Manchester City pays $77 million for de Bruyne

Manchester City demonstrated its financial might by breaking the club’s transfer record for the second time this summer to sign Kevin de Bruyne on Sunday, making the Belgium midfielder who played for Wolfsburg the second-most expensive player in English football history. De Bruyne is reported to have cost City more than $77 million – less than two months after the club’s Abu Dhabi ownership spent $76 million on another attacking midfielder, Raheem Sterling. Freed to spend lavishly again after UEFA loosened its Financial Fair Play rules restrictions, City has paid out close to $250 million in transfer fees this summer as the club looks to win the Premier League for the third time in five seasons and end four years of underachievement in the Champions League. – AP