Premier League spending down by £800m as deadline nears

Transfer spending by Premier League clubs is £800m down on last summer as the window enters its final week.

According to data from Football Transfers, external, clubs splashed a record £2.3bn on new signings in summer 2023 but have paid out £1.5bn – so far – in the current window.

The overall spending for the 2024 calendar year (£1.6bn) is also well down on 2023 (£3.1bn), although that gap will close in the coming days as deals are done right up to Friday’s deadline.

English top-flight clubs have completed the same amount of deals as La Liga (both 105) during the summer window, fewer than their Serie A (115) and Bundesliga (135) counterparts, and more than Ligue 1 teams (78).

However, the total amount spent by the Premier League remains significantly higher than the other four top European leagues – Italy (£617m), France (£529m), Spain (£435m) and Germany (£462m).

The number of loan deals into the Premier League has also decreased, with only five compared to 26 last summer.

Premier League clubs spent just £100m in the January transfer window. That was the lowest figure since January 2012 (£60m) – excluding the January 2021 window (£70m) when activities were restricted by the pandemic.

The summer window has followed that trend, with experts citing compliance with profit and sustainability rules (PSR) as one factor.

There was a flurry of business between the window opening on 14 June and 30 June, prompted by the end of the Premier League’s financial year.

Clubs cannot lose more than £105m over a three-year period – and less if they have spent some of that time in the Championship.

“There are still five days to go, but aside from Chelsea and spending from promoted Ipswich and ambitious Brighton, it does seem to be a more subdued and considered market than normal,” said Paul MacDonald of Football Transfers.

“PSR and the perceived over-inflated value of players in the market – particularly when it comes to Premier League-to-Premier League transfers – have meant most teams are generally being more prudent around arrivals, but also around the values of those players.”

Southampton have made the most signings with 13, while Liverpool are yet to bring in a single player in this window – but predictably Chelsea have been the biggest spenders.

Chelsea spent £248m and £393m in the summers of 2022 and 2023 respectively and have continued to splash the cash in 2024 with an outlay of £204m so far.

Pedro Neto (£54m), Joao Felix (£45m) and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£30m) have been the London club’s three most expensive signings.

The Blues are now looking to offload Raheem Sterling, Romelu Lukaku, Trevoh Chalobah, and Cesare Casadei to help balance the books.

“Expect a fire sale in the closing days of the window given Chelsea’s gigantic squad,” MacDonald said.

“It will be interesting to see what kind of fees they can demand for players it’s clear that Enzo Maresca doesn’t see as part of his plans.”

Aston Villa have spent the second-highest amount (£149m), with the bulk of that on Amadou Onana (£50m) from Everton and Ian Maatsen from Chelsea (£35m).

Brighton are third on the list with £144m and that is before the anticipated arrivals of Matt O’Riley from Celtic and Ferdi Kadioglu from Fenerbahce, who are expected to cost a combined £60m.

Manchester United have spent £140m on signings including Matthijs de Ligt (£38.6m) and Noussair Mazraoui (£12.9m) from Bayern Munich, along with Leny Yoro (£52m) from Lille and Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna (£36.5m).

Tottenham are the Premier League’s biggest spenders on an individual player after signing Dominic Solanke from Bournemouth for £65m as part of a £126m summer outlay.

La Liga side Atletico Madrid are the second-biggest spenders in Europe after Chelsea having shelled out £156m for new players.

That figure includes the £81m signing of Julian Alvarez from Manchester City – the biggest transfer fee of the summer to date – as well as £33m on Conor Gallagher from Chelsea.

Atletico are responsible for 35% of La Liga’s total spend of £435m this summer.

Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico make up 57% of the overall market spend. Outside the big three, there were just four other deals which exceeded £10m.

In Germany, Bayern Munich have dominated the market, splashing out £113m on the likes of Michael Olise, Joao Palhinha and Hiroki Ito.

Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen have managed to retain the core of the squad that went unbeaten last season, and have spent £44m on Martin Terrier and Jeanuel Belocian and Aleix Garcia.

Serie A title holders Inter Milan have spent £54.2m, and also completed two prudent free transfers for Mehdi Taremi and Piotr Zielinski.

The biggest single transfer in Italy is the £43.5m Juventus paid Aston Villa for Douglas Luiz. Newly-promoted Como have done a total of 12 deals, spending £33.5m in the process.

Ligue 1 sides are facing financial concerns this summer as a TV deal for 2024-25 was only agreed within days of the start of the season – on lower terms than previously.

Paris St-Germain have paid out £150m for new players which represents a relatively low-key window by their standards. Ambitious Lyon have spent £115m on nine players – their biggest outlay for the past three summer windows.

*All figures are correct as of 21:00 BST on 25 August 2024.