The Premier League has paced the global football world when it comes to financial power, and nowhere is that muscle flexed more than in the transfer market. This summer record £1.9 billion spending, smashing the previous record of £1.4 billion in 2017, is another proof of EPL’s financial might.
Nine of the 20 top flight clubs spent in excess of £100m as total expenditure bounced back after two seasons of Covid-impacted decline.
The combined outlay of the 20 clubs during the window, which was open from 10 June until 1 September, was 67% higher than the previous summer’s total of £1.1bn.
According to financial services firm Deloitte, the 2022/23 season already has the highest transfer spend since the two-window season began before this season’s January transfer window has even taken place, exceeding the previous record of £1.86bn set in 2017-18 by 3%.
Some of Deloitte’s other key findings from the window include:
- Gross spending across all of Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues – Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 – increased by 52% to £3.88bn;
- Premier League clubs were responsible for 49% of that spending, the highest proportion since summer 2008 and nearly three times that of the second-biggest spenders Serie A (£646m);
- Premier League clubs’ net transfer spend surpassed £1bn for the first time ever;
- Premier League clubs signed 169 players, compared to 148 in summer 2021 and 132 in summer 2020;
- The proportion of players being signed for a fee increased to 66% in summer 2022 from 45% in summer 2021;
- Championship clubs’ gross spend more than doubled on the previous summer to £86m but was still some way off pre-COVID levels (2017-19 three-year average: £169.4m);
According to football website Transfermarkt, more than £250m was splashed out on the likes of Raheem Sterling, Marc Cucurella, Kalidou Koulibaly and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, which is also the second-highest summer spend by any club in the world after Real Madrid (£292m) in 2019.
Manchester United broke their own spending record to sit second on the Premier League spending list.
They brought in the likes of Casermiro, Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez over the summer, with their deadline-day capture of Antony taking their total spending up to around £214m – the fourth-highest summer spend by a single Premier League club ever.
It was also a summer of strikers as a number of goalscorers made big-money moves including Erling Haaland to Manchester City, Darwin Nunez to Liverpool, Gabriel Jesus to Arsenal, Gianluca Scamacca to West Ham and Alexander Isak to Newcastle – the latter two being club-record deals.
Transfer figures via Transfermarkt; clubs listed by net spend, from most to least. Highest in each category in italics.
All figures correct as of Sept. 1, 2022 at 10:00 ET / 13:00 BST.
All figures correct as of Sept. 1, 2022 at 10:00 ET / 13:00 BST.
