£400m spent but who made early moves in mini transfer window?

After a busy 10 days and £400m spent the transfer window has officially closed for Premier League clubs – a week before it opens once again.

This summer has seen an unusual, two-part transfer window to allow clubs to sign players for the Fifa Club World Cup which begins on Sunday, 15 June (01:00 BST).

A second will open on Monday, 16 June, before closing on Monday, 1 September at 19:00 BST for Premier League, EFL and Scottish Premiership clubs.

Fifa rules state a transfer window cannot last more than 16 weeks in a calendar year, hence the split this summer.

Manchester City and Chelsea are the two Premier League clubs competing at the Club World Cup in the United States, but any team from a league with sides at the tournament could participate in the window.

Premier League clubs have already spent £400m in initial transfer fees before the new season. That dwarfs the tallies of top-flight clubs in Germany, Spain, Italy, France and Saudi Arabia.

There’s still a long way to go to match last summer’s final tally of £1.98bn spent by Premier League clubs on player transfers, while the record outlay of £2.36bn was set in summer 2023.

Chelsea begin their Club World Cup campaign against Los Angeles FC on 16 June, while City play Moroccan side Wydad AC on 18 June.

Both sides have new faces in their touring party, with City landing Wolves left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri for £31m and bringing in goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli from Chelsea as cover.

They also announced the signing of attacking midfielder Rayan Cherki from Lyon before the deadline for an initial fee of £30.45m.

Chelsea have spent more than any other club so far, splashing out initial fees of £89.5m on Liam Delap (£30m), Dario Essugo (£18.5m) and Mamadou Sarr (£12m), while Estevao Willian (£29m) will join after agreeing a move a year ago.

Manchester United are not in the Club World Cup but have made the most expensive move yet, spending £62.5m on Wolves forward Matheus Cunha.

Bournemouth to the Bernabeu is not a well-trodden path in football history but Real Madrid have spent £50m on Cherries centre-half Dean Huijsen.

The Spanish giants activated his release clause, with the Spain international having as many as seven offers on the table, including Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Newcastle.

Real, of course, also chose to spend £10m to bring forward the long-awaited signing of Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold so he could feature in the United States.

The 26-year-old would have been able to leave Liverpool on a free transfer when his contract expired on 30 June.

But Real moved early thanks to the financial incentive of the winner of the 32-team tournament potentially earning up to £97m in prize money.

Liverpool replaced Alexander-Arnold with Dutch full-back Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen, while the Bundesliga side took goalkeeper Mark Flekken from Brentford.

The Bees in turn signed Liverpool keeper Caoimhin Kelleher, while across the city Everton turned forward Carlos Alcaraz’s loan move from Flamengo into a permanent one.