Liverpool will be happy with their transfer deadline day deals – signing no less than three players at the 11th hour.
Read our blog updated from 8am-11pm on transfer deadline day
Final list of LFC summer transfers including fees
However, the reality of the situation is that all three deals were most likely tied up over the weekend, but the club held back until today to confirm the deals with all minds on yesterday’s 1-0 victory over Manchester Utd.
All three of Liverpool’s signings announced today were at Anfield yesterday to see their new teammates turn over David Moyes’ side to go top of the Premier League.
At around 8am this morning, 20-year-old Portuguese U20 international defender Tiago Ilori was unveiled by the club’s official website.
Liverpool Football Club is delighted to announce the signing of Portuguese defender Tiago Ilori from Sporting Lisbon. pic.twitter.com/tHGgEEKpke
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) September 2, 2013
Shortly after, Mamadou Sakho was confirmed as well – completing a move thought to be around £13million from Paris St-Germain.
Liverpool Football Club is delighted to announce the signing of Frenchman Mamadou Sakho from Paris Saint-Germain. pic.twitter.com/J0CbquFFT6
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) September 2, 2013
Later in the morning Liverpool confirmed the capture of Victor Moses on a season-long loan from Chelsea. Moses is the Reds’ 8th signing of the summer.
Liverpool Football Club is delighted to announce the season-long loan signing of Chelsea forward Victor Moses. pic.twitter.com/1N7PT2fXGU
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) September 2, 2013
Aston Villa goalkeeper Shay Given had also been expected to join Liverpool, but the deal never came to fruition. Martin Skrtel also, who had been linked with a move to Napoli, remains a Reds player, whilst the injury to Glen Johnson on Sunday prevented Andre Wisdom being loaned out to Wigan.
There were also two departures today, as forward Fabio Borini went on-loan to Sunderland for the rest of the campaign, and Dani Pacheco left the club for Spanish second division side AD Alcoron.
Elsewhere, Arsenal spent £42.5million on German attacking midfielder Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid. Gareth Bale was unveiled at the Bernebeu. Manchester United were called “shambolic” by the Guardian as they missed out on Athletic Bilbao’s Ander Herrera. Sunderland signed former Liverpool left-back Andrea Dossena. West Brom signed Stéphane Sessègnon from Sunderland.
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers was delighted with the day’s deals. He told the club’s official website, “I’m obviously very pleased. The window this summer has been very productive for us. Sakho who we’ve brought in was probably a surprise for many people because he was highly rated at PSG and a French international player.
“With the likes of him and Tiago Ilori, we’ve got one eye on now of course – you have to have a sense of the present and what we’ve got here are some really good centre-halves – but we’re trying to build something here. Those two players, especially Sakho, can play in the team now, but we’ve got one eye on the future as well.
“Young Ilori is a wonderful talent – he’s a good size, he’s elegant, strong, quick and can play the type of football we want to play. He was very much a coveted player throughout Europe. Those two players will add something to us, for sure, and make sure there’s real competition in the defensive department of the team.
“We’ve got Victor Moses on loan and he’s a young player that I’ve known from when he first came into the country. I had him train with me at Chelsea for a few weeks when I was a youth coach there. He was at Crystal Palace and we wanted to sign him at Chelsea, but he ended up staying at Palace, which was a good move for him because he played in the first team, did very well and then got a move to Wigan.”
The three players announced today join the new faces at Anfield of Kolo Toure, Luis Alberto, Iago Aspas, Simon Mignolet and Aly Cissokho.
So the summer transfer window comes to a close. Liverpool have signed eight players, and kept Luis Suarez.
Good work, Brendan and co.
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