Sancho and five more major transfers that never happened on deadline day
Ideally you are not drawn into the chaos of deadline day. Managers prefer to get their recruitment done as early as possible to give themselves the best possible chance of success for the season. Rarely does that happen.
Instead we often see one or several clubs complete a flurry of late signings. Some transfers go down down the wire. Chris Smalling's permanent transfer to Roma is said to have been completed with less than 60 seconds to go in Italy. Others, however, aren't so fortunate and lose the race against the clock. Tottenham missed out on Paulo Dybala from Juventus last summer due to time.
Arsenal were the obvious winners late on deadline day, managing to finalise Thomas Partey's blockbuster move from Atletico Madrid. But what big deals fell through in the final 24 hours of the summer transfer window? You'll quickly realise two of the clubs have something in common. To borrow a phrase from Fabrizio Romano, here we go!
Memphis Depay from Lyon to Barcelona
Despite agreeing terms with Lyon weeks in advance, Barcelona's deal for Memphis Depay collapsed on deadline day. The Lyon captain emerged as a top transfer target for Barcelona as soon as Ronald Koeman was appointed head coach midway through August and it quickly became apparent there was no money to sign Lautaro Martinez from Inter. With 12 months left to run on his current deal, Lyon were also keen to shift Memphis and were reportedly willing to accept around £20m in the end. However, Barcelona first needed to shift one of their attackers. That never happened and Memphis will stay with Lyon until at least January.
Milan Skriniar from Inter to Tottenham
Tottenham had already enjoyed a solid transfer window up until deadline day but Jose Mourinho was keen to cap it off with a new centre-back having lost Jan Vertonghen right at the start of the window. Chelsea's Antonio Rudiger was linked but the one Mourinho really wanted was Milan Skriniar from Inter. Tottenham were willing to spend as much as €35m (£31.9m) on the 25-year-old but it was well short of Inter's €50m (£46m) asking price. Eventually Tottenham conceded defeat on deadline day and are now looking to pluck a defender or two from the Championship up until the October 16 deadline for EFL clubs.
Ousmane Dembele from Barcelona to Manchester United
The forward Barcelona hoped to offload to make room for Memphis was Ousmane Dembele. Barcelona were initially hoping to sell Dembele on a permanent deal but eventually wilted and opened the door to a loan deal with Manchester United. In order to do so they first needed Dembele to extend his contract by 12 months, which he refused. He was never completely on board with the idea of leaving Barcelona and will stay put for now. Since joining Barcelona from Borussia Dortmund for £135.5m in 2017, Dembele has started only 32 of a possible 166 league matches for the Blaugrana.
Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester United
Manchester United spent months pursuing Jadon Sancho with a strategy completely at odds with ther demands outlined by Borussia Dortmund over and over again: €120m or nothing. United were the only club that didn't take it seriously and they ended up looking like fools, potentially now missing out on the England international forever. Instead of handing Sancho the No.7 shirt, it was instead given to 33-year-old free transfer Edinson Cavani. Sancho has played a direct hand in 34 league goals since the start of last season and what's worse for United is he will most likely end up at a Premier League rival next summer.
Eric Garcia from Manchester City to Barcelona
In order to re-sign Eric Garcia from Manchester City, Barcelona first needed to find a willing buyer for Jean-Clair Tobido. After several failed attempts to offload the Frenchman, Barcelona eventually struck a loan deal with Benfica only to then miss out on Garcia's signature anyway. Barcelona's offer in the region of €17m (£15.5m) fell short of City's €20m (£18.2m) valuation. Nevertheless, it only delays the inevitable. Garcia will be a free agent at the end of the summer and intends on signing with Barcelona by then at the very latest.
Declan Rice from West Ham to Chelsea
Chelsea spent more than £200m on new players over the summer but Frank Lampard will still be concerned having failed to nail down the new central midfielder he wanted. Having failed to right the right balance with the likes of Jorginho, N'Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic, Lampard was desperate to land Declan Rice from London rivals West Ham. Selling Rice was never an option for the Hammers, particularly on deadline day, leaving Chelsea the prospect of another eye-watering bid. Had Chelsea managed to sell the likes of Tiemoue Bakayoko or Ross Barkley permanently then they would have made a concrete offer but they didn't and Rice remains at West Ham for now. Since the beginning of last season, Rice ranks in the top five in the Premier League for most possession won in the midfield third (168).
