Premier League record broken as Leeds sign Okafor
Austria’s Kevin Danso and Switzerland’s Noah Okafor pictured during a friendly in June 2024
Image caption, Noah Okafor has scored twice in 24 appearances for Switzerland
Leeds United have signed AC Milan striker Noah Okafor for £18m to take spending by Premier League clubs this summer to a record £2.37bn.
The Switzerland striker has joined the Premier League club on a four-year deal.
The 25-year-old becomes Leeds’ ninth summer signing since winning the Championship to secure their return to the top flight.
“As a kid, I dreamed of playing in the Premier League. That’s why for me it was quite an easy decision,” said Okafor.
“My football suits the Premier League so this is like a dream come true. I can’t wait to step on the field.
“I heard that the Premier League is the best league in the world, it’s so intense. I have loads of friends that played there. I’m really, really excited.”
Okafor’s arrival means Premier League clubs have now spent more than the previous record in a single transfer window, the £2.36bn total in the summer of 2023.
The Swiss played for Basel and RB Salzburg before joining Milan on a five-year deal in 2023.
He scored seven goals in 54 games for the Italian club before ending last season on loan at Serie A rivals Napoli.
Who is Okafor?
Forward Okafor has been limited to seven starts in all competitions since moving from his native Switzerland to neighbouring Italy two years ago.
Another 50 appearances have come as a substitute and the most recent of his seven goals for AC Milan came on the opening day of last season. He spent the second part of the campaign on loan at Napoli, making four brief cameos off the bench.
Okafor previously scored 25 goals in 71 Swiss league games but was never a regular starter for either Basel or Salzburg.
He has played 47% of his minutes in Serie A on the left wing, with 41% as a striker, according to data analysts Opta. Regardless of position, Okafor’s touch map from the past two seasons illustrates his tendency to stay high and wide.
The Switzerland international is regarded as a quick and direct player, and he averaged a notable 4.2 dribbles per 90 minutes last season – though fewer than half those were successful.
Okafor, who scored twice for Milan in a pre-season victory against Liverpool, fits Leeds’ profile for their summer recruits – he is 6ft 1in and all nine signings so far are at least 5ft 11in, with seven of them over 6ft.
The biggest transfer window ever
Total summer transfer spending by Premier League clubs since 2015
Okafor’s arrival at Elland Road takes the total spent by Premier League clubs this summer to £2.37bn, according to data from FootballTransfers.com.
Six Premier League clubs have broken their club transfer records in this window to contribute to the record level of spending.
Brentford completed a deal of up to £42.5m to sign Burkina Faso forward Dango Ouattara from Bournemouth, who spent £34.6m on French centre-back Bafode Diakite.
Newly promoted Burnley and Sunderland have paid £25m and £26m respectively for French midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu and Senegal midfielder Habib Diarra, whose deal could rise to £30m with add-ons.
Nottingham Forest have broken their transfer record twice this summer, first for Switzerland winger Dan Ndoye from Bologna, then winger Omari Hutchison from Ipswich for £37.5m.
In June, Liverpool signed Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen for a guaranteed £100m and a further £16m in add-ons.
Should those add-ons be achieved, Wirtz’s move to Anfield would become a British transfer record, beating the £107m Chelsea paid Benfica for Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez in 2023.
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