Barcelona and Nottingham Forest kept up their momentum of signing new players till the fag end of the window while Chelsea and Liverpool made a few signings of their own to plug the gaps in their teams. With the EPL teams spending more than $2.2 billion on new players, the transfer window heralded the return of a more normalized scenario after a Covid-impacted two years.

Aubameyang returns to the Premier League

The last day of the window was dominated by Chelsea and Barcelona’s dealing of the Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang transfer saga with the two clubs finally agreeing on a price for the Gabonese international with defender Marcos Alonso going the other way after terminating his contract with the London club.

Barcelona gained another new player and Aubameyang, after his much-anticipated arrival from Arsenal to the Catalan club in January, cut his Barca journey short. Chelsea, meanwhile, will be hoping that the former Arsenal forward will be the solution to their striker crisis. That was not all from Barcelona though as in a rather curious move, they signed out-of-favour defender Hector Bellerin from Arsenal on a one-year contract.

Wantaway striker Memphis Depay and Miralam Pjanic, meanwhile, will stay in Barcelona while defender Sergino Dest, as well as Martin Braithwaite, left the club, the former on a loan to AC Milan and the latter to Espanyol after terminating his contract.

Welcome to Chelsea, Denis Zakaria! 💙 #ZakariaIsChelsea pic.twitter.com/efdBVdefLV

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) September 2, 2022

Chelsea also secured the signature of Denis Zakaria from Juventus in a shrewd business move on deadline day while also snapping up Wesley Fofana from Leicester City on August 31.

Liverpool hope to plug midfield hole with Arthur Melo

After a rather disappointing start to the season, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp had said that the club will finally sign a midfielder to plug the gap in his squad due to the injuries of Thiago Alcantara and Naby Keita. On deadline day, Klopp made good on his word as Liverpool completed a loan deal for former Barcelona playmaker Arthur Melo from Juventus with an option to make it permanent.

Manchester clubs strengthen squads

Manchester United secured the loan move for Martin Dubravka from Newcastle on deadline day while confirming the arrival of Brazilian striker Anthony from Ajax. There were a spate of outgoings though with James Garner joining Everton, Tahith Chong joining Birmingham City, following teammate Hannibal Mejbri, who secured a loan move on August 29 to Birmingham. Cristiano Ronaldo, meanwhile, stayed put at United after failing to secure a move away.

🔊 @Antony00‘s pledge. #MUFC pic.twitter.com/Spyap88Ujo

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) September 1, 2022

United’s arch-rivals Manchester City made a splash early on deadline day when they brought in Manuel Akanji from Borussia Dortmund in a deal that came out of the blue, pun intended.

Fulham, Nottingham on spending spree

The so-called minnows of the Premier League, Fulham and Nottingham Forest, spent big on deadline day, with the latter continuing their unprecedented signing spree throughout the transfer window after securing their 21st signing just in time before the window slammed shut. They signed Willy Boly from Wolves, Serge Aurier, and Loïc Badé to round off their summer business. They were also looking to add Michy Batshuayi from Chelsea but the deal collapsed due to a delay in sending documents.

Fulham, meanwhile snapped up ex-Arsenal player and Chelsea player Willian on a one-year deal as well as Daniel James from Leeds. Their main coup, however, was securing the signing of Layvin Kurzawa from Paris-Saint Germain on a season-long loan.

Deadline Day done deals

Anthony – Ajax to Man Utd, £86m

Manuel Akanji – Borussia Dortmund to Man City, £15m

Wout Faes – Reims to Leicester, £15m

Willy Boly – Wolves to Nottingham Forest, £4.65m

Jack Stephens – Southampton to Bournemouth, loan

Idrissa Gueye – Paris Saint-Germain to Everton, £8m

Willian – Corinthians to Fulham, free

Layvin Kurzawa – Paris Saint-Germain to Fulham, loan

Martin Dubravka – Newcastle to Man Utd, loan

Leander Dendoncker – Wolves to Aston Villa, £13m

Ainsley Maitland-Niles – Arsenal to Southampton, loan

Sam Edozie – Manchester City to Southampton, £10m

Arthur Melo – Juventus to Liverpool, loan

James Garner – Manchester United to Everton, £15m

Juan Larios – Manchester City to Southampton, £6m

Carlos Vinicius – Benfica to Fulham, undisclosed

Jan Bednarek – Southampton to Aston Villa, loan

Duje Caleta-Car – Marseille to Southampton, £8.6m

Boubacar Traore – Metz to Wolves, loan

Dan James – Leeds to Fulham, loan

Loic Bade – Rennes to Nottingham Forest, loan

Wilfried Gnonto – FC Zurich to Leeds, undisclosed

Billy Gilmour – Chelsea to Brighton, £10m

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – Barcelona to Chelsea, £10.3m

Oriol Romeu – Southampton to Girona, undisclosed

Paulo Gazzaniga – Fulham to Girona, loan

David Bates – Aberdeen to K.V. Mechelen, undisclosed

Mario Balotelli – Adana Demirspor to FC Sion, free

Julian Draxler – PSG to Benfica, loan

Claudio Gomes – Manchester City to Palermo, undisclosed

Ethan Ampadu – Chelsea to Spezia, loan

Ignacio Pussetto – Watford to Sampdoria, loan

Carlos Soler – Valencia to PSG, undisclosed

Aster Vranckx – Wolfsburg to AC Milan, loan

Sergino Dest – Barcelona to AC Milan, loan

Yan Valery – Southampton to Angers, £500k

Federico Fernandez – Newcastle to Elche, undisclosed

Kenedy – Chelsea to Real Valladolid, undisclosed

Martin Braithwaite – Barcelona to Espanyol, free

Andre Gomes – Everton to Lille, loan

Hector Bellerin – Arsenal to Barcelona, free

Josh Bowler – Nottingham Forest to Olympiacos, loan

Mikey Johnston – Celtic to Vitoria Guimaraes, loan