, Liverpool weren’t just the biggest spenders, but got their business done early and improved the key areas of Jurgen Klopp’s squad that needed strengthening.
Two calamitous errors from Loris Karius in losing the Champions League final to Real Madrid in May made it clear an upgrade was needed in goal and €72.5 million (RM340 million) were splashed on Alisson Becker from Roma in a short-lived worldrecord fee for a goalkeeper.
Fabinho and Naby Keita will add extra dynamism and depth to the midfield, while Xherdan Shaqiri offers better back-up to the prolific front three of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah.
Even more importantly, Salah and Firmino also signed extended contracts rather than being lured away as Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho have been in recent seasons.
And the Midlands club appear to have higher ambitions than merely staying up after signing another two high-profile Mendes clients in Euro 2016 winners Rui Patricio and Joao Moutinho.
A club-record fee of £20 million was also splashed on powerful Spanish winger Adama Traore and versatile Belgian international Leander Dendoncker was snapped up from Anderlecht. move from Newcastle was also made permanent for a reported £27 million.
• THE decision to bring the transfer deadline forward to before the start of the season for the first time in England was designed to alleviate disruption.
Last season Alexis Sanchez, Philippe Coutinho and Virgil van Dijk were among those to miss the start of the campaign due to transfer speculation.
Yet, a shortened window allied to the tight turnaround from the final stages of the World Cup just four weeks ago, left English clubs in a rush against time to get deals done and facing inflated fees when buying from Europe’s other top leagues, where the window doesn’t close till later this month.