Manchester City Hijacks Tottenham to Sign Iliman Ndiaye
Manchester City did not just win a transfer battle on deadline day. They stormed it.
With hours left in the window, City swooped to hijack Tottenham’s move for Everton forward Iliman Ndiaye, agreeing a £65m deal that underlined their pulling power and their intent. The package, as reported by The Athletic, includes an initial £60m fee with a further £5m in potential add-ons.
Spurs thought they had found their man. Having failed to prise Cody Gakpo from Liverpool, they had turned to Ndiaye, the Senegal international who had also been on City’s radar. For a brief moment, Tottenham were in the race. Then City hit the accelerator.
“There was nothing else that I wanted”
Ndiaye, 26, spoke like a player who never truly wrestled with the choice.
“It’s easy to make the decision about whether you want to be at Manchester City or not,” he said after sealing the move. “You can see the recent history; you want to be part of that project.”
City’s hierarchy sold him the vision, and it landed. Hard.
“They talked to me about where we could go, what we could achieve with me in the team, and I was interested from the beginning,” he explained. “There was nothing else that I wanted other than joining Manchester City.”
This was not a player weighing options. This was a player stepping into what he sees as the game’s most powerful project.
He spoke with the urgency of someone who knows this is the moment his career shifts gear.
“Obviously, you want to be part of this new project. I’ve seen recently what they’ve been doing, and I feel like I will fit right in it,” he said. “I’m super excited to start. It’s an unbelievable moment. I’ve worked so hard to get to this point and I’m super excited and really grateful for this opportunity.”
Ambition, opportunity, and a squad already stacked with attacking talent: Ndiaye walks into a dressing room where standards are ruthless and trophies are non-negotiable.
A record-equalling statement from City
Ndiaye’s arrival was only half the story of City’s extraordinary final day.
Alongside the Everton forward, the club completed the £125m signing of Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez, a fee that equals the British transfer record. It is a monumental outlay, even by City’s own lavish standards, and it reunites the Argentine with manager Enzo Maresca.
One record-equalling deal. One hijacked forward. One message: City are not easing off.
Maresca now has Fernandez to shape his midfield and Ndiaye to deepen his attacking options, adding fresh energy to a squad already built to dominate on multiple fronts. The challenge for the rest of the league just grew heavier.
Tottenham left scrambling
While City celebrated, Tottenham were left to sift through the wreckage of a window that veered sharply off script.
They had chased Gakpo. They pivoted to Ndiaye. They ended with neither.
With the clock ticking and attacking reinforcements still needed, Spurs turned back towards Stamford Bridge and moved quickly. The north London club struck a loan deal for Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk, reuniting the former Shakhtar Donetsk wide man with Roberto De Zerbi.
It was a sharp response, a necessary one, but it carried a different tone to City’s business. Tottenham reacted. City dictated.
As the dust settles on a wild deadline day, one question lingers over the season ahead: in a title race and a top-four battle likely to be decided by fine margins, will this 24-hour flurry of deals prove to be the moment that tilted the balance?
