Real Madrid and Tottenham Cash In as Liverpool’s Spine Walks Free

Real Madrid signed three Premier League regulars this summer and paid a transfer fee for only one of them. Bernardo Silva and Ibrahima Konaté walked out of Manchester City and Liverpool on free transfers. Marc Cucurella cost £51.8 million ($69.3 million) from Chelsea.

Tottenham Hotspur ran a smaller version of the same trick at home, turning Liverpool’s discards and Brighton’s captain into a rebuilt defense before a ball is kicked in 2026-27. Liverpool absorbed the cost of both raids at once. Mohamed Salah left for nothing too, on the same summer his club’s spine walked out the door with him.

Real Madrid Pays for Only One of Its Three New Starters

José Mourinho took over at the Bernabéu in early June after two trophyless seasons, and moved fast. Cucurella arrived first, signed through June 2032 after Real moved ahead of Atlético Madrid and an earlier Barcelona interest to get the deal done. Bernardo Silva followed after eight seasons at Manchester City, signing a two-year contract that runs to 2028. Konaté, who made 183 appearances for Liverpool, the most by any French-born player in the club’s history, arrived as a free agent once his contract expired.

Denzel Dumfries completed the same trick from a different angle, joining from Inter Milan on July 5 to replace departing captain Dani Carvajal. Real Madrid’s four summer arrivals average 28 years and nine months old, a squad built to win immediately rather than develop over time.

It is a familiar playbook. Real Madrid have leaned on free transfers for years, previously landing David Alaba, Antonio Rüdiger, Kylian Mbappé and Trent Alexander-Arnold once their contracts ran down elsewhere. Cucurella described the pitch from his new manager in blunt terms, telling El Mundo that Mourinho said he would adapt well and called Real Madrid a great club. Real also lodged a 150 million euro ($172 million) bid for Atlético’s Julián Álvarez this summer, a move described by reporting as more about a Florentino Pérez election pledge and unsettling Barcelona than a genuine attempt to sign the striker.

Liverpool’s Front Line and Back Line Leave Together

No club gave up more without collecting a fee. Salah left as a free agent after a decade at Anfield. Andrew Robertson, 32, joined Tottenham for nothing after making just 24 Premier League appearances last season, his second-lowest total since 2018. Konaté went to Madrid the same way.

Liverpool are working under a new manager this summer, and the rebuild has already started elsewhere on the pitch. The club beat Chelsea to Rennes centre-back Jérémy Jacquet for £55 million ($74 million) and hijacked a Newcastle move for Osasuna winger Víctor Muñoz at £35 million ($46 million). Sky Sports has reported Liverpool are lining up two wingers to replace Salah, with Yan Diomande considered the top target.

The math is stark either way. Three regulars left for a combined transfer fee of zero, while the incoming business so far has cost roughly £90 million between two players still adjusting to the Premier League.

Tottenham’s Free Transfer Defense

Tottenham finished 17th last season, staying up on the final day before handing the job to Roberto De Zerbi. The response has been the busiest rebuild in the league. Jan Paul van Hecke followed his old Brighton manager for £52 million ($69.8 million), a fee that Sky Sports has reported could rank as the fifth most expensive signing in Spurs’ history. Marcos Senesi arrived on a free transfer after winning Bournemouth’s Players’ Player of the Year award, leaving a club about to play its first European campaign for a Spurs side that will not be in Europe at all next season.

• Andrew Robertson – free transfer from Liverpool, 32 years old, brings left-back cover and Premier League title experience
• Marcos Senesi – free transfer from Bournemouth, 128 appearances across four seasons, wears the number five shirt
• Jan Paul van Hecke – £52 million from Brighton, reuniting with manager Roberto De Zerbi
• Martin Dubravka – joined as a free agent goalkeeper, backing up Antonin Kinsky
• Sandro Tonali – club-record £100 million from Newcastle United
• Mateus Fernandes – £82 million from a relegated West Ham United

Senesi called the move a fresh start after signing.

It’s a very special feeling to be a Tottenham Hotspur player. From the first moment, the club has shown why they want me and how much they want me to be a part of what they are building.

Marcos Senesi, Tottenham’s new centre back, said in a statement carried by the club after his transfer closed. TeamTalk has put Tottenham’s total outlay across those six deals at close to £240 million, a sum that dwarfs anything spent by the club that avoided the drop just months earlier. Deadline day mechanics still apply to every one of these clubs, including the two-hour grace period the Premier League grants clubs that submit paperwork before the deadline hits.

Which Premier League Clubs Have Actually Improved?

Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United have taken very different paths this summer. Arsenal are sitting on a title and selling fringe players. City spent record money on one domestic star while losing three more. United are still waiting on a deal that depends on the World Cup ending.

Arsenal, as the reigning Premier League champions, have made only two confirmed moves: selling Jakub Kiwior to FC Porto and Karl Hein to Werder Bremen, both for undisclosed fees, while their business at the top of the squad stays quiet. Manchester City went the other direction, paying a reported £116 million to sign Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest, a fee SI described as the fourth-most expensive transfer in football history, even as Akanji left for Inter Milan and John Stones was released. Manchester United, now led permanently by Michael Carrick, sold Rasmus Højlund to Napoli for £43.2 million ($58.1 million) and released Casemiro, Tyrell Malacia and Jadon Sancho, with a £38 million move for Atalanta’s Ederson still pending until his World Cup run with Brazil finishes.

The Rest of the League Keeps Moving

Newcastle United sold Anthony Gordon to Barcelona for £60.5 million ($81.7 million) and have brought in Ewen Jaouen from Stade de Reims for an undisclosed fee, part of a squad refresh Sky Sports says could include six to ten new arrivals before deadline day. Chelsea reinvested a chunk of the Cucurella fee into younger talent under Xabi Alonso, signing Geovany Quenda, Denner, Dastan Satpaev and Emmanuel Emegha, all for undisclosed sums.

Aston Villa, fresh off winning last season’s Europa League, lost Malen to Roma without a replacement yet confirmed. Fulham let go of longtime striker Jimenez on a free transfer to Wolves. None of it comes close to the scale of what Real Madrid and Tottenham have already done, but it fills out a picture of a league where almost every club is either selling a starter or hunting for one.

Premier League clubs remain Europe’s dominant spenders by a wide margin. Even the January window alone saw English clubs account for seven of the world’s ten priciest signings, with Manchester City alone pushing 12-month spending past £425 million across 15 players.

The Window Still Has Seven Weeks Left to Run

The 2026 World Cup runs until July 19, and several of the players involved in this summer’s biggest moves, Konaté among them, are still on international duty rather than settling into new dressing rooms. That has already delayed United’s Ederson deal and left clubs like Newcastle working through intermediaries rather than face-to-face negotiations.

Every club still has business to finish. The summer window does not close until September 1, at the later cutoff of 11pm British time this year rather than the 7pm deadline used the past two summers. Real Madrid are still said to be chasing a further central defender and have been linked with Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise. Liverpool still need a winger. Tottenham, having already spent close to a quarter of a billion pounds, are reportedly hunting a new striker before the market shuts. The Premier League season kicks off August 22, giving every club that is still short a hard date to work against.