Man City acquires Wolves’ Nunes for £53m

In the frenetic final hours of the Premier League transfer season, Manchester City sold Cole Palmer to Chelsea and then acquired Wolves player Matheus Nunes for £53 million ($63 million).

The Friday at 2200 GMT deadline was anticipated to bring a last flurry of additions as teams hone their rosters after another extravagant summer of spending by English top-flight clubs.

Three-peat winners After signing for Stamford Bridge for an initial £40 million, rising star Palmer was replaced by Portugal international Nunes by City.

Nunes, a World Cup participant from the previous year, joined Wolves last year and made 41 appearances.

The 25-year-old agreed a five-year contract with City and admitted he can’t wait to work with boss Pep Guardiola.

“I’m so happy to be joining Manchester City, the champions of Europe and a club I’ve admired for a long time,” he said.

“The opportunity to work under Pep Guardiola, one of the greatest managers ever, and alongside some of the best players in the world was something I simply couldn’t turn down.”

Tommy Doyle, a City midfielder who joined Wolves on a season-long loan, moved in the opposite direction.

Palmer signed a seven-year contract with Chelsea, who could pay City a further £2.5 million in add-on clauses and have a club option to extend it by another 12 months.

Palmer was a player who City wanted to keep but ultimately decided to sell because of the amount of Chelsea’s bid. Palmer was eager for more frequent first-team appearances after helping England win the Under-21 European Championship this year.

“I’m excited to get started and it feels great to sign,” Palmer said.

“I’ve joined Chelsea because the project here sounds good and because of the platform I will have to try to showcase my talents. It is a young and hungry squad and, hopefully, we can do something special here.”

With Palmer’s move to the Bridge, Chelsea has spent more than £1 billion in the 16 months since Todd Boehly’s Clearlake Capital partnership acquired the club.

He is the 12th player Chelsea has added since the end of the previous campaign.