It was a bid that lasted barely a moment: Tottenham Hotspur offered about £80m for Newcastle United midfielder Sandro Tonali, and Newcastle turned it down flat. The rejection wasn't a surprise—Newcastle want closer to £100m for the Italy international, who is contracted until 2030—but it reveals a lot about how the Premier League transfer window works. Every summer, clubs across England spend hundreds of millions and reject offers just as quickly. For fans, the frenzy can be confusing. Here’s what’s really going on.
The summer transfer window is the period when professional football clubs can buy and sell players. In the Premier League, it runs from mid-June to the end of August. Clubs negotiate fees, contracts and personal terms, and players can only move between clubs during this window. The process involves bids, rejections, counter-bids, and sometimes desperate sprints to the deadline. The sources for this explainer—recent deals involving Newcastle, Tottenham, Manchester City and others—show how high the stakes can get.
“An explainer on how the Premier League transfer window works, using recent mega-bids and rejections as examples.”
Why do clubs spend so much? The simple answer is competition. Premier League clubs earn vast sums from broadcasting rights, sponsorship and prize money, and they need to stay competitive to keep those revenues. If a club like Tottenham wants to challenge for Europe, it must invest in players who can improve the squad—like Jan Paul van Hecke, a Netherlands defender they bought from Brighton for £52m, or Sandro Tonali, a midfielder they tried to prise from Newcastle for £80m. But selling clubs are in a strong position too. Newcastle, for instance, have already sold Anthony Gordon to Barcelona this window, and their chief executive David Hopkinson has said they will only trade players "on our terms." When Manchester City had a second bid of about £120m rejected by Nottingham Forest for Elliot Anderson, and West Ham want up to £80m for their 21-year-old midfielder Mateus Fernandes, it’s clear that valuations are sky-high.
For UK readers, the transfer window matters because it directly affects which players your team will have for the season. It also influences ticket prices, merchandise sales and even the atmosphere on matchdays. A club that strengthens with a marquee signing can excite fans and boost morale; one that sells its best players can cause anger and anxiety. The Tonali case is a classic example: Newcastle rejected Spurs’ opening gambit not just because they want more money, but because they want to send a message that they are not a selling club.
Q: Why do clubs reject bids if the fee is huge? Clubs reject bids when the offer doesn’t match their valuation of the player. Newcastle turned down £80m for Tonali because they believe he is worth closer to £100m, especially as he signed a new deal during his 10-month betting ban to show loyalty. Selling clubs also factor in the player’s contract length (Tonali’s runs to 2030), the need to keep squad strength, and the possibility of a bidding war.
Q: What is a “sell-on fee” and how does it work? A sell-on fee is a clause in a transfer that gives the selling club a percentage of any future fee if the player is sold again. For example, Tottenham’s £52m deal for Jan Paul van Hecke included a “significant sell-on fee” for Brighton, meaning the Seagulls will get extra money if Spurs later sell Van Hecke. This helps clubs benefit from a player’s future value.
Q: How do transfers affect players’ wages and contracts? When a player transfers, they usually sign a new contract with the buying club, often with higher wages. Clubs like Spurs have adapted their wage structure to attract top talent. The new contract for Van Hecke is described as “long-term,” while Tonali’s existing deal runs until 2030. Longer contracts give clubs more negotiating power when other teams make bids.
What happens next depends on whether Spurs return with a higher bid for Tonali, or whether Newcastle trigger a bidding war with Manchester City and Arsenal, who are also monitoring the situation. The transfer window has months left to run, and with players like Anderson (Forest) and Fernandes (West Ham) also on the market, the spending is far from over. One thing is certain: the rejections won’t stop, and neither will the fans’ scrutiny.