Sports
Football: Record £1.47 billion summer spending by Premier League clubs
Premier League clubs spent a record £1.4 billion on player purchases this summer, including an unprecedented £210 million on transfer deadline day, according to football finance experts Deloitte.
The league’s overall outlay on players since the first transfer window in January 2003 strode past £10 billion mark.
Commenting on the numbers, Deloitte’s Dan Jones said, “Premier League clubs have broken their own record for transfer expenditure for the sixth summer in a row.
“With the continued growth in clubs’ revenues, principally from broadcast rights, it is no surprise that Premier League clubs have continued to maintain their leading position in the world’s player transfer market.”
Despite Paris Saint-German splashing a world-record £200 million on Neymar, and another £160 million on Kylian Mbappe, the Premier League kept its position as Europe’s biggest spender, investing almost twice as much as second-placed Serie A, which shelled out £735m on buying best of footballing talent.
In fact, the combined spend of clubs from France’s Ligue 1, Germany’s Bundesliga and Spain’s La Liga is only £170m more than the Premier League’s.
The Premier League’s highest spending clubs this summer were Manchester City (£215m), Chelsea (£180m), Manchester United (£145m) and Everton (£145m).
“With Premier League clubs’ revenue showing no sign of decreasing in the foreseeable future, we would expect to see spending continue to rise,” Jones added.
Although the Premier League has pointed out that the clubs will invest £443m “in supporting wider English football and communities” this season.
