By David Owen
September 2 – Transfer spending by Premier League clubs was more than double any of the other ‘Big Five’ West European leagues in the summer transfer window, as gross expenditure by the English elite reached £1 billion in a single calendar year for the first time.
According to analysis by Deloitte, the business advisory firm, gross spending by the top 20 English clubs amounted to £870 million in the just-closed summer transfer window. This compared with £405 million by Italy’s Serie A, perhaps surprisingly the next highest spender, £400 million by Spain’s La Liga, £290 million by Germany’s Bundesliga and £220 million by France’s Ligue 1.
Heavy English spending reflected the lucrative nature of the league’s TV deals. However, the record £870 million total was only 4% up on the £835 million of deals transacted last summer – a very modest advance given the spectacular surge in profitability many top-flight clubs have recently experienced.
“With all 20 of the Premier League clubs now ranked in the top 40 globally by revenue, we have seen clubs across the league compete successfully in the market for international talent,” said Alex Thorpe, senior manager in Deloitte’s sports business group. “Premier League clubs’ gross spending on players from overseas clubs this summer totalled more than half a billion pounds.”
Former champions Manchester City – whose signings included Kevin de Bruyne from Germany’s Wolfsburg for £55 million and Raheem Sterling from Liverpool for £49 million – embarked on the highest-ever gross spend by a Premier League club in a summer transfer window, totalling around £160 million.
The four English clubs who will compete in this season’s UEFA Champions League – Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United – spent a combined £340 million gross approximately during the window, equivalent to some 40% of aggregate gross transfer spending by all 20 clubs. It remains to be seen if this translates into improved on-field performance in Europe’s most-coveted club competition.
Amidst all the to-ing and fro-ing, one player who has not ultimately switched clubs, to the surprise of many, is David De Gea, the Manchester United goalkeeper, after the collapse of an expected move to Real Madrid.
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