English clubs took their spending on players for the season soaring past 1 billion pounds on Monday, but the biggest signing on transfer deadline day was that of a manager as Manchester City confirmed Pep Guardiola will take over this summer.
A relatively quiet final day for Europe’s mid-season transfer window saw the biggest deals done by mid-table Premier League clubs.
Everton shelled out 13.5 million pounds to bring Senegal striker Oumar Niasse from Russian Premier League club Lokomotiv Moscow while Stoke City shattered their club record by signing French midfielder Giannelli Imbula from Porto for 18.3 million pounds shortly before the window closed.
Deloitte said the 175 million pounds ($252.42 million) spent by English clubs was the highest for a January transfer window since the 225 million spent in the 2010/11 window.
Manchester City, who spent 100 million pounds in the summer to bring in Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling, did not add to their squad in the window but Guardiola is unlikely to be the only big-name arrival at the Abu Dhabi United Group-owned club in July.
City’s current manager, Manuel Pellegrini, stunned a pre-match news conference on Monday by saying he would leave the club on June 30.
Shortly afterwards, City announced that Bayern Munich manager Guardiola, one of the world’s most respected coaches who won 14 titles in four years at Barcelona, including the Champions League twice, had agreed a three-year contract.
His arrival will more give weight to the Premier League’s claim to being most attractive league in the world.
City’s rivals sat up and took notice, with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp saying Guardiola was on a mission to conquer Europe.
“Pep won everything in Spain, nearly everything in Germany, so I think he wants to win everything in England, that is clear.”
SPENDING POWER
While Guardiola will have a huge war chest to add to the squad in the summer, he might be surprised by the spending power of the Premier League’s smaller clubs.
Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid enjoy a huge financial advantage over their La Liga rivals while Bayern Munich have a similar advantage in the Bundesliga.
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