Slaughters and Centrefield net roles as Premier League teams spend £1.23bn in transfer window
Boutique firms and in-house teams kept busy as Premier League clubs shell out £1.2bn on players
August 13, 2018 at 10:38 AM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Law.com
Slaughter and May has joined boutique sports firm Centrefield to win roles on some of the Premier League transfer window's biggest deals, lining up opposite a host of leading in-house lawyers.
According to Deloitte's Sports Business Group, Premier League clubs spent a total £1.23bn on players, falling some way short of last summer's £1.43bn record spend.
Sports boutique Centrefield – founded in 2015 by a team of ex-Brabners lawyers – worked on three of the window's most high-profile deals.
A team led by partner Matthew Bennett worked with Chelsea general counsel James Bonington and Madrid law firm Laffer Abogados, to bring in Spanish goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga from Athletic Bilbao for about £71.6m – a world-record transfer fee for a goalkeeper.
The signing surpasses the club's previous record signing of Spain international striker Alvaro Morata for £60m last summer, when Fladgate partners Alex Haffer and Andrew Wetterhahn took the lead for Chelsea.
Manchester-based Centrefield also worked alongside Liverpool's head of legal Jonathan Bamber to bring Roma's Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson (pictured) to Anfield for £67m, rounding out its hat-trick by advising Manchester United on its £53m signing of midfielder Fred from Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk, working in tandem with United's GC Patrick Stewart and head of commercial legal services Martin Moseley.
Arsenal, which is currently the subject of a £600m takeover bid by majority shareholder Stan Kroenke, this summer brought in new manager Unai Emery as well as five new players from across Europe, including midfielders Lucas Torreira from Sampdoria and Matteo Guendouzi from FC Loreint.
The north London club turned to regular adviser Slaughter and May on all of its key summer deals. Corporate partner Andrew Jolly led a team that also included partner Paul Mudie and senior associate Hemita Sumanasuriya. The firm worked closely with Arsenal's nine-strong in-house team led by Svenja Geissmar, who has served as the club's GC for nine years and has spent the majority of his career in-house.
Manchester City turned to an in-house team led by GC Simon Cliff – a former associate at both Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Shearman & Sterling – as well as legal and business affairs director Nick Carter, to secure the services of £60m-signing Riyad Mahrez from Leicester City. Leicester also looked in-house to see out the deal, led by general counsel Caroline McGrory, a former associate at legacy Charles Russell.
Other transfer action to have taken place this summer includes Cristiano Ronaldo's €100m (£88.3m) move from Real Madrid to Italian champions Juventus. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner sought advice from Lisbon-based Morais Leitão, Galvão Teles, Soares da Silva & Associados, with partner Carlos Osório de Castro and managing associate Paulo Rendeiro taking the reins.
Photo credit: Oleg Bkhambri
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