Deadline Day Chaos: City Land Enzo Fernandez, Chelsea Left Fuming as Monaco Pull Out of Camara Dea

Deadline day, as usual, gave us a record fee, a broken agreement, a striker who changed his mind at the last minute, and a winger who said yes to two different clubs in the same afternoon. 

Here’s how it all played out.

City Get Their Man, Chelsea Get Burned

Manchester City wrapped up a £125million move for Enzo Fernandez, matching the British transfer record set last summer when Liverpool paid that much for Alexander Isak. It's a straight fee too, no add-ons attached, for a 25-year-old who was reportedly Enzo Maresca's number one target this window.

Fernandez is a proper ball-playing midfielder, someone who can dictate tempo from deep and still get forward when needed. Slotting him into Xabi Alonso's setup gives City another layer of control in midfield, which is exactly what a team chasing multiple trophies wants heading into a long season.

But the story behind the deal is where things get messy. City had also been lining up Lamine Camara from Monaco as a replacement piece, and with less than two hours left before the window shut, they thought they had it wrapped up. A £47m fee had been agreed. Then Monaco simply walked away from it.

Sources close to the deal say there was a full written agreement between the two clubs. But once Monaco reworked the terms of Folarin Balogun's move to Everton, they told the buying club the Camara deal was off. People inside the club called it an unprofessional way to do business, and honestly, it's hard to argue with that.

Balogun Gets Cold Feet, Everton Scramble

Speaking of Balogun, his move to Everton turned into its own rollercoaster. Everton had actually renegotiated the fee down to £40m and even filed a deal sheet to buy themselves extra time to finish the paperwork. Everything looked set. Then the player himself got cold feet and pulled out.

Part of the hold-up came during his medical, where a concern popped up that stalled talks. That sent Everton scrambling for alternatives. They tried Manchester United for a loan of Joshua Zirkzee and had a chat with Aston Villa about taking Tammy Abraham on loan too. Both clubs said no, feeling it was too late in the window to sort something new out.

Everton went back to Monaco, found a new structure for the deal, and thought they were close again. Then Balogun decided he didn't want to go through with the move at all. So after all that back and forth, Everton were left without their striker.

They didn't leave empty handed for the day overall though. Jack Grealish is staying on loan from City for another season, which will please plenty of fans given how well he's fit in. There was also a smaller £4m deal for Ainsley Maitland-Niles from Lyon, brought in after a move for Fulham's Kenny Tete collapsed. That one fell through because Fulham couldn't land their own replacement, with Rayo Vallecano unwilling to let go of Andrei Ratiu.

Everton also sent Nathan Patterson to Torino, sold Beto to Fiorentina for £15.4m, and completed a big one in Iliman Ndiaye's £65m move to Man City on a deal running through 2031. Ndiaye called it the chance of a lifetime, and given the size of the transfer, it's easy to see why.

Across the whole league, deadline day spending hit a new record, with Premier League clubs pushing past £3.2billion combined for the summer window.

Merseyside and the Elliott Loan

Over at Liverpool, midfielder Harvey Elliott has joined Valencia on loan for the rest of the season. It's a chance for him to get regular minutes somewhere he'll actually play week to week, something that's been hard to come by at Anfield.

Liverpool also picked up an 18-year-old goalkeeper, Lucca Brughmans, from Belgian club Genk, in a deal that could rise to £30m. He's signed a six-year contract but will stay out on loan at Genk this season before joining up at Anfield next summer, timed to line up with Alisson's contract running out.

Arsenal Stay Quiet Up Top, Nwaneri Heads Out

Arsenal didn't manage to land the attacking reinforcements a lot of fans were hoping for. Instead, the bigger story from the Emirates was 19-year-old Ethan Nwaneri heading out on loan to Borussia Dortmund, a move that should give him valuable senior experience in a strong league.

Fofana's Tug of War

One of the more entertaining sagas of the day came from Lyon forward Malick Fofana. Both Sunderland and Crystal Palace were chasing him, and at different points during the day he actually agreed to join each club, twice over. In the end he chose Sunderland, helped along by owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus flying out to Lyon personally to convince him.

Palace, left without their target, turned to Chile international Dario Osorio from Midtjylland. They also went back into talks for Marseille's Quinten Timber, brought Ben Chilwell back into the fold, and sent Borna Sosa out on loan to Cologne.

Tottenham Strengthen From Chelsea

Tottenham added some Chelsea depth on deadline day, bringing in defender Tosin Adarabioyo for £10m plus £2m in potential add-ons. Winger Mykhailo Mudryk also arrived on loan and said he's looking forward to working again with Roberto de Zerbi, his old boss from his Shakhtar days. That kind of familiarity can help a player settle quickly, especially arriving mid-transfer-window into a new dressing room.

Leeds, Newcastle and Villa Round Things Out

Leeds turned down a Sunderland bid for Noah Okafor but let Willy Gnonto join Fiorentina on loan. They also added Eintracht Frankfurt winger Jean-Matteo Bahoya on loan with a £21m option to buy, and brought in Nice left-back Melvin Bard on loan with a £4.28m buy option.

Manchester United's move for young Leicester midfielder Louis Page collapsed after the two clubs couldn't agree on a fee, with Leicester holding out for more than United wanted to pay. United were also offered City's Rayan Ait Nouri but only wanted a loan with an obligation to buy, something City weren't willing to do for a permanent sale.

Newcastle brought in forward Matias Fernandez-Pardo from Lille for an initial £51.4m and turned down multiple offers from Nottingham Forest for winger Jacob Murphy.

Forest, on the other side of that, sent defender Morato out to West Ham on a season-long loan with an option to make it permanent, while defender Zach Abbott signed a new deal before immediately heading out on loan to Southampton.

Aston Villa were busy too, signing 18-year-old Senegal winger Ibrahim Mbaye from PSG for £47m and centre back Taylor Harwood-Bellis from Southampton for £25m, with another £4m possible in add-ons.

The Smaller Deals

Plenty of business happened further down the table as well. Hull City brought in winger Sorba Thomas from Stoke and midfielder Christos Mouzakitis from Olympiacos, plus wing-back Brooke Norton-Cuffy from Genoa, with Cody Drameh going the other way. Everton's Tim Iroegbunam also joined Hull.

Brighton signed defensive midfielder Chema Andres from Stuttgart for £18m and struck a deal with Millwall for Femi Azeez. Sunderland added defender Kevin Danso from Tottenham and teenage striker Juan Riquelme Angulo from Independiente del Valle for £5m. Fulham brought in another Real Madrid player in £3m midfielder Manuel Angel, along with Elche defender David Affengruber and Frankfurt's Hugo Larsson.

Ipswich completed a £20m deal for Burnley forward Zian Flemming, and Arsenal keeper Tommy Setford joined League One side Stevenage on loan to get some first-team football.

All in all, a chaotic finish to the window, with one broken agreement, one change of heart, and a whole lot of money changing hands across the league.