The 2026 Premier League summer transfer window closed at 11pm BST on September 1, and clubs spent the final hours doing what they do best: lighting enormous piles of money on fire in the name of squad improvement.

Chelsea’s acquisition of Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa for £117 million set a new British transfer record. Manchester City followed closely behind, signing Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest for £116 million.

The deals that defined deadline day

Iliman Ndiaye’s transfer from Everton to Manchester City for approximately £65 million added another attacking option to Pep Guardiola’s squad. Ibrahim Mbaye made the switch from PSG to Aston Villa for around £47 million.

Liverpool secured Bradley Barcola from PSG. The fee for the French forward has been reported at between £107 million and £123 million, depending on the source.

Tottenham signed Sandro Tonali from Newcastle United for £92.5 million plus potential add-ons.

Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri headed out on loan to Borussia Dortmund, a deal that was among those finalized during the post-deadline grace period. That grace period gives clubs two hours after the 11pm cutoff to complete paperwork for deals that had submitted deal sheets before the deadline.

A summer of unprecedented spending

The window opened on June 15, giving Premier League clubs roughly 11 weeks to conduct their business. Chelsea, Manchester City, and Tottenham emerged as the biggest spenders.

The combined cost of Rogers and Anderson, at £233 million, exceeds what most clubs across Europe’s top five leagues spent in total this summer, underlining how far Premier League budgets continue to outpace much of the continent. For rivals across England and Europe, that spending gap shapes the market well beyond deadline day, as selling clubs can use Premier League demand to drive fees higher.

Barcola’s move to Liverpool saw PSG, long accustomed to being the buyer rather than the seller in blockbuster deals, on the receiving end of Premier League purchasing power.

What this spending spree means for selling clubs

Aston Villa banked £117 million for Rogers but immediately reinvested a chunk of it in Mbaye. Nottingham Forest received £116 million for Anderson, a windfall that transforms their financial position.

At £92.5 million plus add-ons, the Tonali deal represents one of the largest fees ever paid for a midfielder by an English club, and the size of the move shows how deadline-day business can reshape both a squad and a club’s accounting in one evening.

Clubs that submitted their paperwork before 11pm were given until 1am to finalize details. Several loans and smaller signings were completed in that buffer zone, a reminder that even after the main deadline passes, the administrative race to complete deals is still very much on.