Premier League clubs pass £2bn in summer spending as record looms
Premier League clubs have passed £2bn in summer transfer spending as the English top flight closes in on an all-time window record.
The continued trickle of transfer fees agreed by Premier League clubs has seen the total spend hit £2.3bn, just £50m short of the 2023 record of £2.36bn.
Spending, unsurprisingly, has been fuelled by the Big Six, with Tottenham the smallest spending of these clubs at £125m.
Both Manchester clubs – United and City – have each spent under £200m while Arsenal sit on £193m of summer spend.
Fellow London club Chelsea have splashed £241m but defending champions Liverpool top the table, spending over one quarter of a billion at £292m.
But the likes of Nottingham Forest (£147m), Sunderland (£142m) and Newcastle United (£126m) are all big spenders this season.
Premier League versus the rest
The Premier League continues to be at the heart of mega transfer windows, with the English top flight yet again expected to outspend the combined transfer business of Germany’s Bundesliga, Spain’s LaLiga, France’s Ligue 1 and Italy’s Serie A this summer.
Data from TransferMarkt suggests that just four clubs – Bournemouth, Wolverhampton, Brighton and Aston Villa – have made more money from sales than they have spent, pointing to a rather large outgoing for the Premier League as a whole.
Bournemouth have sold more than double of what they have spent, while Liverpool have hit a remarkable £200m in sales to contribute to a total of £1.2bn in income for the 20 clubs.
In contrast, data from FootballTransfers.com suggests that the second tier Championship has spent £143m and sold £243m, while Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 have all made more money than they’ve spent.
The difference between Spanish spend and sales is marginal.
The transfer window closes on 1 September with the Premier League spending record expected to be smashed in the coming days.