“English Premier League Teams Smash Transfer Spending Record at £1.95 Billion with One Week Remaining before Deadline Day
In this summer’s transfer window, English Premier League clubs have shattered the previous record, having already spent a staggering £1.95 billion, a leap from the last summer’s £1.92 billion, as disclosed in a recent analysis conducted by financial consultancy firm, Deloitte. The milestone was achieved by Friday, August 25.
Notably absent from last summer’s lineup of £100 million transfers, Chelsea now showcases their ambitious spending with the addition of Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo for a £100 million fee, potentially reaching a British club record of £115 million. Arsenal, on the other hand, secured England midfielder Declan Rice from West Ham for £100 million plus £5 million in add-ons.
Manchester City, reigning Premier League champions, entered the fray with the acquisition of defender Josko Gvardiol for £77 million, winger Jeremy Doku for £55.4 million, and midfielder Mateo Kovacic for £25 million from Chelsea.
Manchester United bolstered their lineup with a £72 million deal for striker Rasmus Hojlund, while Newcastle United, another Champions League contender, welcomed Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali for £55 million and Leicester forward Harvey Barnes for £38 million.
Even newly promoted Burnley partook in the extravagant spending trend, investing an estimated £95 million, including a record £19 million transaction for England Under-21 goalkeeper James Trafford.
Arsenal, last year’s Premier League runners-up, supplemented the Rice acquisition with purchases of Kai Havertz for £65 million and Ajax defender Jurrien Timber for £34 million.
The analysis predicts that Premier League clubs are poised to surpass the £2 billion threshold in the imminent days.
Deloitte’s Calum Ross remarked, “This remarkable level of expenditure seems to be the new standard for Premier League clubs.””
“For the second year in a row, the summer transfer spending by Premier League clubs has surpassed the previous record and looks set to rise above £2bn for the first time before the window closes on 1 September,” added Ross, assistant director in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group.
Also, Chelsea have spent an estimated £340m on nine players so far in this transfer window, more than any other side in Europe. The highest summer spend by any club in the world before now had been Real Madrid’s £292m spree in 2019.
The outlay means Chelsea have spent almost £900m since Todd Boehly’s takeover of the club last summer.
Ross says “the receipt of significant investment from new ownership” is one of the factors driving the high spending, along with clubs “generating unprecedented levels of revenue”.
Analysis also shows the average value of fee-paying transfers-in to Premier League clubs is £25m – higher than last summer’s £20m.
While spending has risen to record-breaking levels, net spending is down 25% on last summer, from £1.1bn to £825m.
Deloitte says this is due to Premier League clubs receiving significant fees for players from other global leagues – most notably, Saudi Arabia.
