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London, United Kingdom | AFP | England’s Premier League clubs have spent more money than ever in a January transfer window, with initial estimates suggesting they had reached the £450 million ($639 million, 514 million euros) mark come deadline day.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang joined Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund for a club-record fee of around £56 million on Wednesday’s concluding day of business, with Olivier Giroud moving to Chelsea as part of a complicated transfer jigsaw.
⚽️ @Aubameyang7: 98 goals in 144 @Bundesliga_EN games – and here’s where on the pitch he scored them from #YoPierre pic.twitter.com/LBHLIrDEvL
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) February 1, 2018
The previous EPL record for a January window was £225 million in 2011.
Prior to Wednesday’s 2300 GMT deadline in England, Tottenham Hotspur announced the signing of Lucas Moura from Paris Saint-Germain but Manchester City pulled out of signing Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez.
Top Premier League clubs have splashed the cash in the January transfer window, desperate to qualify for the top four, which guarantees entry into the lucrative Champions League.
Aubameyang, 28, signed a contract with the Gunners until 2021, becoming Arsenal’s second big-name signing of the January transfer window after Henrikh Mkhitaryan joined from Manchester United.
His arrival will boost Arsene Wenger’s forward options after the departure of Alexis Sanchez to United in a swap deal with Mkhitaryan but raises questions about Alexandre Lacazette’s future with the Gunners.
Look who’s in the house tonight! ?
Welcome to the Bridge, @_OlivierGiroud_ and @emersonpalmieri! #CHEBOU pic.twitter.com/9VytcYlOHM
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 31, 2018
The prolific Aubameyang compared himself to club legend Thierry Henry, telling Arsenal Player he was attracted by the “big history” of the club, who lost ground in the Premier League with a 3-1 defeat by Swansea on Tuesday.
– ‘Crazy’ –
The Gabon international will be reunited at the Emirates Stadium with former Dortmund teammate Mkhitaryan — a tweet on Arsenal’s Twitter account pictured the two players together with the message “Friends reunited”.
Aubameyang posted a message on Instagram apologising for the circumstances surrounding his departure from Germany but describing himself as “crazy”.
“Perhaps it was not the best way for me to have decided, but everyone knows that Auba is crazy,” Aubameyang said.
“I never had any bad intentions. I will never forget these four-and-a-half years at Borussia Dortmund.”
? Erstes BVB-Training für @mbatshuayi! pic.twitter.com/vKfZXYlBzC
— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) January 31, 2018
Chelsea later announced the arrival of Arsenal striker Giroud on an 18-month contract for around £18 million and Michy Batshuayi’s departure for Borussia Dortmund in a loan deal until the end of the season.
Frenchman Giroud, 31, who has struggled to hold down a regular starting spot since joining Arsenal in 2012, said he was delighted to be joining their London rivals.
Belgian forward Batshuayi, 24, arrives in Dortmund as a direct replacement for Aubameyang, to complete the three-way puzzle.
