Chelsea 5-1 to win title after bolstering defence

CHELSEA have been scouring Europe for top-class defenders and looked likely to sign two on deadline day with David Luiz and Marcos Alonso arriving from Paris St-Germain and Fiorentina.

Left-back Alonso’s £23m capture from Fiorentina was confirmed yesterday but his arrival was set to be overshadowed by the return of Luiz, who left the Blues for Paris two summers ago.

Bolstering the backline was seen as crucial for Chelsea, who have banked maximum points from their first three games and are 5-1 in the Premier League title betting.

Leicester are 66-1 to retain their top-flight crown but were showing plenty of ambition on deadline day, agreeing a reported £30m fee with Sporting for Algeria striker Islam Slimani.

Slimani scored 27 goals in the Portuguese top flight last season and has been targeted to add extra firepower to an attack already boasting Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez.

Jack Wilshere had been linked with several clubs since the weekend but will spend the rest of the season at Bournemouth after the Cherries closed in on a loan deal from Arsenal.

The Gunners trimmed their squad further by allowing winger Serge Gnabry to moved to Werder Bremen for an undisclosed fee.

Stoke had a busy day, clinching season-long loan deals for defender Bruno Martins Indi and striker Wilfried Bony from Porto and Manchester City, and a club transfer record was broken by Burnley, who shelled out a reported £10.5 for the Irish international midfielder Jeff Hendrick from Derby.

Sunderland also broke their transfer record - paying £13.6m to Lorient for midfielder Didier Ndong.

Manchester City spent the day trimming their squad with Bony, Joe Hart, Eliaquim Mangala and Samir Nasri departing on season long loans.

Hart will continue his career in Serie A with Torino, while Nasri and Mangala switched to La Liga sides Seville and Valencia.

Aston Villa put the finishing touches to their summer overhaul by signing winger Albert Adomah from Middlesbrough for an undisclosed fee.

Ex-Barcelona winger Adama Traore went in the opposite direction, leaving Villa for Boro and has signed a four-year deal with the Premier League new boys.

Nottingham Forest were one of the busiest clubs in the Sky Bet Championship, clinching deals for Mustapha Carayol, Nicolao Dumitru and Lica.

Carayol and Lica, who were free agents, have signed permanent deals while Dumitru has joined on a season-long loan from Napoli.

Wolves continued their summer spending spree, signing centre-back Richard Stearman from Fulham and attacker Ivan Cavaleiro from Monaco.

The deal for Cavaleiro, a full Portuguese international who has agreed a five-year contract, was a reported £7m – enough to break the club’s transfer record.

The deals were acknowledged by BetBright who trimmed Wolves’s promotion odds from 9-2 to 10-3.

Brentford did some late business, paying Walsall £1.5m for highly-rated right back Rico Henry.

The Bees also snapped up winger Sulley Kaikai on a season-long loan from Crystal Palace.