But in an unexpected twist of events, Chelsea confirmed earlier today that they’d agreed a transfer fee for the centre-back with PSG.
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He signed a five-year contract and is thought to have cost Spurs around £30mn (B1.36bn).
“It will be an awesome opportunity to show to the fans again how I love this club and how I love to play for this club. It’s time for me to win some titles”, Alonso said.
The 28-year-old spent last season on loan with the Turin side.
Of the free agents, former Real Madrid and Liverpool defender Alvaro Arbeloa secured a deal at West Ham and ex-Reading forward Hal Robson-Kanu joined West Bromwich Albion after impressing with Wales at the European Championship. Goalkeeper Joe Hart joined Torino, Samir Nasri departed for Sevilla and Eliaquim Mangala made the move to Valencia.
Algeria striker Islam Slimani of Sporting Lisbon and Newcastle United’s France midfielder Moussa Sissoko got permission to leave their national squads to finalise transfers, with Leicester City and Tottenham their reported destinations respectively.
Though the end of his first stint with Chelsea was fraught with frustration over his seeming indifference toward the club and a general sense that he never quite fulfilled his potential, Luiz was always a better player than many fans were willing to admit.
Burnley broke its transfer record for the second time in two weeks on Wednesday when it announced the signing of Irish midfielder Jeff Hendrick from second-tier Derby County for around £10m.
Alonso played for Bolton for three seasons, including alongside Gary Cahill, who is now one of his Chelsea team-mates.
He said: “I can’t help but think there were much better options on the market this summer who would have represented far better value for money”.
Such is the magic of transfer deadline day.
In addition to Mangala, Spanish side Valencia signed Argentina global centre-back Ezequiel Garay from Zenit St Petersburg for a reported fee of 20 mn euros (B727mn).
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Tottenham signed France Under-21 winger Georges-Kevin Nkoudou from Marseille for £11 million, landed Espanyol goalkeeper Pau Lopez on a season’s loan and let Cameroon forward Clinton Njie join Marseille on a season’s loan.
