Transfer deadline day is a cavalcade of rumors unparalleled in the world of sports. Teams across the world at this juncture are usually in two camps. Most doing big business on the day are in a fevered panic trying to strengthen their squad. A select few use this smoke screen to get some cheeky upgrades by preying on the frailty of frantic clubs. This, of course, produces some winners and losers across all leagues as we put the summer window behind us. Take note though that this article will cover teams from all leagues, but won’t take into account the fact that other league’s windows, such as La Liga, close after today. So let’s get down to who is smiling and who is sulking after deadline day.
DEADLINE WINNERS
Tottenham Hotspur
Chairman Daniel Levy loves to leave it late. That may frustrate many a Spurs fan, but that policy has produced fantastic results on deadline day. The club began their spending before most of us in the US awoke with the signing of Serge Aurier from PSG. The Ivory Coast international cost £23m and will provide steady cover for the injured Kieran Trippier. He has Champions League experience as well, something they will need plenty of given their rough draw. In addition to Aurier, Spurs also made a shrewd move with Swansea’s Fernando Llorente. Llorente is a terror in the air when healthy and the move steals the Spaniard out from underneath Chelsea. At the worst, he’ll allow Mauricio Pochettino to give Harry Kane some much-needed respite in lesser games for once. Even though a loan for Barcelona’s Andre Gomes fell through, I’d personally say that is a bullet dodged.
Paris Saint-Germain
What a summer it has been for the Parisians. They started off with the addition of Dani Alves and then melted the football internet with the coup of Neymar. But on deadline day PSG made another staggering move along with some needed house cleaning. Kylian Mbappe was coveted all over Europe from Real Madrid to Arsenal. He stays in France on a move that once again features some creative bookkeeping and gives PSG arguably the most fearsome young front line in Europe. With all the talent coming in, PSG had to get some players off the books as well. They made a huge profit on wantaway right back Serge Aurier. They were also able to find a home (West Brom) for Grzegorz Krychowiak. PSG played a different transfer game than everybody else this window, and on deadline day, for sure.
SWANSEA CITY
Though I earmarked the Swans for relegation before the season, Paul Clement and company did some brilliant work on deadline day. The club has lost many a key contributor this window, including Fernando Llorente at the death, but Swansea improved leaps and bounds during this final 24 hours. The biggest chip added was Renato Sanches from Bayern Munich. Clement saw the midfielder first hand as an assistant to Carlo Ancelotti at Bayern and used his contacts still at the club to make a loan deal happen. Speaking of familiarity, Wilfried Bony’s return will be welcome at the Liberty Stadium. He’s been an afterthought since Swansea sold him to Manchester City in 2015. He should immediately find himself at the tip of the spear for the Welsh side, a place he scored a goal every other game during his previous stint.
OTHERS SMILING
Liverpool: IN- Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain OUT- Mamadou Sakho
West Bromwich Albion: IN- Grzegorz Krychowiak, Kieran Gibbs
Monaco: OUT- Kylian Mbappe for €180m STAYING- Thomas Lemar
Leicester City: OUT- Danny Drinkwater for £35m IN- Alexsander Dragovic, Adrien Silva STAYING- Riyad Mahrez, Demarai Gray
DEADLINE LOSERS
Arsenal
This photo pretty much sums up Arsenal’s deadline day. Alexis Sanchez is tired. He’s tired of being an Arsenal player. A move to Manchester City seemed all but done, but the Gunners were insistent on the deal being cash only which ultimately doomed the move. They are now stuck with a wantaway player with less than a year left on his deal, along with several others in the same boat, who will be a leader on a team that may have already quit on their manager, if their Liverpool performance is any indication. To compound the misery, the player Arsenal were courting to replace the Electric One if he were moved on, Thomas Lemar, nixed a £92m agreed upon move, even going as far as to say he’d rather join Liverpool. He then hit a screamer in World Cup Qualifying to show Arsenal what they would be missing at the Emirates. They were able to move on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kieran Gibbs, and Lucas Perez but the latter duo’s “replacements” Sead Kolasinac and Alexandre Lacazette are already sitting for Arsene Wenger. So what’s the point?
Chelsea
If Arsenal were denied a prom date, Chelsea was left at the altar on deadline day. Yes, the Blues were able to get several deals over the line, including one in proverbial extra time, but the defending champions are going to think more about what could have been on the window’s final day. Danny Drinkwater moved to the capital from Leicester, but Chelsea coveted Riyad Mahrez more as the window closed. Fernando Llorente chose backing up Harry Kane to doing the same for Alvaro Morata. Ross Barkley was the most runaway bride of the bunch, reportedly leaving mid-medical to return to Merseyside with a £35m fee agreed. I’ll give them a little credit though. Davide Zappacosta isn’t a headline grabber, but he was given his first Italian cap by Antonio Conte, so the Chelsea boss must see something in the versatile fullback.
Barcelona
I am aware that this entrant could totally be rendered moot in the next 18 or so hours. La Liga’s window shuts tonight rather than yesterday, giving the Blaugrana one last chance to make things happen. They’ll hope so because yesterday’s deadline day was not kind to the Catalan side who just spent 10x what Borussia Dortmund paid just one year ago for Ousmane Dembele. £138m is the reported latest offer for Liverpool’s Little Magician Philippe Coutinho. That is nearly £60m more than when I first thought the Brazilian was Barca bound. It still may not be enough to test Liverpool’s resolve. As a Liverpool fan that makes me both happy and tentative, for Barca fans, it has to be enraging. And who even knows what happened with Riyad Mahrez? When you see someone in that iconic strip raging at your local pub today though, please don’t tell them that Andre Gomes is still at the club too. That’s just piling it on.
How did your club do on Deadline Day? Were they winners or losers? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter @sportsftb or myself @TREVORutley. Until the winter window…