Manchester City sign Matheus Nunes from Wolves and sell Cole Palmer to Chelsea

Guardiola gets his top midfield target as Portugal international joins the treble winners.

New Manchester City signing, Matheus Nunes. Photo: Manchester City

Manchester City made the first major moves of transfer deadline day as they sold Cole Palmer to Chelsea and then clinched the signing of Matheus Nunes from Wolverhampton Wanderers.

After upping their initial offer for Nunes from £47.3 million to £53 million – a club record sale for Wolves – late on Thursday, a deal was completed well ahead of Friday night's 11pm cut off (Saturday 2am UAE time).

The 25-year-old Portugal international had been pushing hard for the move, including briefly going on strike earlier this week and refusing to train.

City manager Pep Guardiola had been keen to bring in a central midfielder after a serious hamstring injury ruled out Kevin de Bruyne for several months.

Nunes told City’s official website: “I’m so happy to be joining Manchester City, the champions of Europe and a club I’ve admired for a long time.

“The opportunity to work under Pep Guardiola, one of the greatest managers ever, and alongside some of the best players in the world was something I couldn’t turn down.

“I’ve learned so much during my season at Wolves and I’m excited to continue improving in the Premier League, a division which brings the best out of me.”

Meanwhile, Chelsea have completed the signing of City forward Cole Palmer on a seven-year contract.

Reports suggest the London club will pay an initial £40 million for the 21-year-old with an extra £2.5m payable in add-ons.

City are understood to have wanted to keep the player, but Palmer's desire to make the move and the size of Chelsea's offer persuaded them to sanction the transfer.

“I’m excited to get started and it feels great to sign,” Palmer told his new club’s website.

“I’ve joined Chelsea because the project here sounds good and because of the platform I will have to try to showcase my talents. It is a young and hungry squad and, hopefully, we can do something special here.”

It takes the Blues' spending in the 16 months since the club was acquired by Todd Boehly’s Clearlake Capital group to in excess of £1 billion, with Palmer the 12th player through the door this summer alone.

Palmer played 14 times in the Premier League last term as his boyhood club won a third straight title, and was an unused substitute during their Champions League final victory over Inter Milan in Istanbul.