Premier League transfers sail past £800m as Newcastle United buy in

The confirmed incoming Premier League transfers of the summer 2020 window have now gone flying past the £800m point.

Suggestions that this summer transfer market would be a quiet one are looking pretty lame now.

Newcastle United have even joined in now!

On the 43rd day of the transfer window, only five days ahead of the new season, Mike Ashley finally allowed money to be spent. Callum Wilson arriving in a £20m deal from Bournemouth, with free agent Ryan Fraser also signing that day.

This was followed by Jamal Lewis signing on late Tuesday, Norwich set to bank £15m for the left-back.

We are only six days away from the Premier League kicking off and Mike Ashley hasn’t allowed a penny to be spent on transfer fees so far, only free transfers Mark Gillespie and Jeff Hendrick coming in.

Now on Wednesday this is the 45th day of the Premier League summer transfer window with 26 days to go after today.

As fans we all knew that Newcastle had to urgently strengthen in a number of positions, get signings in early and prepare properly for the new season.

The free transfer of Gillespie and Hendrick in the opening six weeks of the window didn’t exactly inspire confidence but the trio brought in this week give supporters hope.

All three have to varying degrees shown they can perform in the Premier League, so if they can bring their best form…

Yet again though, Mike Ashley has massively handicapped preparations for the new season by refusing to allow money to be spent until the season is only days away. Meaning none of these three signings has taken part in pre-season friendlies with NUFC and will only have a few days training before West Ham on Saturday night.

The spending on Premier League transfers has accelerated as we get nearer the new season, with over £300m spent in the first eight days of September.

A report by Deloitte after the end of the 2019 summer transfer window revealed that at £1.41billion it was the second highest ever total of spending on Premier League transfers, only summer 2017 higher with £1.43billion.

The summer may not end up as the highest ever but the way it is looking with still 27 days to go (including today) and now getting to 60% of that record target already, I think that remarkably, considering the claims of it going to be a quieter market this summer, it could get very close to the 2017 summer all-time high.

Whilst clubs such as Chelsea are spending serious money, if you look elsewhere then pretty much every other PL club has made sizeable signings as well.

Leeds have spent over £70m so far, whilst West Brom paid West Ham £18m for Grady Diangana to take their spending past the £30m mark. Villa, Palace, Southampton, Everton, Wolves, Sheffield United and others have also made significant signings.

It is a relief for Newcastle fans to at least see the club apparently finally making serious attempts to bring some credible signings in. You do wonder that if without injuries to the likes of Gayle and others, whether any money at all would have been spent.

Whilst the NUFC signings are a relief, they are surely the bare minimum needed if we are to have a chance of avoiding a season-long relegation struggle, not as some kind of progressive transfer window that will have revolutionised this NUFC squad.

Newcastle completed pre-season with a 5-1 hammering at Middlesbrough and another poor performance and defeat against Stoke (0-1) yesterday at St James Park. Very few clear chances created in over three hours of football against clubs almost relegated from the Championship last season, whilst both Karl Darlow and his defence not exactly looking solid.

Spending money doesn’t guarantee success but not spending credible money will eventually catch up with you, sooner or later.

Here’s hoping Lewis, Fraser and Wilson can help Newcastle at both ends of the pitch.

Confirmed Premier League transfers so far in the 2020 Summer Transfer Window as listed by the Official Premier League site:

Arsenal

Willian (Chelsea) Free

George Lewis (Fram Larvik) Free

Tim Akinola (Huddersfied) £Undisclosed

Dani Ceballos (Real Madrid) Loan

Salah-Eddine (Feyenoord)

Jonathan Dinzeyi (Tottenham) Free

Pablo Mari (Flamengo) £12m

Cedric Soares (Southampton) £Undisclosed

Gabriel (Lille) £24m

Aston Villa

Matty Cash (Forest) £16m

Brighton

Jensen Weir (Wigan) £0.5m

Adam Lallana (Liverpool) Free

Joel Veltman (Ajax) £Undisclosed

Lars Dendoncker (Club Brugge) £Undisclosed

Burnley

Will Norris (Wolves) £Undisclosed

Marc Richter (Augsburg) £Undisclosed

Will Rickard (Swansea) Free

Marcel Elva-Fountaine (Reading) £Undisclosed

Connor Barrett (Leicester) £Undisclosed

Chelsea

Timo Werner (RB Leipzig) £48m

Hakim Ziyech (Ajax) Details £50m

Ben Chilwell (Leicester) £45m

Malang Sarr (Nice) £Undisclosed

Thiago Silva (PSG) Free

Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen) £71m

Crystal Palace

Nathan Ferguson (West Brom) Free

Jake Giddings (Unattached) Free

Eberechi Eze (QPR) £19.5m

Everton

Abdoulaye Doucoure (Watford) £20m

Niels Nkounkou (Marseille) Free

James Rodriguez (Real Madrid) £12m

Allan (Napoli) £21.7m

Fulham

Antonee Robinson (Wigan) £1.9m

Mario Lemina (Southampton) Loan

Harrison Reed (Southampton) £8m

Leeds

Helder Costa (Wolverhampton Wanderers) £16m

Jack Harrison (Man City) Loan

Joe Gelhardt (Wigan) £Undisclosed

Illan Meslier (Lorient) £5m

Cody Drameh (Fulham) £Undisclosed

Sam Greenwood (Arsenal) £Undisclosed

Rodrigo (Valencia) £26m

Robin Koch (Freiburg) £15m

Leicester City

Timothy Castagne (Atalanta) £25m

Liverpool

Konstantinos Tsimikas (Olympiacos) £12m

Manchester City

Pablo Moreno (Juventus) £Unknown – Swap deal with Félix Correia

Ferran Torres (Valencia) £21m (rising to £37m)

Nathan Ake (AFC Bournemouth) £41m

Scott Carson (Derby) Loan

Manchester United

Odion Ighalo (Shanghai Shenhua) Loan

Donny van de Beek (Ajax) £35m

Newcastle United

Mark Gillespie (Motherwell) Free

Jeff Hendrick (Burnley) Free

Niall Brookwell (Liverpool) Free

Jamal Lewis (Norwich) £15m

Ryan Fraser (Bournemouth) Free

Callum Wilson (Bournemouth) £20m

Sheffield United

Wes Foderingham (Rangers) Free

Aaron Ramsdale (Bournemouth) £18.5m

Ethan Ampadu (Chelsea) Loan

Jayden Bogle (Derby) £Undisclosed

Max Lowe (Derby) £Undisclosed

Southampton

Kyle Walker-Peters (Tottenham Hotspur) £12m

Mohammed Salisu (Real Valladolid) £11m

Tottenham

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (Southampton) £15m

Joe Hart (Burnley) Free

Matt Doherty (Wolves) £15m

West Brom

Matheus Pereira (Sporting Lisbon) £9m

Cedric Kipre (Wigan) £Undisclosed

Grady Diangana (West Ham) £18m

David Button (Brighton) £1m

West Ham United

Tomas Soucek (Slavia Prague) £20m

Ossama Ashley (AFC Wimbledon) £Undisclosed

Wolves

Fabio Silva (Porto) £35m

Marcal (Wolves) £1.8m

Matija Sarkic (Aston Villa) Free