Football's £500m summer of spending ends

Thu 1st Sep 2011 | Money & Finance

Two dramatic late deals took the spending in the summer transfer window soaring towards the £500m mark.

Mikel Arteta swapped Everton for Arsenal in a £10m deal as Arsene Wenger attempted to replace the departed Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri.

And Raul Meireles left Liverpool for Chelsea for £12 million after handing in a transfer request just half an hour before the 11pm deadline.

Meanwhile Spurs manager Harry Redknapp, happy with his £5m acquisition of Scott Parker from West Ham, revealed Luka Modric had been the subject of a £40m offer from Chelsea, but Spurs had turned it down.

Immediately after the window closed, it was calculated that £474m had been spent on players this summer and that figure is expected to rise as more deals are confirmed.

The figure comfortably outstrips the £345m spent last summer, as well as the £432m paid out in 2009.

Arsenal, humiliated by Manchester United at the weekend, spent £50m in the window, confirming the signings of Germany international defender Per Mertesacker (£9m), as well as those of 22-cap Brazilian left-back Andre Santos (£6.2m) and £2m South Korean striker Chu-Young Park.

As well as Arteta, Arsenal recruited Yossi Benayoun on loan from Chelsea.

And Nicholas Bendtner, who played previously for Steve Bruce at Birmingham, moved out of the Emirates on loan to Sunderland, after the Wearside club missed out on Peter Crouch.

Fulham proved they could spend big too, bringing in Brian Ruiz from FC Twente for £10.6m, despite late interest from Newcastle United.

Crouch and Wilson Palacios left Spurs for Stoke City in a joint deal worth in the region of £20m.

Stoke manager Tony Pulis, who'd spent nothing on players this summer before yesterday, also added Cameron Jerome from relegated Birmingham.

It proved a busy day at White Hart Lane.

David Bentley headed to West Ham on a one-year loan, while Alan Hutton and Jermaine Jenas (year-long loan) also left White Hart Lane for Aston Villa.

Manchester City allowed Craig Bellamy to rejoin Liverpool on a free transfer. 

And Owen Hargreaves, who has played just eleven minutes of competitive football in the last two years due to injury, completed a surprise, free transfer move to the Etihad Stadium, where the 30-year-old former England player will hope to re-launch his career 

He's signed a one-year deal.

Newly-promoted QPR added Anton Ferdinand from Sunderland and Shaun Wright-Phillips from Manchester City.

Joe Cole - out of favour at Liverpool - has gone on a season-long loan to French champions Lille.

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