The 10 biggest deadline day signings in Premier League history ahead of Isak setting new record

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Cole Palmer, Antony and Mesut Ozil

Cole Palmer, Antony and Mesut Ozil have all made big deadline-day moves over the years

It is often seen as a sign of a club’s disorganisation if they are scrambling to get deals over the line as the hours tick towards the transfer deadline.

Yet deadline day has, over the years, seen some of the biggest moves in Premier League history rubber-stamped – and Alexander Isak is set to take first place once his move from Newcastle United to Liverpool goes through this time around.

From future club legends to costly flops, the final day of the transfer window has brought mixed fortunes for its top spenders.

Here are the 10 biggest deadline-day deals in Premier League history.

1. Enzo Fernandez

  • From: Benfica
  • To: Chelsea
  • Year: 2023
  • Fee: £106m

Named the best young footballer at the tournament for his role in helping Argentina lift the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Enzo Fernandez quickly became one of the most-wanted midfielders in the game.

Linked with big-money moves to a host of Europe’s top clubs, Chelsea moved quickest to snatch the young playmaker away from Benfica in a British-record £106 million deal on deadline day of the 2023 mid-season window.

Over the first year of his Stamford Bridge stay, Fernandez showed flashes of the magic that convinced Chelsea to invest so heavily in his purchase, although he was yet to deliver on a consistent basis for a club in constant flux.

He has improved since and was named in the team of the tournament for the 2024-25 Conference League and 2025 Club World Cup, both of which Chelsea won.

2. Antony

  • From: Ajax
  • To: Manchester United
  • Year: 2022
  • Fee: £82m

Brazilian winger Antony was new Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag’s top attacking target when he took charge at Old Trafford in the summer of 2022. And after weeks of speculation and negotiation, the Red Devils finally secured his services, paying an initial £82 million to sign him from Ajax on deadline day.

Despite having shone under Ten Hag at Ajax, Antony has fallen desperately short of expectations at United.

With just one goals and one assist from 29 Premier League appearances in 2023-24, he fell down the pecking order and escaped for Real Betis on loan in January 2025, where he is now moving on a permanent basis.

GO DEEPER – Antony at Man Utd: The stats behind the Brazilian’s woeful spell since £81m transfer

3. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

  • From: Borussia Dortmund
  • To: Arsenal
  • Year: 2018
  • Fee: £65m

Arsenal smashed their club transfer record on the final day of the January window in 2018 to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund.

The Gabonese striker had been prolific at Signal Iduna Park, scoring 141 goals in 213 games.

The size of the fee the Gunners forked out for the former AC Milan and Saint-Etienne star, despite the fact he was already 28 years old, reflected his pedigree.

And it initially proved money well spent. Aubameyang scored 10 goals from 14 appearances over the remainder of the 2018-19 campaign before winning the Premier League Golden Boot as part of a 31-goal all-competitions haul in his first full season at the Emirates.

Disciplinary issues saw the centre-forward stripped of the captaincy by manager Mikel Arteta in during the 2021-22 season and Aubameyang was allowed to join Barcelona on a free in February 2022.

4. Matheus Nunes

  • From: Wolves
  • To: Manchester City
  • Year: 2023
  • Fee: £53m

Portuguese midfielder Matheus Nunes had been a club-record £38 million buy for Wolves just a year before Manchester City swooped to sign him away from Molineux in 2023.

The reigning Treble winners concluded a drawn-out sage when they finally sealed a £53 million move for the former Sporting CP man on the final day of the summer transfer window.

Nunes had initially caught Pep Guardiola’s eye when City played Sporting in the Champions League and the Portugal international had impressed in his debut Premier League season for Wolves.

But Nunes has thus far struggled to make an impact at the Etihad and has had to remodel himself as a right-back. Unless he can rediscover the form that sparked City’s interest in the first place, he is on course to be remembered as one of the worst signings of Guardiola’s tenure.

5. Manuel Ugarte

  • From: PSG
  • To: Manchester United
  • Year: 2024
  • Fee: £50.5m

After just one season with Paris Saint-Germain, Ugarte found himself on the move again when the French giants won the race for Joao Neves as a new midfielder.

Man Utd had previously been linked with Neves themselves, but instead sought to benefit from a chain reaction and paid a fee of up to £50.5m for Ugarte.

The Uruguay international arrived with a reputation as a leading tackler from his time with Sporting CP and PSG, but couldn’t translate that as easily to the Premier League at the first attempt.

With a contract valid until 2029, though, United would be hoping for a longer-term return on their investment.

6. Fernando Torres

  • From: Liverpool
  • To: Chelsea
  • Year: 2011
  • Fee: £50m

After scoring 81 goals in 142 games for Liverpool and winning a European Championship and World Cup with Spain, Fernando Torres had firmly established himself as one of the best strikers in the world after a 2007 switch to the Premier League.

And on the final day of the 2011 January transfer window, Chelsea splashed a British-record £50 million to take the rapid Spaniard to Stamford Bridge.

But Torres was a major disappointment with the Blues, scoring just 45 goals in 172 outings for the club. After an unsuccessful loan to AC Milan, he returned to Atletico Madrid in January 2015, initially on loan before a permanent switch after his Chelsea contract expired.

7. Brennan Johnson

  • From: Nottingham Forest
  • To: Tottenham Hotspur
  • Year: 2023
  • Fee: £47.5m

The breakout star of Nottingham Forest’s promotion campaign in 2021-22, Brennan Johnson scored 18 goals and provided 10 assists as the East Midlands club earned a place in England’s top tier for the first time in 25 years.

And the Wales winger followed up that form by proving he could thrive at the Premier League level, with eight goals and three assists to help Forest stave off an immediate drop back down.

That earned Johnson a £47.5 million switch to Tottenham on deadline day in 2023. And he has justified Spurs’ sizeable outlay by shining as a creative force in north London, with 10 assists to add to his five goals in 32 Premier League appearances in his first season.

He was a key part of the Spurs side that ended their trophy drought by winning the 2024-25 Europa League.

8. Thomas Partey

  • From: Atletico Madrid
  • To: Arsenal
  • Year: 2020
  • Fee: £45m

Arsenal signed Thomas Partey from Atletico Madrid in the October of 2020 – with the transfer deadline pushed back due to the Covid-19 pandemic – to shore up the centre of their midfield, and the imposing Ghanaian initially impressed at the Emirates.

Partey racked up 99 all-competitions appearances over his first three seasons with the Gunners, scoring five goals – including a strike in a 3-1 victory over rivals Spurs in October 2021 that would go on to win the club’s Goal of the Season award.

But in 2023-24, he was limited to just nine Premier League starts due to injury and he was eventually released at the end of his contract in 2025.

9. Mesut Ozil

  • From: Real Madrid
  • To: Arsenal
  • Year: 2013
  • Fee: £42.5m

It was seen as a huge coup when Arsenal swept in to sign Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid for £42.5 million on the final day of the 2013 summer window, with the Gunners acquiring one of the most gifted playmakers in the world at the peak of his powers.

And while there remains a sense that the uber-talented German underwhelmed in his seven seasons in the Premier League, failing to consistently produce his best form at the Emirates, he still delivered 44 goals and 75 assists in 254 games for the north London side, contributing to four FA Cup triumphs.

Ozil was Arsenal’s Player of the Year and the Premier League’s top assist provider in the 2015-16 season and won three of his five German Player of the Year awards while with the Gunners.

10. Cole Palmer

  • From: Manchester City
  • To: Chelsea
  • Year: 2023
  • Fee: £40m

In a move that sent shockwaves around the Premier League, Chelsea forked out what at the time seemed an exorbitant £40 million fee to sign Cole Palmer from Manchester City on deadline day of the 2023 summer window.

The England youngster had made just six Premier League appearances for City. But Palmer hit the ground running and Stamford Bridge. With a staggering 22 goals and 11 assists from 33 league appearances, he made the sum the Blues paid for him appear a bargain by the end of his debut campaign.

A scorer in England’s losing effort against Spain in the Euro 2024 final, Palmer is set to be a superstar centrepiece for club and country for years to come.