Hello! It may have been a quieter transfer deadline day than years past but there was still big news out of England, the Premier League's financial might quickly emerging as a defining feature of European soccer. I'm Pardeep Cattry with a recap of Tuesday's most notable deals and where teams go from here now that their transfer business is complete.
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⚽ The Forward Line
💰 A record fee for Enzo Fernandez
Getty Images It took all summer but Enzo Fernandez's transfer to Manchester City is complete.
The Argentina international finalized the move on deadline day after City agreed to pay Chelsea a transfer fee of roughly $169 million, equalling the British record fee Liverpool paid Newcastle United to sign Alexander Isak a year ago. Fernandez's exit seemed likely all summer long, but especially so after Xabi Alonso omitted him from the Blues' matchday squad ahead of Sunday's win over Brighton and Hove Albion, paving the way for the midfielder to reunite with ex-Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca. Fernandez is now the headlining act of City's new look under Maresca, Chuck Booth noting that the midfielder helps his new team level up in a season of transition.
- Booth: "Already with two wins from Maresca's first two matches in charge, scoring six goals and only conceding two, there's no question that City will get stronger having a World Cup and Club World Cup winner like Fernandez in the mix will only strengthen them. Fernandez is able to play deeper in midfield or as a 10, doing a little bit of everything; the Argentine gives Maresca flexibility in how to set up his side, especially since Anderson is more of a defensive presence around him. That's needed especially early in the season while Jeremy Doku is sidelined with an injury, and Fernandez being in the squad can allow Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden to slide out to the wings if needed."
It was not City's only move of the day, either – Maresca's side completed an $81 million move for Iliman Ndiaye from Everton in the final hours of the window, adding some more attacking depth after bidding farewell to new Tottenham Hotspur players Omar Marmoush and Savio. The Fernandez deal, though, speaks to City's seemingly endless financial capital. The club spent roughly $435 million on midfield talent this summer alone, Fernandez joining new recruits Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest and Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille. Since winning the treble three years ago, though, City have dropped around $673 million on central midfielders with varying levels of success. The question facing them now is if the new batch of midfielders will take them where they want to go as Maresca and director of football Hugo Viana mount an ambitious rebuild.
Fernandez's transfer, though, also exemplifies a modern reality of the European game -- the Premier League boasts a sizable economic advantage compared to the rest of their counterparts around the continent. England's top-flight clubs preferred to recruit from within the league this summer, the model of buying players with Premier League experience transitioning from an emphasis on the intangibles to one based on more data. Sure, Anderson and Fernandez will not have to adjust to England's top flight, and the same is true for Bruno Guimaraes, who moved from Newcastle United to Arsenal, and Carlos Baleba, who joined Manchester United from Brigthon. The Premier League, though, is also emerging as the greatest indicator of players' overall ability and the big clubs around the continent seem to have taken note – Barcelona's big signings, after all, were Anthony Gordon from Newcastle and Rodri from City.
Clubs also seem to be willing to put up with the price tags associated with Premier League experience. Tottenham Hotspur's top three transfers by fee all took place this summer, each of them from English clubs – Sandro Tonali joined the club after a $125 million move away from Newcastle, while West Ham United fetched $115 million for Mateus Fernandes and City pocketed $101 million for Savio. The Premier League's transformation into Europe's super league, closed off by geography rather than a forced structure, continues at rapid speed.
⌛ Folarin Balogun left in the lurch
Getty Images By James Benge
Was it not former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson who said that a club off-season is a long time in soccer? No? Well it was something like that. Anyway, if that aphorism is available, then, Folarin Balogun, you can have it free of charge. Goodness, has this been a summer for you.
It started unforgettably with those three World Cup goals before the red card and all the fallout from that, enough to have anyone hiding away from the spotlight for the rest of his career. And yet it found Balogun on a dramatic deadline day.
Let's start with the events. Set to be flush with the proceeds of Iliman Ndiaye's $87.6 million sale to Manchester City, Everton set about strengthening their attack. Center forward Beto was leaving too, meaning a gap through the middle for which Balogun looked an ideal option. His current club Monaco needed the cash after failing to qualify for the Champions League. Balogun, whose contract had (and indeed now has) two years to run, was an ideal candidate to sell. Terms worth around $55 million were quickly lined up such that on the morning of deadline day it seemed a matter of when, not if.
A few quiet hours from then on out is not unusual. Balogun had to get to Merseyside, which he did in the early afternoon. Then there was paperwork to get through. For a time it was suggested that the radio silence was due to the mountain of paperwork that had to be got through at Finch Farm as Jack Grealish and Ainsley Maitland-Niles came while four senior players, including Ndiaye, left permanently. Then word came of issues in the medical. Everton moved to renegotiate while also lining up other targets, a loan offer for Joshua Zirkzee rebuffed as Manchester United could not find a replacement.
As this deal wobbled, Monaco lined up their cash injection elsewhere, agreeing terms with Chelsea for the sale of Lamine Camara. Balogun, it seemed, would be going back to the principality.
Eventually that proved to be the case. However, the chaos had only just begun. Revisiting their negotiations around a deal that would have been more incentivized on minutes, Everton and Monaco found an agreement, leading to a deal sheet being submitted to the Premier League that would allow the transfer to be agreed after the 6 p.m. ET deadline. Monaco pulled the plug on the Camara sale, infuriating Chelsea. It was all down to Balogun. And then, according to Monaco sporting director Thiago Scuro, he concluded that a club that was unsure about his fitness to play was not one he wanted to join.
- Scuro: "Basically, Balogun's allegation is that I'm not feeling well because of the way the club treated me. I'm not feeling well because Everton's medical department raised doubts about my future or my health. I have nothing [no fitness or health issues], so I'm not comfortable signing a long contract here. And that's the way we finish our transfer window."
The fallout looks severe for all parties. Monaco's net income for the window is half what it might have been. Everton go into the season with Thierno Barry their only fit senior striker, their fanbase already grumbling about owners the Friedkin Group.
For Balogun, at the very least, this is a missed opportunity. At 25 years of age, he was at just the right point in his career to test himself in the most competitive league environment out there. Everton would have offered him both competition in the form of Barry and the prospect of a decent number of games. Had he made a rapid success of his time at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, there might yet have been time to leap up to a bigger club.
A market as chaotic as England's may yet provide for Balogun in January. Though Everton likely will not revive their interest, clubs such as Newcastle and Brighton are at risk of finding themselves light a No.9. Who knows, in a year's time Middlesbrough, where he spent half a season on loan, might be readying themselves for the Premier League. That's a club who haven't seen an American footballer they haven't wanted to sign. And yet the best-case scenario then is something not far off a lost half-season of Conference League and Ligue 1 football, a level Balogun had already proven himself ready to jump up from.
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