Transfer News: Chelsea Recovers After £88 Million Rejection, Liverpool Rocked By Offer For Star Player in Weekly Recap

Antonio Conte
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte at Stamford Bridge, London, May 21. Shaun Botterill/Getty

Another week of Premier League spending has come to a close with Chelsea and Manchester City making additions ahead of the new season.

Antonio Conte's Chelsea, the Premier League champion, added a new striker to its squad after missing out on Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United, while Diego Costa's future lies outside Stamford Bridge.

At the Etihad Stadium, Pep Guardiola looked to invest — and considerably — in his defense this week, while the best business of the week may go to Slaven Bilic's West Ham. Take a look back in Newsweek 's recap of the week:

Monday

Manchester United had an unsettling start to the week as Real Madrid had expressed interest in Spanish goalkeeper David De Gea — again. But this time, Jose Mourinho had a plan, demanding that German midfielder Toni Kroos be part of any deal. Tottenham was still looking to complete its first business of the summer by signing Ross Barkley from Everton. We saw the first signs of Joe Hart heading to West Ham, while Chelsea desperately searched for a new striker, including Borussia Dortmund's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Manchester City's Sergio Aguero.

Tuesday

Chelsea's interest in Argentine striker Aguero was said to be "strong and serious" but the club had also had a reported £88 million bid for Juventus' Gonzalo Higuain rejected. United contemplated upping its bid for Spurs' Eric Dier while remaining confident of signing Inter Milan's Ivan Perisic.

Wednesday

French giant Paris Saint Germain took pole position in the race for Alexis Sanchez, despite Arsene Wenger saying Arsenal would not sell the Chilean forward. A day after reportedly considering increasing its bid for Dier, Manchester United's pursuit of the Spurs midfielder ended. After capturing Hart, West Ham was impressing the rest of the Premier League as it was on the verge of signing Javier Hernandez from Bayer Leverkusen. Leicester may have been losing Mahrez but the Foxes led the race for Manchester City's Kelechi Iheanacho.

Thursday

Jurgen Klopp's pursuit of RB Leipzig midfielder Naby Keita continued this week as Liverpool prepared a bid for £70 million, a club record. Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham were doing battle over Ross Barkley from Everton, with the Goodison Park club demanding £50 million. Chelsea announced that it had agreed terms with Real Madrid to sign Spanish striker Alvaro Morata, while it hoped to get £44 million to sell Diego Costa to Atletico Madrid.

Friday

After struggling in its pursuit of Keita, Liverpool was rocked at the end of the week by a £72 million offer from Barcelona for its star midfielder Philippe Coutinho. Klopp said he was not for sale. After paying £54 million for Kyle Walker, Manchester City was told it would have to pay the same to sign Benjamin Mendy from A.S. Monaco. Tottenham asked Leicester to keep it informed of Mahrez's situation, while Manchester United began showing interest in Paris Saint Germain right-back Serge Aurier. Leicester's Riyad Mahrez , a star of its surprise Premier League title-winning campaign in 2015, wants to get the heck out of the King Power Stadium, but Leicester rejected Roma's £20 million (around $26 million) bid.

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