Deadline day soap opera had it all

One British-record deal. Two private jets. A failed medical. A double hijack. And a player walking away. The final few hours of summer transfer deadline day turned into a full-blown soap opera.

At the centre of it all was Manchester City, who completed a stunning £125million move for Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez, matching the British transfer record. And they were not finished there, either. They also landed Everton forward Iliman Ndiaye for around £65m, taking their late-night spending to extraordinary levels.

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But one blockbuster deal quickly created another problem.

Chelsea had lined up Monaco midfielder Lamine Camara for around £47m as Fernandez's replacement. Then the deal collapsed.

Monaco pulled the plug after their own plans became tangled with Everton's pursuit of Folarin Balogun. The French club needed to free a non-EU squad place to bring in Mexican midfielder Erik Lira from Cruz Azul, but with both Camara and Balogun staying put, that move also fell apart.

Then came Everton's own deadline-day nightmare.

The Toffees had agreed a deal worth around £40m for Balogun, but doubts emerged during his medical and the terms were renegotiated. Everton had already sold Beto to Fiorentina and Ndiaye to City, while Manchester United rejected their late attempt to bring in Joshua Zirkzee.

With the clock running down, Balogun ultimately walked away from the move.

Everton were left with Thierno Barry as their only recognised centre-forward, despite spending much of the final hours desperately trying to solve the problem they had helped create.

And just when it seemed the clock had run out of twists, Malick Fofana entered the story.

Arsenal had shown interest but baulked at Lyon's valuation before Sunderland moved in and arranged a medical. Then Crystal Palace hijacked the deal with an improved offer.

Suddenly, even the logistics became part of the drama. Two private jets were reportedly waiting, one for London and another for the North East.

Fofana underwent his medical in France without even knowing for certain which club he would join. Palace appeared to have won the race. Then Sunderland came back.

With the deadline closing in, Sunderland finally got their man for around £30m after owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus personally intervened.

It was a transfer saga worthy of its own episode.

But behind the twists and millions was a more serious issue. Ismaïla Sarr's proposed late move to Liverpool collapsed, prompting his agent Diomansy Kamara to call for greater respect for African players, arguing that they should not be treated simply as commodities and that their careers, ambitions and voices deserved respect.

And amid all the drama, clubs were still racing to get deals over the line.

Tottenham brought in Mykhailo Mudryk and Tosin Adarabioyo, while Aston Villa signed PSG youngster Ibrahim Mbaye for around £47m and Taylor Harwood-Bellis for £29m. Newcastle paid around £51m for Matias Fernandez-Pardo, while Barcelona secured Gabriel Jesus from Arsenal for around £8.5m.

Deadline day was supposed to be the final chapter of the summer transfer window. Instead, it delivered a soap opera that, quite simply, had it all.