After a busy summer in which Premier League clubs spent $2.36bn on new players, another record-breaking transfer window ended on Friday.
According to financial services company Deloitte, the combined expenditure of the 20 clubs during the window tops the previous spending record of £1.92bn set last summer by £440m.
Premier League clubs spent £255 million on deadline day alone, more than doubling the £120 million spent on that day during the previous summer’s window.
With the January window still open, that already makes the 2023–24 season’s transfer expenditures the second-highest ever, behind only last season’s $2.17 billion record.
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In the “big five” European leagues—La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1—the Premier League accounted for 48% of all spending on transfers.
The transfer fees paid to Premier League clubs by foreign clubs totaled £550 million, breaking the previous record set in the summer of 2022 by £210 million.
All of Europe’s “big five” leagues — with the exception of Spain’s La Liga — saw an increase in gross transfer spending.
Only the Premier League and Ligue 1 spent more on transfers than they received among Europe’s “big five” leagues.
There were 13 Premier League transfers totaling more than £50 million, surpassing the sum of the previous two summer transfer windows.
According to Tim Bridge, the lead partner in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, “A second summer of record spending by Premier League clubs suggests that year-over-year revenue growth could return following the pandemic.”.
“The increased intensity of competition is reflected in the fact that nearly three quarters of Premier League clubs (14) spent more this summer than last.
“Clubs are still under pressure to sign elite players in order to achieve their on-field goals, whether they are competing in Europe or just trying to stay in the Premier League.”.
On deadline day, moves were made by Matheus Nunes, Brennan Johnson, Ansu Fati, and Ryan Gravenberch.
Manchester City’s £55 million acquisition of Portugal midfielder Matheus Nunes from Wolves was the largest Premier League transaction of the deadline day.
Chelsea purchased Cole Palmer from the Premier League champions for £40 million.
Manchester United signed free agent Jonny Evans on a one-year contract, full back Sergio Reguilon on loan from Tottenham, goalkeeper Altay Bayindir from Fenerbahce for £4.5m, midfielder Sofyan Amrabat on loan from Fiorentina, and goalkeeper Altay Bayindir from Fenerbahce.
The busiest club was Nottingham Forest, which added seven players, including Nicolas Dominguez from Bologna and midfielders Ibrahim Sangare and Callum Hudson-Odoi from Chelsea and PSV.
Other noteworthy deals that were completed on the deadline day included:.
What major moves were made this summer?
Two deals this summer reached the $100 million mark: Chelsea acquired midfielder Moises Caicedo from Brighton for a price that could rise to a British club record of $115 million, and Arsenal acquired England midfielder Declan Rice from West Ham for a price that included $5 million in add-ons.
Along with the acquisition of Nunes on the final day, Manchester City also acquired midfielder Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea for £25 million, defender Josko Gvardiol from RB Leipzig for £77 million, winger Jeremy Doku from Rennes for £55 point 4 million, and defender Jeremy Gvardiol from RB Leipzig.
Rival Manchester United paid £72 million to acquire Danish striker Rasmus Hojlund, while Newcastle United, a team competing in the Champions League, paid £55 million for Italian midfielder Sandro Tonali and £38 million for forward Harvey Barnes of Leicester.
By purchasing Kai Havertz for £65 million and Ajax defender Jurrien Timber for £34 million, last year’s Premier League runners-up Arsenal enhanced the Rice deal.
Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis MacAllister, and Wataru Endo were all acquired by Liverpool for a combined total of £60 million, £35 million, and £16.2 million, bolstering their midfield.
The best offers from all over EuropeThis summer, Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham made headline-grabbing moves.
Players from England participated in two of the largest transfers in Europe this summer.
For £86.4 million, Three Lions captain Harry Kane moved from Tottenham to Bayern Munich, while Jude Bellingham, a midfielder, went from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid for £88.5 million.
Following the midfielder’s departure to Barcelona, Joao Cancelo, a defender for Manchester City, and Spain forward Joao Felix, a transfer from Atletico Madrid, were both signed on loan by Barcelona on the final day of the transfer window.
The transfer of France striker Randal Kolo Muani from Eintracht Frankfurt to Paris St. Germain for £64 point 2 million plus £12 point 8 million in add-ons was the most expensive transaction of deadline day.
Romeo Lavia, Cole Palmer, and Axel Disasi were a few of the players who joined Chelsea this summer.
Chelsea’s third transfer window under new owner Todd Boehly saw continued high spending.
More than any other team in Europe, the London club spent more than £380 million on 10 players during this transfer window.
Prior to this, Real Madrid’s £292 million spending binge in 2019 had been the world’s highest summer expenditure by any club.
Since Boehly took over, Chelsea has spent close to £1 billion on players over three transfer windows.
With nine players leaving on long-term contracts this summer, including Havertz to Arsenal and Mason Mount to Manchester United for an initial £55 million, they have partially offset their spending this summer.
Financial muscle is displayed by Saudi Arabia.
As the Saudi authorities pushed to make the league one of the most competitive in the world, the Saudi Pro League splashed the cash on a variety of international stars, including Neymar and Karim Benzema.
Four of Saudi Arabia’s top teams, Al-Ittihad, Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal, and Al-Ahli, have recently been taken over by the Public Investment Fund, and the other 14 top-flight clubs also feature some well-known players.
Saudi Pro League clubs have reportedly spent a total of £690.55m (805m Euros) to date, £245m of which has gone toward Premier League players, according to Deloitte.
This places the league behind the Premier League, Ligue 1, and Serie A in terms of spending globally this summer.
Furthermore, since the Saudi transfer window won’t close until September 7th, there may yet be additional high-profile moves.
Calum Ross, assistant director in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, said that the emergence of more active players in the international transfer market “has the potential to accelerate clubs’ efforts to establish financially sustainable business models.”.
“During the summer transfer window, clubs that sold players to organizations from developing international leagues went on to spend the proceeds with numerous other organizations, both inside and outside the Premier League.”
This distribution of the new inflow of capital into the market will be crucial to ensuring that the financial gains of a more active global market are felt by all, serving to narrow rather than widen any gaps that may already exist.”.
Allan Saint-Maximin of Newcastle and Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City are just a couple of the notable players who have left the Premier League for Saudi Arabia.
Other notable players include Wolves captain Ruben Neves, who has moved to Al-Hilal, Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte, who has joined Al-Nassr, and Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, who has moved to Al-Ettifaq.
The people who escaped.
There were deals that did not materialize despite millions of pounds being spent.
After receiving a world-record £259 million offer, PSG allowed Al-Hilal to speak with Kylian Mbappe, but the striker decided to stay with the French champions.
Liverpool turned down a bid of up to £150 million from Al-Ittihad, another Saudi club, for Mohamed Salah.
On deadline day, Joao Pahlinha flew to Germany for a medical after agreeing to terms with Bayern Munich.
However, Fulham and the Bundesliga champions were unable to reach an agreement, and the transfer fell through.
