Last-minute medicals, number crunching and Saudi speculation. It’s deadline day in the summer transfer window for Europe’s five big domestic leagues.
The English Premier League again leads overall spending — about $2.4 billion and counting — and once again Chelsea is first in line with an outlay of $290 million.
Deadline-day deals could see some players headed to Saudi Arabia, which has been less active compared to a year ago.
Among the big names in European soccer that could be changing jerseys on Friday were Ivan Toney (Brentford), Raheem Sterling (Chelsea), Jadon Sancho (Manchester United) and Victor Osimhen (Napoli).
Italy is back over the $1 billion mark again in overall spending — the second highest in Europe. Romelu Lukaku joined Napoli on Thursday.
But England’s top tier remains the most lucrative, even if its spending is down slightly from a year ago.
More evidence of the Premier League’s draw: Teams in the second-division Championship have spent more than 200 million euros ($221 million) to strengthen their squads. That’s the seventh-highest expenditure among leagues worldwide.
The deadlines: Bundesliga 8 p.m. local time; Premier League and French league 11 p.m. local time; Serie A and La Liga midnight.
There could still be some surprises in store beyond Europe. That’s because the Saudi Pro League has until Monday to lure players.
Entering this week, the Saudis had spent just $240 million in this transfer window — a huge decrease from the roughly $1 billion spent in the same period a year ago.
One reason might be the lack of squad spots, though the league has put in place a plan to add more foreign players. Changes that took effect this season increased the limit on the number of foreign players per team from eight to 10. There’s no age limit for eight foreigners but in a bid to get younger stars — not just the 30-something crowd — two spots are restricted to “non-Saudi players born in 2003 or after.”
On Tuesday, Saudi champion Al Hilal paid $28 million to Manchester City for full back João Cancelo.
Mohamed Salah was No. 1 on Al-Ittihad’s wish list last year, when Liverpool reportedly rejected a bid worth $188 million.
The 32-year-old Salah is in the final year of his contract on Merseyside. Salah told Sky Sports on Thursday: “I don’t want to think about next year or about the future. Let’s enjoy the last year and we’ll see.”
Bayern Munich has ruled out signing any more players in the transfer window. The Bavarian powerhouse spent about 100 million euros ($110 million) combined for Portugal midfielder João Palhinha and forward Michael Olise.
Palhinha seemed set to join Bayern a year ago — and even traveled to Munich for a medical — but the deal collapsed just before the end of the transfer window.
Max Eberl, Bayern’s board member for sport, said Friday morning there would be no more arrivals in a squad which is aiming to recapture the German title it lost to Bayer Leverkusen last season.
“We won’t sign any more players. If there’s something, then possibly it’s someone leaving,” he said, in a possible reference to French forward Kingsley Coman, who’s been linked with teams in England and Saudi Arabia. “We have a squad that we’re very, very satisfied with and very happy with.”
The German transfer window was dominated by Bayern as it attempts to bring the title back to Munich. Leverkusen kept most of its double-winning team together, while last season’s surprise second-place team Stuttgart was ransacked by rivals.
The summer’s biggest move came with no transfer cost at all when Kylian Mbappé joined Real Madrid after his contract expired at Paris Saint-Germain. La Liga was on course to be the lowest spender among the big five — it entered the final week at just under $600 million.
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AP sports writer James Ellingworth in Germany contributed.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
