English Premier League clubs spent about £120 million in the latest January transfer window, double their outlay in January 2012, but well short of the record £225 million splurged two years ago, when strikers Fernando Torres and Andy Carroll were the subject of deals thought to amount to a combined £85 million. The top clubs generally refrained from buying, with the result that – according to analysis by Deloitte, the business advisory firm – seventh-placed Liverpool and struggling Queens Park Rangers and Newcastle United together contributed over 50% of total spending.
With spending by clubs in other top European leagues, particularly Spain’s La Liga, also subdued, however, the net transfer spend by Premier League clubs rose sharply to £70 million.
This compared with just £25 million in January 2012 and was only £20 million below the £90 million total in that record-breaking 2011 window.
With most European clubs struggling to match Premier League asking prices and wage levels, player transfers out of the top English league generated just £25 million of receivables.
Mario Balotelli’s high-profile move away from reigning Premier League champions Manchester City to AC Milan was the most significant contribution to this total.
Dan Jones, a partner in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, characterised Premier League clubs’ spending as “relatively restrained…in spite of the upcoming uplift in their broadcasting revenues of between £20 million and £30 million each from next season”.
He added: “Clubs are now in a reporting period that will count towards the first assessment of UEFA’s financial fair play (FFP) break-even requirement for international competition, and Premier League clubs are also considering the implementation of additional cost control regulation at a domestic level.
“Their apparent relative restraint in this transfer window may reflect an increasing focus on clubs achieving more sustainable levels of expenditure relative to revenues.”
Deloitte said that clubs in Italy’s Serie A were the second-highest spenders in the latest window, with total reported transfer spending at around 70% of the Premier League tally.
Notwithstanding the highly-publicised arrival of David Beckham at Paris Saint-Germain, transfer spending by top clubs in both France and Germany was put at only 30-45 percent of Premier League levels.
Window shopping by Spanish clubs was “minimal”.
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