New Delhi, Aug 21 (IANS) English football club Leeds United have bolstered their squad with the signing of Switzerland striker Noah Okafor from AC Milan in an £18m deal, taking the overall Premier League spending this summer to a record-breaking £2.37bn.

The 25-year-old forward has signed a four-year contract at Elland Road and becomes Leeds’ ninth new addition of the window, following their return to the Premier League after clinching promotion from the Championship. “As a kid, I dreamed of playing in the Premier League. That’s why for me it was quite an easy decision,” said Okafor after completing the move.

“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 who played there. I’m really, really excited.”

Okafor began his career at Basel, where he scored 25 goals in 71 Swiss league appearances, before moving to RB Salzburg and later joining AC Milan in 2023.

In Milan, he found regular starts hard to come by, scoring seven goals in 54 games, with most of his appearances coming from the bench. His most recent Serie A strike came on the opening day of last season, before he spent the second half of the campaign on loan at Napoli, featuring in four cameo appearances.

Okafor’s arrival at Elland Road contributes to the highest-ever Premier League summer spending total, surpassing the previous record of £2.36bn set in 2023, according to FootballTransfers.com.

Six clubs have already smashed their individual transfer records this summer. Brentford secured Burkina Faso forward Dango Ouattara from Bournemouth in a deal worth up to £42.5m, while Bournemouth invested £34.6m in French centre-back Bafodé Diakité.

Burnley and Sunderland splashed £25m and £26m respectively for French midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu and Senegal’s Habib Diarra, with the latter’s deal potentially reaching £30m with add-ons. Nottingham Forest also broke their record twice, signing Switzerland winger Dan Ndoye from Bologna before completing a £37.5m move for Omari Hutchison from Ipswich.

The biggest deal of the summer so far was by Liverpool, who made headlines by signing German star Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen for £100m plus £16m in add-ons. Should those add-ons be triggered, Wirtz’s move will set a new British transfer record, eclipsing the £107m Chelsea paid Benfica for Enzo Fernandez in 2023. With ten days still remaining in the transfer window, the £2.37bn figure is expected to climb even higher,

–IANS

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