Liverpool saved the biggest transfer until last in its remarkable $570 million summer spree, finally signing Alexander Isak from Newcastle for a British-record fee as the window closed on Monday with spending by Premier League clubs soaring beyond $4 billion.
The biggest saga of Europe’s summer transfer window ended with Isak completing his dream move to the English champion for 125 million pounds ($170 million), with the deal announced in the final throes of a chaotic deadline day.
“I feel amazing. It’s been a long journey to get here," said Isak, who effectively went on strike at Saudi-controlled Newcastle over the summer as he agitated for a move to Anfield.
On the back of winning the Premier League for a record-tying 20th time, Liverpool has aggressively overhauled its squad and blown its rivals out of the water, spending more than any other team in Europe. Germany playmaker Florian Wirtz and young French striker Hugo Ekitike have also joined in deals worth more than $100 million.
One transfer Liverpool failed to get over the line, however, was for England defender Marc Guehi, who will stay at Crystal Palace for the final year of his contract because the London team couldn’t secure a replacement.
English soccer has unrivalled spending power owing to its huge domestic and international broadcasting deals and its top-flight clubs have demonstrated their financial might this summer. They've smashed the previous single-window record spend of 2.36 billion pounds (now $3.2 billion) in 2023 by splashing out around 3 billion pounds ($4.15 billion) over the past few months.
The 20 Premier League teams spent more than those in the top leagues in Spain ($800 million), Italy ($1.4 billion), France ($750 million) and Germany ($1 billion) combined, according to expenditure figures on the Transfermarkt website.
Arsenal was second to Liverpool with its summer outlay of more than $300 million on players such as Eberechi Eze, Viktor Gyokeres and Martin Zubimendi. The club's eighth and likely final signing of the window was a loan deal for Ecuador defender Piero Hincapie from beleaguered Bayer Leverkusen on Monday.
Flush with cash from the Isak transfer, Newcastle signed Yoane Wissa from Brentford for a reported 55 million pounds ($75 million) as a second striker addition along with Nick Woltemade, who joined for a club-record fee on Saturday.
Other highlights on Monday included Tottenham signing France striker Randal Kolo Muani on loan from Paris Saint-Germain, while Aston Villa was very active in signing midfielder Harvey Elliot on loan from Liverpool, winger Jadon Sancho on loan from Manchester United and former United center back Victor Lindelof on a free transfer.
United continued trimming its squad by offloading Antony to Real Betis on a permanent deal and Rasmus Hojlund to Napoli on loan, while signing Belgian goalkeeper Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp in a bid to fix its issues in that department.
Yet to be resolved was Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma's reported move to Manchester City from Paris Saint-Germain as a replacement for Ederson, who has been the No. 1 for Pep Guardiola's team since 2017.
Most Premier League clubs were in the market for players on deadline day in what has been one of the most chaotic transfer windows in history.
In Germany, Bayern Munich succeeded in signing Senegal forward Nicolas Jackson from Chelsea after an on-off transfer saga.
Jackson arrived in what both clubs described as a season-long loan, giving Bayern backup for Harry Kane and a wider range of tactical options in attack.
Earlier in the window, Bayern signed winger Luis Díaz from Liverpool and defender Jonathan Tah arrived on a free transfer from Bayer Leverkusen, the 2023-24 Bundesliga champion where a summer of upheaval saw the exits of other star players including Wirtz and Granit Xhaka as well as — on Monday — the firing of coach Erik ten Hag.
Marseille pulled off the biggest move of deadline day in France by signing 2018 World Cup winner Benjamin Pavard.
The defender joined on a loan from Inter Milan. According to L’Equipe newspaper, the deal includes a purchase option set at 15 million euros.
In its search for defensive reinforcements, Marseille also signed Italy left back Emerson Palmieri from West Ham.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Stuttgart's Nick Woltemade leaves the field at the end of the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Union Berlin and VfB Stuttgart, at the An der Alten Forsterei stadium in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
FILE - Yoane Wissa of Brentford chases the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Brentford and Aston Villa, at the Gtech Community Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland, File)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations.
Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.
The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion, and the independent counsel has requested the death sentence in the case that is to be decided in a ruling next month.
Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.
In Friday’s case, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him, fabricating the martial law proclamation, and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting and thus depriving some Cabinet members who were not convened of their due rights to deliberate on his decree.
Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a grave punishment” was necessary because Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.” The judge also restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.
Yoon’s defense team said they will appeal the ruling, which they believe was “politicized” and reflected “the unliberal arguments by the independent counsel.” Yoon’s defense team argued the ruling “oversimplified the boundary between the exercise of the president’s constitutional powers and criminal liability.”
Prison sentences in the multiple, smaller trials Yoon faces would matter if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial.
Park SungBae, a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, said there is little chance the court would decide Yoon should face the death penalty in the rebellion case. He said the court will likely issue a life sentence or a sentence of 30 years or more in prison.
South Korea has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and courts rarely hand down death sentences. Park said the court would take into account that Yoon’s decree didn’t cause casualties and didn’t last long, although Yoon hasn’t shown genuine remorse for his action.
South Korea has a history of pardoning former presidents who were jailed over diverse crimes in the name of promoting national unity. Those pardoned include strongman Chun Doo-hwan, who received the death penalty at a district court over his 1979 coup, the bloody 1980 crackdowns of pro-democracy protests that killed about 200 people, and other crimes.
Some observers say Yoon will likely retain a defiant attitude in the ongoing trials to maintain his support base in the belief that he cannot avoid a lengthy sentence but could be pardoned in the future.
On the night of Dec. 3, 2024, Yoon abruptly declared martial law in a televised speech, saying he would eliminate “anti-state forces” and protect “the constitutional democratic order.” Yoon sent troops and police officers to encircle the National Assembly, but many apparently didn’t aggressively cordon off the area, allowing enough lawmakers to get into an assembly hall to vote down Yoon’s decree.
No major violence occurred, but Yoon's stunt caused the biggest political crisis in South Korea and rattled its diplomacy and financial markets. For many, his decree, the first of its kind in more than four decades in South Korea, brought back harrowing memories of past dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s, when military-backed leaders used martial law and emergency measures to deploy soldiers and tanks on the streets to suppress demonstrations.
After Yoon's ouster, his liberal rival Lee Jae Myung became president via a snap election last June. After taking office, Lee appointed three independent counsels to look into allegations involving Yoon, his wife and associates.
Yoon's other trials deal with charges like ordering drone flights over North Korea to deliberately inflame animosities to look for a pretext to declare martial law. Other charges accuse Yoon of manipulating the investigation into a marine’s drowning in 2023 and receiving free opinion surveys from an election broker in return for a political favor.
A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shouts slogans outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waits for a bus carrying former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs as police officers stand guard outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A picture of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is placed on a board as supporters gather outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
