Stoke City spend record sum as transfer window closes
English club Stoke City shelled out a club record of 24 million euros for French player Gianneli Imbula on the final day of mid-season transfer on Monday night. The signing surpasses Stoke's previous record of 12 million pounds, paid for Swiss national Xherdan Shaqiri last year.
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Imbula started his career with French side Guingamp in 2009 and four years later joined Marseille.
Spanish club Valencia have secured Real Madrid winger Denis Cheryshev on loan till the end of the season. Cheryshev made just six appearances for Real this season since returning from a successful loan spell at Villarreal last season.
Cheryshev is the second addition on loan to Valencia after full-back Guilherme Siqueira also joined on loan until the end of the season from Atletico Madrid.
German champions Bayern Munich have signed German international Serdar Tasci on a six-month loan from Spartak Moscow.
According to the financial consultancy firm Deloitte, English clubs spent around 230 million euros in mid-season transfers, with the bottom six clubs spending around 120 million euros.
Italian clubs were the second-highest gross spenders in January, which was 30 per cent of the English clubs’ total.
French and Spanish clubs spent around 15 per cent of the English total, while transfer spending in the German Bundesliga was a fifth of the Premier League.
Meanwhile, the appointment of Pep Guardiola as Manchester City manager from next season has elicited reactions from his peers.
The former Barcelona and current Bayern Munich manager will take over from Manuel Pellegrini on a three-year deal from the end of the season.
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp who moved to England last season said Guardiola will get a warm welcome.
Stoke City manager Mark Hughes said the current Bayern Munich will need to do some adaptation as the English Premier League is unlike any other competition in the world.
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